Lip sync on Q90R with 5.1 input

[d00p]

I -- and judging from posts in various fora on the web, a lot of other customers -- experience lip sync issues with 5.1 surround sound input on the Q90R (firmware v1066).

Specifically, I experience this on TV channels that are broadcast with 5.1 sound, but not on TV channels that are broadcast with only stereo sound.

This means that I can watch a show on one TV channel with the (stereo) sound and picture in perfect sync, and then simply change channel to another TV channel to experience a mismatch between the (surround) sound and picture. Switching back to the first TV channel, the (stereo) sound and picture is again in perfect sync. So lame 😕

The lip sync issues are present using the Q90R built-in speakers as well as with a Sonos Amp -- however, again, only with 5.1 TV channels, which also means that I cannot use the options for adding a general delay on the sound/picture as that, while perhaps fixing the 5.1 TV channels, will simply shift the issue to the stereo TV channels.

@Samsung: Needless to say, having such issues on a flagship model is really bad.. What are the plans for fixing this (expectedly, through a firmware update to get the TV to process 5.1 sound input properly)?

[oinchats]

I have the Samdung Q90R oled.  I have the lip sync problem but not when streaming.   Is that normal if cable stations have the lip sync problem?

[userjYtfoTda0t]

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@oinchats wrote:

... I have the lip sync problem but not when streaming.   Is that normal if cable stations have the lip sync problem?

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The large audio delay is normal for the case of:

*External source (e.g. cable box) routes Dolby Digital sound through the TV.

I don't have the delay from the internal apps, including the internal satellite receiver even with Dolby Digital sound (in my case optical output to my AVR). My work-around for external sources is to use separate sound output (Coax/Optical) connected directly to my AVR.

I can think of the following work-arounds for you:

1) For sources that routes sound through HDMI directly to the TV, switch the sound in the box (e.g. cable box) to PCM (or "Stereo" or "Normal", anything but DD,DD+ or similar).

2) Can you use the TV internal cable receiver instead of external? (with a "common I/F for subscription card).

3) Using external audio equipment (AVR or Soundbar) connect external sound through it, or sound separately to it.

[oinchats]

The PCM makes my $1000 Q80 soundbar sound like *****.  I am in my 70’s and can’t do the other things you recommended 

[userjYtfoTda0t]

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@oinchats wrote:

The PCM makes my $1000 Q80 soundbar sound like *****.  I am in my 70’s and can’t do the other things you recommended 

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If your cable box have a Coax or Optical digital sound output you should be able to connect that to the optical input of the HWQ80R. There are (rather inexpensive) converters available to convert coax to optical if that is needed. Those links can transport Dolby Digital 5.1 sound from the cable box. It could be that there is a separate setting in the cable box for that output to enable Dobly Digital sound. It might also have it's own audio delay setting to match the video delay in the TV.

An other way, if you have a free HDMI input on your HWQ80R soundbar, is to connect the cable box to that instead of the TV (one connect box). (I have seen reports of problem with CEC-HDMI control to select the correct HDMI input on the HWQ series soundbars, but perhaps others know more about this - if it is a problem.)

[me83]

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@userjYtfoTda0t wrote:

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@oinchats wrote:

The PCM makes my $1000 Q80 soundbar sound like *****.  I am in my 70’s and can’t do the other things you recommended 

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If your cable box have a Coax or Optical digital sound output you should be able to connect that to the optical input of the HWQ80R. There are (rather inexpensive) converters available to convert coax to optical if that is needed. Those links can transport Dolby Digital 5.1 sound from the cable box. It could be that there is a separate setting in the cable box for that output to enable Dobly Digital sound. It might also have it's own audio delay setting to match the video delay in the TV.

An other way, if you have a free HDMI input on your HWQ80R soundbar, is to connect the cable box to that instead of the TV (one connect box). (I have seen reports of problem with CEC-HDMI control to select the correct HDMI input on the HWQ series soundbars, but perhaps others know more about this - if it is a problem.)

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Yes, there are workarounds. However - paying premium prices for supposedly premium products should not require any workaround. It should work out of the box for the reason it was purchased. 

[slider34z]

Im with everyone that cant believe there are so many work arounds for this.  When its working its great!  Update to where im at with my setup and it might help other people.  This soundbar connected to my samsung q70 82"tv..

I read in the manual that to have the tv remote turn on the soundbar you need the optical cable connected to your tv from the soundbar.  I can do that easily enough but i use the hdmi arc for sound so im worried about confusing the setup even more.  I know my kids are getting tired of using 3 remotes just to turn the tv on.

We watched a movie on blue ray that had dts-x sound.  The tv still shows pcm in the sound expert settings but the soundbar did flash dts-x as the movie started up so im assuming it was dts-x passing through?  Bugs me that i cant see it on both but think it sounded pretty good.

I have my blueray and cable box both using the hdmi input 1 and input 2 on the soundbar.  My blueray player supports cec and my cable box doesnt apparently.  After watching a movie the hdmi 2 out with the cable box i would always have to power the entire soundbar sometimes even twice before the soundbar would even see the hdmi 1 input.  Not a great work around but i can use the smart things app and select input 1 and get cable working again without any reboots.  

Still like it...still wish they would fix some of these bugs including turning on both with a single remote.  I might try the optical cable but again hate to break this fragile setup 

[fatguy666]

I mentioned further up that I have a different Samsung TV and soundbar (NU8000 and HW-MS650) but the issue is still the same - passing audio from an external source through the TV to the soundbar causes a delay.

Finally gave up last night and decided to pass the souce (a gaming PC) through the soundbar first. It eliminated the delay but comes with it's own set of issues. For one, I had to disable "HDMI UHD Color" on the TV as I would get when ever it was enabled the Windows 10 would turn on HDR and I would get a resolution error. However, I tested an HDR film and a game with HDR and both show that HDR is working.

The second issue is this soundbar turns off when there is no audio playing after 15 minutes. I use the PC for browsing a lot so this will probably get annoying very quickly. I've seen claims this was fixed with a firmware update but that doesn't appear to be the case. We'll see if it's better than putting up with the audio delay.

Passing video through the soundbar also means I lose a lot of resolution options. When the PC was connected to the TV I had no issues running at 1440P120 but the soundbar doesn't like this. Not a huge issue.

The soundbar no longer turns on with the TV if the source is left on PC. Rather than bring the soundbar control out of retirement, I've got the "Samsung Wireless Audio" skill set up on Alexa so I can turn it on by voice.

Finally, while my kit might not be as high end as the rest of the stuff here, I still paid a pretty penny for it and would expect the stuff to just work without having to jump through hoops. Next time I'll just go for a AV receiver and be done with it.

[slider34z]

Did you try this by chance?  No idea if it works but read this while looking for my own fixes...

To turn off Auto Power Down function, while in “AUX” mode, press and hold the play/pause button for 5 seconds. “ON - AUTO POWER DOWN” / “OFF - AUTO POWER DOWN” appears on the display

[fatguy666]

Cheers. Doesn't work unfortunately, only seems to be applicable to the AUX source. Got the latest firmware installed, hoped that it was maybe limited to EU but both US and SK look to be the same.

[fatguy666]

I have actually worked out my own solution to the soundbar turning off. There is an where if play a video it take 1 second for the device to actually activate and play the sound. There is a registry edit that can fix this but didn't work for me. I did read about something call "comfort noise", which is a setting on an Nvidia Shield that sends a silent audio signal to a device, tricking it to stay on.

So I've got a Sound Blaster in my PC. That was previously connected to the soundbar through optical but for that to work you can't have HDMI-CEC enabled as it overrides the optical (thanks Samsung!). I need HDMI-CEC for my Firestick now so doing that isn't an option. Given the first part of my post (and the fact that everyone is using Zoom at the moment) I thought maybe I could have a microphone or something on all the time to act as my "comfort noise". They say a picture tells a thousand words so here is what I've done https://i.imgur.com/w4ANCkD.png

No sound is coming from that device, just a signal to keep the soundbar on. This doesn't affect any other sounds that I might play, like games or video. I set a timer for 15 minutes and left the computer alone and the soundbar stayed on! Gave it another 15 minutes for good measure and it still stayed on. Finally happy with my setup again!!!