topic Re: Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005 in Android TV

Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005

C33lll — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 13:00:53 GMT

Hi,

I've searched far and wide and cannot find a solution to my problem. Perhaps someone here can help.

I have a KD43XE8005 Android TV and a Samsung E5530 Home Theatre connected via optical cable.

When playing a video with stereo sound this setup works great without issues. However when I try to play 5.1 Dolby content (from USB, Amazon Prime, Netflix) there are different things happening:

- delay -> audio only starts 5-15s after the video (though it is in sync from then on)

- no audio -> only way to resolve this is to restart either the audio system or the TV or both (and even that not always helps)

This delay also happens when I pause the video being played and then restarting it although it is usually much shorter then.

Another thing worth noting is that the delay is usually much bigger when switching from stereo to 5.1 content.

I've tried a huge number of setting combinations (including enabling PCM and so on), but have not been able to resolve this or even narrow down the root cause. I've also tried using ARC as both the audio system and the TV support it but cannot get it to work at all - no sound.

I have not tried swapping optical cables as I only have one, but this does not look like a cable problem to me.

It looks like something in the TV is not correctly switching/converting the audio

I'd be very very grateful for any suggestions/help.

Cheers

Re: Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 12:15:46 GMT

Hi there,

Have you updated your KD43XE8005 to the latest firmware?

Best wishes,

Re: Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005

C33lll — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 14:12:18 GMT

Hi,

yes, got the latest firmware.

Cheers

Re: Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005

rooobb — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 22:14:51 GMT

The tv never switch to optical audio it is always on. The only difference is that if you didn't set the output to audio system the result is always stereo . No multichannel.

I'd rather investigate on your old ht system than the tv: do you have the possibility to connect any other audio system to optical to eliminate the tv from root cause?

Re: Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005

C33lll — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 14:22:07 GMT

hi,

thanks for the suggestion. I do not have another audio system to try. What I have just done though is connect my xbox directly to the same audio system via the same optical cable. I then tried playing the same videos from youtube and prime videos but this time from the xbox. I have observed no delays or audio problems whatsoever. Both stereo and dolby 5.1 work as expected.

This leads me to believe that it is something in the TV after all, but why would stereo work fine and multichannel 5.1 not?

Re: Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005

C33lll — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 14:49:52 GMT

having played around some more I can now see that if I enable PCM output on the TV, then audio is fine through the ht and there is no delay. However it is only stereo and not multichannel 5.1 regardless of the video being played. From what I read elswehere this is expected as PCM 5.1 via optical might not be supported.

Re: Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005

rooobb — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 15:27:41 GMT

PCM is stereo by definition stereo (unless you combine more PCM stream). And of course an uncompressed PCM multichannel flow cannot be transmitted over optical (nor via ARC for that matter).

Have you tried to investigate further way HDMIARC doesn't work?

Re: Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005

C33lll — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 21:42:57 GMT

I tried investigating ARC some more but am not able to find the root cause. Played around with settings, switched cables, disconnected everything else, rebooted both TV and ht, but it simply does not work. Maybe it's a compatibility problem? According to the specs both TV and ht support ARC and I've connected it right, but no luck.

One thing is most of the online troubleshooting guides mention "enable HDMI control" to enable ARC, but I cannot find an option like that on my TV.

Suggestions?

Re: Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005

rooobb — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 22:03:22 GMT

Hdmi control is named braviasync on your tv

Re: Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005

C33lll — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 06:34:22 GMT

Ah, yes. I have it enabled. The control bit whereby switching on/off the tv
switches the ht on/off and vice versa works fine. But I cannot get the
sound to work. HT is configured ad per manual with arc enabled and correct
output/input being used. Tried two cables too, both supposedly supporting
ARC as per specs.

Re: Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005

C33lll — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 10:17:07 GMT

still no luck with ARC or optical unfortunately. tried a few things over the weekend, but failed.

any more ideas/advice?

thanks.

Re: Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005

rooobb — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 10:21:43 GMT

it is hard from far away... have you had a look at the Sony troubleshooting? https://community.sony.it/t5/how-tos-faqs-tvs-home-cinema/audio-return-channel-arc/ba-p/2543821

Re: Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005

C33lll — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 15:45:22 GMT

yes, tried that already. appreciate this is difficult from afar. I'll
continue looking, though at some point I will have to conclude that
there is an issue with the TV itself. Just not sure how to do that.

Re: Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005

C33lll — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 14:05:23 GMT

just an update - I've raised it with Sony support but even they are struggling it seems. Just keep on bouncing me between different support teams...

Re: Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005

C33lll — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 17:42:05 GMT

Hi everyone,

needs some help with the answer I got from Sony support:

"the delay between the audio and video is due to a limitation in the current technology in use. This is due to how the audio is encoded and transmitted by, for example, the broadcaster to you via the broadcast network provider. TVs - across several brands - experience a delay in the audio and video synchronisation due to the general limitations of the current technology. As such, there is no issue with the TV, which is working within the specifications."

Surely this is ridiculous?

How can it be a limitation of technology if I sometimes do not get audio at all when trying to play 5.1 content and it takes me several restarts of both ht and TV to get it working? The same content works fine on a much older ps3 and an xbox.

Re: Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005

C33lll — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 14:50:00 GMT

figured I'd provide an update even though I have no clue what happened. Here it goes:

I have finally got my hands on another optical cable, very old and dirt cheap compared to my premium quality one I was using before. Result? Audio start delay is now down to less than 1s and everything is in sync.

As I wrote earlier the premium quality cable works great when connected to my xbox, so why is my TV having such a problem with it? Why is the cheaper one working so much better here? I am completely clueless...but it works fine now.