Delay when using optical output on Sony KD43XE8005

[C33lll]

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 

[C33lll]

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

any more ideas/advice?

thanks.

[rooobb]

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

[C33lll]

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.

[C33lll]

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...

[C33lll]

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.

[C33lll]

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.