TV Audio and Video out of sync.

[DonandBonnie]

I now have a DirecTV HD dish. After the installer first put it up, I noticed that the audio lags the vidio by a little more than a second. Watching TV is like watching a poor version of one of those old dubbed Godzilla movies. The dish is set up to be portable so that when we move we can take it with us. An adjustment on the dish will not affect the problem.

When I pointed it out to the installer he said that I would have to replace the cables associated with the surround sound system to fix it. He couldn't tell me what type of cable I needed, but he suggested that all wiring including the speaker wires within the walls would have to be replaced. I can't say that I trust this guys advice, so I thought I would ask you folks, the experts. Any ideas? Thanks, Don

[H. John Kohl]

The speakers wires would have nothing to do with the delay.
Can you receive your sound directly on your TV. That would be my first test if it is out of sync there, then I feel the problem is the satellite receiver. If it is in sync there then we attack the rest.

[mazboy]

i agree, it is your receiver, probably direct and not the TV

[bw2]

Are the recvr and the surround sound connected by HDMI? If so are you connected using the ARC HDMI connection? Try changing the HDMI connection from the surround sound system directly to the TV and see if the problem still exists. The wiring to the speakers are not the problem in my opinion. I have my DTV recvr connected to a Panasonic surround sound system and it is fine.

[CATCRAW]

We had the same issue. I do not believe it is the DTV dish or receiver, but the sync on the audio receiver. Ours has a setting where you can adjust the audio/video sync by increments until it matches up. Ours is the Samsung that came in our Montana. If you have your manual it should walk you through the menu settings. It fixed our issue.

[DonandBonnie]

Yes, I now see that it's a receiver issue. I turned the recever off and am now using only the speakers on the TV and everything is in sync. I think the problem is probably the way the thing is wired. It appears that the receiver is wired to the TV with the red/yellow/white cables, but the DirecTV box bypasses the receiver and goes directly to the TV with an HDMI cable. There is no in/out capability for an HDMI on the receiver, so I guess I'll have to learn if I can do it all with the red/yellow/white cables. If so I'm going to have to buy a set.

Two things I need to do first: One change out the TV to the one we had in the stick house which is the same size but more energy saving than the one that came with the Big Sky. The other thing is the receiver. The one that came with the Big Sky won't play my Blue Ray DVD's. I'm told by the Geek Squad that if I run an add on Blue Ray player through the recever it will nullify the Blue Ray effect. They say I have to replace the receiver with another with Blue Ray capabilities. I probably should get the Blue Ray receiver before doing a much of wire changing.

[DQDick]

Sounds like you're getting a handle on it. Good luck! Once you get the new receiver, if you're still having problems, bring it back on here. Someone will surely have experience with whatever model you purchase.

[kylec2]

Our rig came with the Samsung HT-C650 home theater unit and we had similar issues because it had no HDMI inputs and only one HDMI outputs. In addition, the unit did not support Blu-ray format.

The problem you are having is caused because part of your system is using analog (for sound) and part digital (for picture). Your system is natively digital so a delay is created converting from digital to analog (for sound), while having no delays for the picture since it is digital all the way.

We bought the Samsung HT-C6600 which supported blu-ray, had two HDMI inputs and one HDMI output. The HT-C6600 allowed us to connect the DirecTV receiver to the receiver via HDMI and the receiver to the TV via HDMI. Going all HDMI eliminated signal delays (what you are experiencing) and gave better sound as well.

If you want to avoid buying a new receiver then run both your video and audio from the DirecTV box to your receiver and then from your receiver to the TV. The problem I ran into was that my old HT-C650 simply did not have enough input and connections to pull this off. This was not terribly bad since I wanted something that would play blu-ray discs (grin) and the HT-C6600 was the same size as the original HT-C650 (I even re-used the original speakers).

[Carl n Susan]

I suspect someone (the DirecTV guy) futzed with the way the Stereo/DVD player is connected to the TV. Originally (before DirecTV arrived) the Stereo/DVD player used a HDMI cable to output DVD images to the TV. The TV had an optical output to the Stereo/DVD player. This configuration enabled playing DVDs with the 5.1 sound coming out of the stereo speakers (TV sound should be minimized). If the TV was getting its signal from cable or OTA, then HD 5.1 audio was outputted from the TV on the optical cable. You did have to set the Stereo/DVD player to "D.IN" input to hear the audio (while still minimizing the TV's sound).

Note there was no red/yellow/white cables involved (aren't component cables limited to 480I pictures?- yuck!).

There is a fundamental problem when you try to add HD DirecTV to the mix. The Stereo/DVD player has only one HDMI output and *NO* inputs. The Stereo/DVD player's HDMI cable runs down through the wall (no chase to speak of, just a bunch of cables jammed down through the wall) into the TV (which does have multiple HDMI inputs). Ideally the DirecTV receiver should have its own HDMI cable to either (ideally) the stereo/DVD player or the TV. Since you can't connect to the stereo/DVD player you need to connect to the TV. But it is almost impossible to drag another HDMI cable down the wall. You could let the HDMI cable hang loose in the air from the upper cabinet down to the TV but that looks ugly.

The quick and easy solution is to insert a HDMI switch in the upper cabinet.

The switch has inputs for the DirecTV output and the stereo/DVD player HDMI output. The switch then outputs one or the other signal to the existing HDMI cable running down the wall to the TV.
"HDMI Switch Information"

This is the way I cabled up DirecTV in my 3700RL (thanks to Brenkco for the idea and the switch). I have spent a lot of time in that cabinet and that was the quickest/cleanest/inexpensive solution. The stereo/DVD HDMI cable has a connector already in the upper cabinet so tapping in is easy. Switching between the two sources (DirecTV v. DVD) is easy with the remote. As we don't watch a lot of DVDs, I rarely have to switch the signal source. Most importantly, there is no sound delay when using the DirecTV signal and outputting the 5.1 sound through the stereo!!

If you want Blue-Ray, then you will have to add a DVD player with that capability. I see at least two ways to do that. One inexpensive way is buy just a Blue-Ray DVD player (small and under $100) and add its output HDMI cable to the switch. The more expensive way is to replace the existing Samsung stereo/DVD player with one that has Blue-Ray capability and multiple HDMI support. Then you won't need the external switch. But remember the new stereo/DVD player has to fit in that cabinet with a limited height opening and you may have to adapt the existing speaker wires to the new device..

If you have any questions, PM or email me and we can talk.

[illapah]

I don't trust your installer either - wires is wires. change them out and you still got wires.
I doubt that is your problem. Just because the guy works for and electronics company doesn't mean he knows any more than you do! Especially given his 'fix' for your problem.

[CATCRAW]

Thank you "Carl n Susan" for the detailed information. I just ordered a switch and plan on rewiring my setup as your approach sounds much better then my current setup. Thanks again for sharing!

[DonandBonnie]

Yes, thank you "Carl n Susan". I'm going to follow your advice also. The installer told me to buy a long HDMI cable and have the dealer run it through the wall. That still wouldn't have corrected the audio/video lag. Your advice is so much simpler.

[Carl n Susan]

quote:Originally posted by DonandBonnie

Yes, thank you "Carl n Susan".

No problem, I just had to help someone with a 6.7L Ford and a Big Sky 3700RL