Lip sync issues: switch to use with Sonos Beam, Sky Q, HDFury Arcana setup?

andrewl

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Sorry this is long. I thought I'd just put it out there as it may be of interest to others in the same boat; maybe someone has some bright idea of something else I can try. Right now, I do not have a solution to this.

The problem:
As others have found on various forums, lip sync is out using Sky Q with DD5.1 enabled, via TV's HDMI ARC ports to a Sonos Beam. Video ahead of audio, so unable to fix with delay settings. No lip sync problem when Sky Q set to 'Normal' rather than Dolby Digital.

Hardware:
Philips 48OLED+935
Sonos Beam (1st Gen), plus sub, plus 2 x PLAY:ONE
Sky Q v3 box (ie. the HDR-enabled one - problem predates this box though - lip sync was also out using a v1 box)
Apple TV 4K 2nd Gen (2021)
Sony Blu-ray player
HDFury Arcana (firmware v0.84)
Kinivo 4K HDMI switch (550BN)
Brand new Amazon Basics 1.8m HDMI leads throughout

Setup (pre-Arcana)
Sky Q, Apple TV, Blu-ray, Sonos Beam each connected to a TV HDMI port (all TV ports are ARC-enabled)
TV set to use 'HDMI Sound System' for audio; 'Multichannel' format
Sky Q set to DD5.1
Result: Lip sync out; picture ahead of sound. Changing Sky Q to 'Normal' sound output fixes sync.
I also tried using the Sonos HDMI > Optical adapter at this point (Sky still connected to TV HDMI 1, but TV optical out also connected to Beam). No difference.

At this point I read about the HDFury Arcana and took the plunge.

Setup 1 (post-Arcana)
Sky Q set to DD5.1 and connected to Arcana
Arcana > TV HDMI 1 and Sonos Beam
Other hardware disconnected
Result: All works. No lip sync problems at all - but at this point, Apple TV and Blu-ray not connected. Switch required.

Setup 2 (post-Arcana, plus switch)
Sky Q set to DD5.1 and connected to FiveHome 5-port HDMI switch input 1
Apple TV > switch input 2
Blu-ray > switch input 3
Switch output > Arcana
Arcana > TV HDMI 1 and Sonos Beam
Result: No lip sync problem, but frequently the TV would just go into standby while watching something. Or, Sky would pop up a 'this screen does not support HDCP' error from time to time, which would resolve by putting the Q box on standby and switching back on.
Taking the switch out of the chain and going back to just the Arcana resolved those issues completely - but at the expense of having Apple TV and Blu-ray connected.

Conclusion: change the switch! I returned the FiveHome and ordered this one: Kinivo 550BN

Setup as per Setup 2, but with the Kinivo switch
Result: no more random TV switching off, no more random HDCP errors, but lip sync regression, in a weird way...

Sequence:
TV on standby
Sky Q on standby
Switch on Sky Q - also wakes TV via CEC
Sky Q menu page presented
Start watching any channel (by exiting the Sky menu)
Lip sync is fine
Press Home on the Sky remote
Sync is lost. You can hear a slight skip in the audio the instant you press the Home button
Sync is now out unless I go into the TV's Source menu and re-select HDMI 1. That corrects everything - until I go back into the Sky menu at which point sync will go once more.

I have also tried using a different HDMI port on the TV to connect the Arcana to (seems to work - until the TV is switched to standby. Problem returns when TV is woken again).

I am almost at the point where I will take out the Arcana and switch and just go back to setting the Q box to 'Normal'. While I could almost live with having to keep manually re-selecting HDMI 1, it's just not a 'wife-friendly' solution. This stuff needs to just work. If anyone has any bright ideas, I'm all ears. The only potential solution I can see is to keep buying and returning switches until I find one that works. If there's a reasonably-priced switch someone can recommend, I'd like to know!
 
— As an Amazon Associate, AVForums earns from qualifying purchases —
Not sure about reasonably priced but the HDFury Vertex2 works well in combination with the Arcana.

Joe

PS Some customers have had good results with a Switch from Roofull.

 
Thanks for the reply. You're right - the Vertex2 doesn't quite fit my idea of 'reasonably priced'! But I'll keep looking.
 
Update: I seem to have got everything working with the current hardware. The problem I described above, where the sync would go out every time I went into the Sky menu was resolved by turning off the Q box’s HDMI control.
The down side is that turning on the Q box no longer automatically wakes the TV, but I can live with that. A long press on the Q remote on/off button activates the TV.
If this holds, I think I’ve conquered it…unless merely saying that curses it of course.
 

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