Digital TV - sound and video out of synch

[gsdx]

Is it just my provider or is this a common thing? I'm watching People's Court on Fox29 at the moment and the sound is lagging behind the video by almost a second. This happens a lot on Jeopardy! as well. It seems to happen only on certain stations.

Is there any sense in complaining to Cogeco about it? It's very annoying at times.

 

[Corny]

Do you have another TV to test it on? It could be both.

 

[gsdx]

Nope. Just the one TV. It isn't all the time. Just occasionally on certain stations. It happens during commercials within the program as well.

I just had a thought. Both Jeopardy! and People's Court are picked up by Canadian stations. I don't know if they get the signal beforehand or if they get it as it's being broadcast from the American station. That could be part of it as well.

 

[trinket]

Hey gsdx. I assume you're connecting to your TV via HDMI since you're digital? Are you using a receiver in the mix at all? Those programs/channels, are they HD feed channels or lower resolution? What kind of audio signal are they transmitting/you receiving, just typical stereo?

I listen to a couple of tech podcasts/call-for-help shows once in a while and this seems to be one of the more common issues. There's lots of information online/forum posts about people figuring out which situations they've observed this issue in (for instance, this thread) and trying out different things. You mention it's only some stations, so that might be more a provider thing with their upstream feed or processing of the signal, as you're thinking. Anecdotal evidence (like that thread above) says sometimes a receiver will A/V signals sync properly whereas a direct connect to the TV wouldn't - though I'm not suggesting you run out to buy a receiver just for that reason. Some receivers have a delay feature to manually offset sync issues if required, but it's not consistent for you. The old trick of trying a different HDMI port on your TV might not be applicable in this case, or the idea of changing HDMI cables (in theory, though, the signal is either on or off, so it shouldn't make a difference) - but even a cheapie cable I wouldn't think would cause this issue.

If you do take it up with your provider, let us know what they say or if they suggest a resolution, and ask if any other viewers have reported an issue. Since you're paying for them and their service anyway, and it'd be a free call, "why not"?

 

[GamerBear]

Well I guess I won't go into detail like the other posts, but I will be one to say I've experienced this kind of thing.

I have my audio and video going through an HDMI cable to my TV, then I have a Digital optical audio cable from my cable box to my receiver. For some odd reason when I don't have my receiver on the audio that comes from my TV from the HDMI to my cable box is always out of sync on most stations like ABC7 (Southern California) the sound is a like a second off.

When I watch the same exact station with my receiver my audio from the Digital optical cable is always in sync, I raised the volume on my receiver and TV and it almost sounds like a really bad echo but it was the HDMI audio that was out of sync now the digital audio from my receiver.

The link that trinket provided with the guy having audio problems has a 37 inch LCD LG TV and I pretty much have the same size and from LG but not sure about the model. It must just be the TV that has this problem, I think they also talked about LG providing a firmware update for the TV through a USB port but not really sure how one would update it, I believe they would need to look at the TV. The audio sync thing doesn't exactly bother me as much.

It rarely happens when I'm doing other things on my TV like playing video games or watching a Blu-ray movie on my PS3.

The old trick of trying a different HDMI port on your TV might not be applicable in this case, or the idea of changing HDMI cables (in theory, though, the signal is either on or off, so it shouldn't make a difference) - but even a cheapie cable I wouldn't think would cause this issue.

I've bought my HDMI cable on Amazon for a quarter (plus shipping *Sigh*) and it lasted longer than the expensive $20 dollar one from Best Buy. I guess even no matter how expensive they are they all have the same affect.

 

[gsdx]

It's like you guys are speaking a different language. I don't understand most of what you're talking about.

I have a crappy old television (with a vacuum tube) which I inherited from my mother after she died. I'm guessing it's about 20 years old now. I have digital cable which goes through a receiver. The only reason I have digital is because my cable provider ceased transmitting analogue last year.

It's only been the last month or so that the synch has gone out of whack, and it's only on a few channels. I doubt if anything can be done about it. I was just curious why it might be happening and if it was something I should concern myself with.

Thanks for the info, though, even though most of it reads like Greek.

 

[vulgar_newcomer]

Call you cable company, its a common problem likely on their end through the (receiver = set top box?).
Latency issues maybe at the junction box somewhere on the line or in the set top box. They will know what you are talking about even if they act stupid as if you are the first to tell them about this.

 

[trinket]

Gsdx, the questions at the top of my post are key to answer for troubleshooting this problem. Your next post tells me that with the much older TV, it wouldn't be HDMI (which can rule out HDMI sync issues) - but how are you feeding into the TV from the receiver? Using the cable ("coaxial") jack, RCA-type, etc.? Here's a diagram of some of the different connectors and this is a coaxial.

What's the age/type of the receiver? Is the receiver newer, and you're passing a digital signal (i.e. HDMI) to it? How are you connecting the cable box to the receiver?

I'm sorry our responses "read like Greek", but if you re-read them you'll see we've actually tried to put them into plain, relatable language for you, showing you the possibilities and possible explanations for other situations where this happens based on our experiences and memories. Just re-read slowly. If you don't want to take our advice or research the terms or issues or links we mention further, or get back to us on our specific questions, you can always call your cable company and work with them directly as an alternative to this thread. Good luck!

 

[trinket]

I think they also talked about LG providing a firmware update for the TV through a USB port but not really sure how one would update it, I believe they would need to look at the TV.

Firmware updates through USB for TVs that have a USB port are actually kind of a neat thing. Typically you download the firmware from a website and put it on a USB flash drive. Once it's there, you plug the USB flash drive into the TV and navigate to a menu option to update the firmware and read it from the drive, and voila! Of course, lots of TVs these days also have a wired Ethernet connection (or support wireless) so you can download it directly from the Internet as well as your firmware update source if you choose to.

 

[gsdx]

What's the age/type of the receiver? Is the receiver newer, and you're passing a digital signal (i.e. HDMI) to it? How are you connecting the cable box to the receiver?

The receiver is relatively new. I was switched to digital last year. I don't know how it's hooked up. There is the receiver, a DVD player, and a VCR hooked up to the television. It was all connected by a Cogeco service man who came when I was having problems with the DIY network. My roommate had hooked up the cables before (they were coax, I know that much), and the service guy disconnected redundant cables for me. It's all hidden within an entertainment unit and I don't know what is going where.

It's not my TV. It was digital-ready. Just not HD-ready. It was working fine with the digital when it was first connected.

After giving it a lot of thought, though, I've determined that the delay occurs only on CBC, and only during broadcasts in which CBC (or, mores specifically, local stations CHEX) picks up American network signals and rebroadcasts them here. Those 2 programs where the problems have arisen are Jeopardy! (ABC) and People's Court (Fox29).

I didn't make the connection before because I watch Jeopardy! on channel 7, which is ABC, but is switched at Cogeco to broadcast the Canadian station, CHEX, which is channel 2. (It's a Canadian thing.) I watch People's Court on channel 2. I thought it was 2 different stations having the problem when, in fact, it is really only one.

Whichever way CHEX picks up and broadcasts the signals from the originating stations is, I believe, the problem. Somehow the signals are getting out of synch somewhere along the line.

I was looking for a reason, not a fix. I'm not all that bothered about it. It's nothing I can't live with. If it starts happening with other stations and/or networks, I'll become concerned.

 

[roadtripboy]

Having worked in local TV, I suspect the problem is at the TV station. I would call them and ask them about it. Most likely they're going to play dumb and say it's not them. But, they'll check and maybe fix it.

Tell them you believe their audio is "out of sync", and tell them which shows.