Soundbar Lag. Where's The Actual Problem?

Kaz0551 on 26/05/2022 - 08:38
Last edited 26/05/2022 - 08:38

I bought a cheap TV, the EKO 75" for $850 (https://www.bigw.com.au/product/eko-75-4k-ultra-hd-smart-web…). The sound was terrible and tinny, so I bought a soundbar - a Panasonic (https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/panasonic-31ch-soundbar-300w-…)

After watching FTA TV, Prime Video, Plex anything for that matter, for more than 6 minutes, the AV delay becomes very noticeable. I've tried using PCM and Pass Through with no luck. Tried manually setting the audio to MPEG, Dolby, Dolby DTS Plus but all seem to have a delay after 6+ minutes. There's a AV sync correction but the delay gradually increases so setting a Xms correction doesn't fix the issue as it doesn't exist at the start.

I thought a HDMI 2.1 cable might fix… faster cable… faster data transfer but no. Same issue.

Is this an issue with the TV or the Soundbar?

Electrical & Electronics Soundbar

Comments

  • Nugs on 26/05/2022 - 08:57
    +1

    can you take soundbar to a friends place?
    even better to bring someone else's properly functioning soundbar to your place
    .

    • Kaz0551 on 26/05/2022 - 08:59

      I guess this is the only way to determine which is at fault. In semi iso this week.

  • MS Paint on 26/05/2022 - 08:57
    +5

    I'm guessing the TV

  • BOGOF on 26/05/2022 - 09:28
    +2

    Try connecting through Digital Audio (Optical/ TOSLINK). Your soundbar has the connection, not sure about the TV though?

    • Kaz0551 on 26/05/2022 - 10:04

      There is an optical, internets says HDMI is better that optical for transferring audio data?

      • Kaz0551 on 26/05/2022 - 10:05

        Sadly I do not have an optical cable.

        • MS Paint on 26/05/2022 - 10:12
          +2

          Don't be sad. Optical is old tech.

          • Drakesy on 26/05/2022 - 17:14

            @MS Paint: Sounds like the liberals and the NBN ;)

            But yes, unfortunately in this case HDMI has outdated it.

      • Drakesy on 26/05/2022 - 17:04
        +1

        HDMI is better for transferring audio data
        *however optical is still fairly efficient and carry quite high bit rates. (enough to support your 3.1 sound bar

        I've been running optical on my amplifier for years and it's only now reaching its limitations with ATMOS sound.
        Give optical a go, chances are you won't notice a difference and it shouldn't have the syncing issues.

        • bamzero on 27/05/2022 - 10:56

          Sound wise there shouldn't be any noticeable difference, but CEC would be the biggest loss in that scenario.
          Having the soundbar turn on and off with the TV and only needing the TV remote to control volume makes it pretty convenient.

          • Drakesy on 27/05/2022 - 11:16

            @bamzero: Yeah this is true,
            Although i've set mine up with earc through HDMI which acts as the CEC option and the Optical as the audio interface.

            For some reason my amp doesn't want to decode audio over hdmi.

  • garetz on 26/05/2022 - 09:28
    +4

    Its 99% of the time the output which is the tv, the sound processor on the tv is probably garbage.

  • Switchblade88 on 26/05/2022 - 09:43
    +1

    Sounds like a timing/sync mismatch which is really hard to diagnose. It's as though the soundbar is buffering, or the TV is only sending audio data at say 59hz versus the 60hz actual video output.

    I'd blame the TV since it's a cheap brand with little to no quality assurance and bugfixing, but without any isolation test results it's hard to say.

  • mboy on 26/05/2022 - 09:47
    +7

    Sounds like a TV issue to me.

    But as Nugs said above, best first step is to try to isolate the issue to either the Soundbar or the TV. Plug your soundbar into another TV in the house (if you have one), or take it to someone else's house and plug it into their TV and check if you get the same issue.

    You can also try the following if you haven't yet, one by one, to try to isolate the issue:

    • Try a different HDMI port on the TV.
    • Maybe even try using Optical audio input into the soundbar if your TV has optical out, and you have a cable.
    • Turn off all audio processing on your TV and Soundbar. That includes any equaliser settings, enhancers, surround sound, etc.
    • Turn off all video processing on your TV. That means turning off any 'additional video settings' like Motion Smoothing, etc.
  • Kaz0551 on 26/05/2022 - 14:00
    +2

    BigW is going to pickup it up and refund for me. But now I need to find a replacement :(

    • MS Paint on 26/05/2022 - 14:33
      +3

      Bloody great service

    • spackbace on 26/05/2022 - 15:16

      Why not just keep the TV and plug a Chromecast directly into the soundbar?

      • Kaz0551 on 26/05/2022 - 15:49

        Only 1 HDMI on this bar.

  • scrambledeggs on 26/05/2022 - 14:55

    Are you sure you had the TV volume off and the Soundbar volume on? Sometimes if they are both on, it sounds echoe-y like its lagging, but it's not noticeable if you turn off the sound from the TV itself.

    • Kaz0551 on 26/05/2022 - 14:59

      There was no sound coming from the TV, just the soundbar

  • Kaz0551 on 26/05/2022 - 17:02

    This guy shouldn't have a sound processing issue? https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/hisense-u7g-65-4k-uled-sm…

    • bamzero on 27/05/2022 - 11:31

      Well hard to say since we still don't know whether it was the TV, the soundbar or just compatibility between the two.

      My in-laws have an EKO TV (not same though so maybe diff manufacturer, was a smaller Google model) running with a cheap Philips soundbar over HDMI and don't have any sync issues.

      If the model you're looking at is on display at JBs, let them know the issue you're having and maybe if you get a friendly sales assistant they'll let you connect your soundbar and run it for 7 minutes and you'll know for sure.

  • Kaz0551 on 06/06/2022 - 08:55
    +1

    Finale:

    BigW is collecting the EKO today. I got a Hisense last night and no lag at all. Issue was with the TV.

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