Forum Discussion

MrUnhappy2's avatar
MrUnhappy2
On our wavelength
5 years ago

Audio Sync problem with new 360 box

I have had the new V6 /360 box for 10 days and have problems with the audio synchronisation.

My TV is a 4 year old 50" Sony Bravia with Sony sound bar. When I had the Tivo and the model before it I never had any problems.

The audio is okay with the soundbar off but when using the soundbar the audio drifts after about 5 mins. I have tried Dolby On/Off settings , audio delay set to 20m/sec and follow audio On/Off. All work for 5 mins then drift. 

I have telephoned Virgin on 2 occasions the 2nd time getting through to their 2nd tier support. Went through all the power down re-boot etc  but still the same issues.

Anyone else have this problem and any suggestions?

 

Thnks

  • Wulbury's avatar
    Wulbury
    5 years ago

    After advice from 3 different tech guys on the phone I finally got one who talked me through how to solve the problem So the fault is fixable it's just getting the right agent to talk you through it

  • goodykpg's avatar
    goodykpg
    On our wavelength
    5 years ago

    Hi, I have same equipment sony tv and sound bar , sound disappears completely once or twice every hour . Switch off sound bar and back on sound back .Like you tried new leads and every setting  on box  ,rebooted bar and tv still same . No fault if box off and just tv on  & blu Ray on . Never had this fault on V6 . Got to be glitch in box  , not impressed as Virgin don't seem to be interested about fix.

    • MrUnhappy2's avatar
      MrUnhappy2
      On our wavelength
      5 years ago

      Thanks for your reply. Yes like you, Virgin do not want to know. There is obviously a software issue with the V6 but they will not admit it

       

      Good luck but am now thinking of moving to BT. They are also cheaper with a better package. 

    • hafizahmed's avatar
      hafizahmed
      On our wavelength
      5 years ago

      I have excatly the same issue , sound goes , picture stays and sound returns in a minute or two distorted for a few more seconds (30) then returns to normal.

      • roy247's avatar
        roy247
        Superstar
        5 years ago

        That sounds like a completely different problem, maybe you should start a new post.

  • Wulbury's avatar
    Wulbury
    Tuning in
    5 years ago

    I also am having problems with audio sync.I have a 3 year old Philips TV Ian getting this problem on all channels without using soundbar It is not a TV fault as I never had any problems with V6 box 

    Virgin told me that they had fixed fault online but 2 hours later fault reappeared. Also when I switch on after been off at mains I have to switch TV off and on twice

      • David_Bn's avatar
        David_Bn
        Forum Team
        5 years ago

        Sorry to see we've been unable to fix this on our end.

         

        Have you perhaps spoken to the manufacturer of the sound bar to see if they're aware of the problem and have a workaround to fix this?

         

        Kindest regards,

         

        David_Bn

  • Ahmedf6's avatar
    Ahmedf6
    Joining in
    4 years ago

    Im having the same issue with audio sync. My tv is Panasonic and soundbar is Sony. The setup is soundbar to tv via hdmi arc, 360 box to tv. additionally the remote volume deactivates time-to-time and I have to re-pair. Really frustrating, as the engineers are now saying its a software issue, not a hardware. It worked perfectly fine before upgrading. 

    waiting to hear on what the next steps are regarding this from virgin. 

  • tafrock's avatar
    tafrock
    Superfast
    4 years ago

    To solve this you must connect direct from 360 box to amp

     

    I do this using optical from virgin box to Sony ht3 amp 

     

    I connect hdmi from virgin box to Sony bravia TV (hdmi socket not hdmi arc)

     

    I have No connection from amp to TV. This causes the sync problem 

     

    Follow my steps and it should solve all audio problems 

    • Ahmedf6's avatar
      Ahmedf6
      Joining in
      4 years ago

      optical connection via vbox to tv or tv to amp works fine. Its a setup ive used before HDMI ARC was introduced. 

      The problem with this setup is you now need to use 2 remote to control sound. Unless, you’re setup allows that. A step backwards in comparison to all other boxes, including the old v6 box. 

      guess virgin have to step up with firmware updates pretty quick. 

       

      • luk34dd0's avatar
        luk34dd0
        Dialled in
        4 years ago

        Same issue for me.  The issue is with Dolby audio.  If it's switched on then there an audio sync issue.  Switched off in the settings and the issue has gone (but things sound worse).

        I use HDMI ARC from the TV to the soundbar.

        Changing Audio Sync just makes the problem worse because you can only + it.  The sync issue needs to be -.

         

    • Castelerizzon's avatar
      Castelerizzon
      On our wavelength
      4 years ago

      Thank you for your advice. I was going mad trying to fix this, thought I had tried everything until you suggested unplugging the HDMI from the Sony sound bar. That seems to have fixed it and I'm so relieved.

      In summery I now have the Panasonic TV connected to the 360 with HDMI and the Sony sound bar to 360 with an optical cable. All is well.

      • Travis_M's avatar
        Travis_M
        Forum Team (Retired)
        4 years ago

        Perfect, great to hear this is now fixed.

         

        Have a great day!

         

        Regards

  • tafrock's avatar
    tafrock
    Superfast
    4 years ago

    The only cec function I have lost by using optical instead of hdmi is the auto power on or off of my amp. I have to manually turn it on

     

    I can still control the volume of my amp using virgins remote. There is an option on the settings menu to allow virgin remote volume control to control amp volume instead of TV volume. So my TV sound is permanently on minimum (off) and virgin remote controls amp volume 

  • tafrock's avatar
    tafrock
    Superfast
    4 years ago

    But negative sound delay won't solve the problem lukdd. The sync delay varies   sometimes its OK sometimes its not. 

     

    Is there a reason why you can't connect via optical direct from box to amp. It works fine. Hdmi arc seems to be the problem 

    • luk34dd0's avatar
      luk34dd0
      Dialled in
      4 years ago

      Actually you're correct there about the - audio sync. It wouldn't really solve the issue.

      I could use optical but only from the TV to the sound bar, not from the 360 box to the sound bar directly (I'll try it later).  This is because I use a few apps on my TV to watch content and my soundbar can only receive one input (I hope I've explained that properly).

  • tafrock's avatar
    tafrock
    Superfast
    4 years ago

    Yes totally understand where your coming from. I have TV apps too and a blueray player and my amp only has one optical avd one hdmi. So I leave the hdmi disconnected. Unfortunately if I want to use apps or blueray I have to reconnect the hdmi to hear sound. Its not that much of a problem for me but I can understand for some it would be. My main viewing is virgin though and optical definately solves the problem. It's not necessarily a problem of virgins cause even though the old way of connecting worked with v6 

     

    I don't think dolby was properly implemented on v6. It is on 360 and sound is far better and properly in dolby surround. If you do a search on Internet you will find a wide variety of products suffer this sync problem.  It's very common and is caused by the picture processing using hdmi arc taking different amounts of time depending on the TV connected to it. Only after picture processing is finished does audio then get sent to amp. 

     

    Using optical direct to amp takes the TV for sound anyway out of the equation 

  • smilerlisa's avatar
    smilerlisa
    Tuning in
    4 years ago

    Hi all.

    I have recently re-joined Virginmedia and we are using a 360 box and have noticed the audio sync issue, its bad on some channels. We dont use a soundbar just hdmi direct to tv for the audio and video.  We only changed to Virginmedia because BT had issues in the bad weather so its very disapointing to have this issue. Looking through the thread there doesnt appear to be a fix or much of a responce from Virgin staff about the issue?

    • MrUnhappy2's avatar
      MrUnhappy2
      On our wavelength
      4 years ago

      Hi All,

       

      I started this thread back in October 2020 and have given up trying to resolve the problem. I now only use my TV with the soundbar off.

      I did have a mobile number for a Virgin tech guy who was very helpful. He tried his best but could not resolve the issue. This included buying an optical cable but only led to distorted audio. We tried Dolby on/ off and many other settings to no avail. The last time we spoke he was going to escalate the issue" higher up" as he agreed there was a software problem with the 360 box, This after sending me a replacement unit with the same problems. Just to confirm my configuration worked ok with the old Tivo box and its predecessor.

      It is now 3 months since my last communication with Virgin partly due to apathy on my part. I am now going to phone them again and will post if I make any progress. 

  • tafrock's avatar
    tafrock
    Superfast
    4 years ago

    Distorted audio on your soundbar using digital optical has got to be a settings issue on your soundbar surely. Sometimes you have to tell the soundbar you are using optical in settings. Was the optical lead taken direct from virgin to soundbar (ideal solution) or did you use optical from tv to soundbar 

    TV to soundbar would introduce all sort of settings issues dependent on tv model. I wouldn't recommend that 

     

    My sound is perfect using optical. 

     

    Unsure why someone has lag issues without a soundbar. That's weird though if I didn't have a soundbar I would definately turn dolby off as its not necessary with TV sound 

    • luk34dd0's avatar
      luk34dd0
      Dialled in
      4 years ago

      Without the soundbar and Dolby through my TV speakers instead, I have the same sync issue as using HDMI ARC from my TV to my soundbar. 

      Only the Virgin 360 box outputting Dolby has an issue with this setup.  My old Sky Q box was fine, Fire TV 4k fine, Google Chromecast 4k is fine, 4k BluRay player is fine.

      It's not an issue with my TV or HDMI ARC from the TV to the soundbar.  It 100% definitely only happens with Dolby audio from the Virgin 360 box.

      With Dolby switched off on the box, there are no issues. 

      • Field99's avatar
        Field99
        Tuning in
        4 years ago

        Just a message to say I have the same issue, connecting a Dolby Atmos soundbar to my tv via e-arc HDMI caused delayed audio when watching something on my virgin 360 box, making it unwatchable.

         

        Turning the Dolby output off on the 360 box has fixed it...not an ideal solution (would prefer to have dolby sound given my soundbar supports it, but at least the sound is now in sync and still better through my soundbar than compared to my TV speakers)

  • tafrock's avatar
    tafrock
    Superfast
    4 years ago

    Must admit I too have no sync issues with any other equipment I own via arc but the Internet is full of people that do have non virgin equipment suffering the same problem. The 360 software must have introduced something that causes this problem. However optical direct  to soundbar definately solves the problem of you want to fix it. This is also the recommended fix on the Internet for non virgin audio sync issues 

    • luk34dd0's avatar
      luk34dd0
      Dialled in
      4 years ago

      For me personally, it's easier to switch off Dolby audio and have my audio in sync.

      If I only consumed media via the 360 box, I would connect it directly to my soundbar via optical.

      Hopefully it's something that will be fixed in the future.  I'll be following this thread with interest though.