I understand that plugging in to the soudbar’s HDMI port reduces the audio latency.

1. Should this practice be followed also with streaming sticks such as Fire TV and Chromecast?
2. Are the soundbars able to pass through the VRR signal as well?

Mar 12, 2024 08:18 AM By Gavi

1

I understand that plugging in to the soudbar’s HDMI port reduces the audio latency.

1. Should this practice be followed also with streaming sticks such as Fire TV and Chromecast?
2. Are the soundbars able to pass through the VRR signal as well?

1. Yes, it should!
2. This is actually something that depends on the soundbar. If you check out our Video Passthrough to TV results on any review, you’ll be able to see whether the bar can passthrough the VRR tech you have in mind.

Hi! Can you please help me? I have a samsung q990c soundbar and lg oled c3 tv. So i can’t decide which hdmi port is better to use? Because tv’s hdmi is 2.1 earc with many features and big bandwidth. But the soundbar has only hdmi 2.0 with it’s limited bandwdith and as i understood worse hdr performance because of hdmi 2.0 limitations. Is hdr performing noticably worse with hdmi 2.0 vs hdmi 2.1?

Mar 20, 2024 11:00 AM By Wixen

3

Hi! Can you please help me? I have a samsung q990c soundbar and lg oled c3 tv. So i can’t decide which hdmi port is better to use? Because tv’s hdmi is 2.1 earc with many features and big bandwidth. But the soundbar has only hdmi 2.0 with it’s limited bandwdith and as i understood worse hdr performance because of hdmi 2.0 limitations. Is hdr performing noticably worse with hdmi 2.0 vs hdmi 2.1?

Hey there! HDR movies and shows work with HDMI 2.0, so if you’re just watching content, you can use the ports on the soundbar. HDR performance won’t be any worse than using HDMI 2.1 in that situation. If you’re gaming, you need the full HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on the TV to take advantage of modern gaming features like 4k @ 120Hz. All four ports on the C3 have full HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, so if you want to use them, you can plug your soundbar into the TV using the eARC port and plug everything else directly into the TV. I hope that helps!

Mar 20, 2024 12:37 PM By  Ben Trudeau

Hey there! HDR movies and shows work with HDMI 2.0, so if you’re just watching content, you can use the ports on the soundbar. HDR performance won’t be any worse than using HDMI 2.1 in that situation. If you’re gaming, you need the full HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on the TV to take advantage of modern gaming features like 4k @ 120Hz. All four ports on the C3 have full HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, so if you want to use them, you can plug your soundbar into the TV using the eARC port and plug everything else directly into the TV. I hope that helps!

Thank you for the reply! And what about hdr in games on ps5? I think, that if im not going to play games that support 4k 120hz, that would mean that hdmi 2.0 would be enough to get best sound quality and colours in hdr?

Mar 20, 2024 01:19 PM By Wixen

3

Thank you for the reply! And what about hdr in games on ps5? I think, that if im not going to play games that support 4k 120hz, that would mean that hdmi 2.0 would be enough to get best sound quality and colours in hdr?

No problem! 4k @ 60Hz with HDR will work on the PS5 with HDMI 2.0. Sound quality and HDR colors will be the same as they would be with HDMI 2.1. You will need to use the HDMI 2.1 ports on the C3 if you want to play games on your PS5 in 4k @ 120Hz or if you want to use VRR.

Mar 20, 2024 03:19 PM By  Ben Trudeau

No problem! 4k @ 60Hz with HDR will work on the PS5 with HDMI 2.0. Sound quality and HDR colors will be the same as they would be with HDMI 2.1. You will need to use the HDMI 2.1 ports on the C3 if you want to play games on your PS5 in 4k @ 120Hz or if you want to use VRR.

Ok, i undrestand now. Thank you!

Does passing audio through the soundbar first mean you could play Dolby Atmos content with a tv that doesn’t support Atmos passthrough? In the sense that you would be able to bypass the restriction since the audio is sent to the soundbar first and doesn’t need to passthrough the tv or will it still not work unless every connected device is Atmos enabled

Aug 16, 2024 01:01 AM By edward88

1

Does passing audio through the soundbar first mean you could play Dolby Atmos content with a tv that doesn’t support Atmos passthrough? In the sense that you would be able to bypass the restriction since the audio is sent to the soundbar first and doesn’t need to passthrough the tv or will it still not work unless every connected device is Atmos enabled

Hello edward88, You are correct. What the TV supports or does not support does not impact the bar’s capability when using passthrough. In fact, you could connect your source to the bar and the bar to a projector, which typically does not even have speakers, and the bar would still output Dolby Atmos if it supports it.

I bought a new soundbar, Samsung HW-Q600C (3.1.2). I have an older Sony TV that doesn’t support and of the latest audio codecs, etc. I has an HDMI ARC and that’s it. I have my soundbar (HDMI eARC) connected to that HDMI ARC. I also have a Google Chromecast 4K connected directly to the soundbar. When I play movies on Plex, Kodi, etc. and the audio stream is 7.1 Atmos, I notice audio sync issues. When I switch 5.1 AV-3 the issue is gone. And tips on how to fix the out of sync issues without having to manually setting the audio by 25ms increments?

Aug 31, 2024 12:14 PM By candeh

1

I bought a new soundbar, Samsung HW-Q600C (3.1.2). I have an older Sony TV that doesn’t support and of the latest audio codecs, etc. I has an HDMI ARC and that’s it. I have my soundbar (HDMI eARC) connected to that HDMI ARC. I also have a Google Chromecast 4K connected directly to the soundbar. When I play movies on Plex, Kodi, etc. and the audio stream is 7.1 Atmos, I notice audio sync issues. When I switch 5.1 AV-3 the issue is gone. And tips on how to fix the out of sync issues without having to manually setting the audio by 25ms increments?

Hello Candeh,

Unfortunately, there is not much you can do to solve the problem you are describing. We did notice that audio streams with more channels lead to increased audio latency within the soundbars themselves. I would guess that Plex and Kodi on the Chromecast are a major part of the problem here as well; there is no doubt more processing being asked of the streaming stick with those 7.1 Atmos files.

I wish I had better news, but at least the HW-Q600C’s “Sync” control is only a few button presses away! (Press it 3 times, then use the Up/Down buttons to adjust).

All the best!

-Mike

Hello and thank you for this information! The question I have is what exactly does the AVsync feature in the soundbars app do? Based on this article I understand that you can not fix audio being late, you can only delay sound but not the picture. However on most modern TVs the picture will be ahead so how does it work?

For example your review of the Sony Bar 8 shows a high audio latency, 100ms+. In the description you wrote “you might want to compensate for the high latency by manually adjusting the avsync correction in the app”.

I dont understand how that fits with the information in this article. If the problem of the bar 8 is bringing the audio way late while my tv has a 5ms input lag all hope is lost right? I cant get those 2 synchronized properly if it is not possible to delay the picture?

Just a bit confused hope you guys can help :)

EDIT: To add to this, I also dont understand how it is possible that using the soundbars hdmi passthrough doesnt increase input lag. So my TV in game mode 120fps deliverd the picture in 8ms. The AVsync error you messured lets say with the LG s95R is 0ms. That means video and audio are in sync, there is no input lag added so the sound has to be coming out in 8ms as well for that to make sense right? However the audio latency is somewhere around 50ms on that same bar. I dont get how switching the order of devices makes that make sense. Either the bar has to be suddenly superfast or the tv slower than before.

Dec 05, 2024 12:56 PM By meesbaker

71

Hello and thank you for this information! The question I have is what exactly does the AVsync feature in the soundbars app do? Based on this article I understand that you can not fix audio being late, you can only delay sound but not the picture. However on most modern TVs the picture will be ahead so how does it work? For example your review of the Sony Bar 8 shows a high audio latency, 100ms+. In the description you wrote “you might want to compensate for the high latency by manually adjusting the avsync correction in the app”. I dont understand how that fits with the information in this article. If the problem of the bar 8 is bringing the audio way late while my tv has a 5ms input lag all hope is lost right? I cant get those 2 synchronized properly if it is not possible to delay the picture? Just a bit confused hope you guys can help :) EDIT: To add to this, I also dont understand how it is possible that using the soundbars hdmi passthrough doesnt increase input lag. So my TV in game mode 120fps deliverd the picture in 8ms. The AVsync error you messured lets say with the LG s95R is 0ms. That means video and audio are in sync, there is no input lag added so the sound has to be coming out in 8ms as well for that to make sense right? However the audio latency is somewhere around 50ms on that same bar. I dont get how switching the order of devices makes that make sense. Either the bar has to be suddenly superfast or the tv slower than before.

Hi meesbaker,

Thanks for your question! The A/V Sync feature on the Sony Theater Bar 8 can only delay audio from the Soundbar. You can add 0 to 300ms of delay to the soundbars output, so if your audio is already delayed compared to your TV, you can’t reduce it below that for better sync between the two. We’ll take a look at the explanation we give in the review to clarify this for the future!

As for a suggestion to minimize A/V sync delay, using the HDMI-In port from your Source to the Soundbar and then to the TV is probably your best move for reducing latency. It’s worth noting that AV-Sync error is more perceptible when audio leads video, so a slight delay between Video and Audio won’t cause a dramatic perceivable lip-sync error for most.

Amazing analysis.

There is an issue with eARC connections to soundbars that is not often reported. I have an LG B4, with the audio settings enabled for HDMI eARC and “Pass Through”. I tested two different soundbars: Bose Smart Soundbar 900 and Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 9. Based on RTings latency tests, I agree that the Bose has lower latency than the Sony soundbar.

However, while the Bose has lower latency through eARC Pass Through, it has an odd problem when playing Dolby content: it has a 3 second delay in actually outputting the audio. To clarify, this is not A/V sync delay or latency, it is a delay of the audio playing when you press play. For example if I pause a movie I’m streaming, then press play very shortly after, the audio is muted for the first 3 seconds while the video plays. The Sony also has this delay, but it is much less at around 1 second.

Interestingly, if you turn eARC off and use regular ARC on the LG settings, this delay goes away. Similarly, there is no delay when playing PCM content.

Do you have any insights on this and could this be added to future RTings reviews? It is quite annoying and seems to have been a problem for a while, here are some examples from various soundbars and TVs:

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/bose-900-sound-bar-sound-delay-not-out-of-sync-and-atmos-issue.3235750/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Soundbars/comments/zhhvmm/no_sound_for_23_seconds_whenever_i_start_a_video/ https://www.reddit.com/r/VIZIO_Official/comments/g27lqv/sb36512f6_three_second_audio_delay_on_start/

Thank you.

Jan 07, 2025 12:03 PM By UsualSuspect

1

Amazing analysis. There is an issue with eARC connections to soundbars that is not often reported. I have an LG B4, with the audio settings enabled for HDMI eARC and “Pass Through”. I tested two different soundbars: Bose Smart Soundbar 900 and Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 9. Based on RTings latency tests, I agree that the Bose has lower latency than the Sony soundbar. However, while the Bose has lower latency through eARC Pass Through, it has an odd problem when playing Dolby content: it has a 3 second delay in actually outputting the audio. To clarify, this is not A/V sync delay or latency, it is a delay of the audio playing when you press play. For example if I pause a movie I’m streaming, then press play very shortly after, the audio is muted for the first 3 seconds while the video plays. The Sony also has this delay, but it is much less at around 1 second. Interestingly, if you turn eARC off and use regular ARC on the LG settings, this delay goes away. Similarly, there is no delay when playing PCM content. Do you have any insights on this and could this be added to future RTings reviews? It is quite annoying and seems to have been a problem for a while, here are some examples from various soundbars and TVs: https://www.avsforum.com/threads/bose-900-sound-bar-sound-delay-not-out-of-sync-and-atmos-issue.3235750/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Soundbars/comments/zhhvmm/no_sound_for_23_seconds_whenever_i_start_a_video/ https://www.reddit.com/r/VIZIO_Official/comments/g27lqv/sb36512f6_three_second_audio_delay_on_start/ Thank you.

Hi UsualSuspect,

I’m happy to read that you’ve found this work interesting!

The annoying delay to the start of audio playing on a soundbar is very real, and something that we’ve noticed here when we test these devices. We’ve actually had to keep these delays in mind when designing testing software (an example is the software I wrote for the audio latency test, so that data capture doesn’t start before audio is actually playing). Some soundbars are worse than others and it seems to occur any time the input audio format is changed.

I don’t have a definitive answer for you as to why the delay in the start of playing audio exists, but I suspect it comes down to processing power of the soundbar.

I think this could be a very interesting test for a future test bench (especially because we all agree its annoying)! I’ve added it our internal list of aspects to consider once we start working on the next iteration!

Thanks for commenting, Mike

I really enjoy this part of the reviews, because I have had no luck finding a soundbar to work with my LG C8 OLED, granted none I’ve tried have been really expensive. My searching led me to looking to soundbars with multiple HDMIs, which is much harder to find than I expected. This latency part of the review is helping me sort rank them too. My idea is to find soundbars with multiple HDMIs (at least 2 inputs) plus the output to the TV, to allow for Roku and the DVD player to be connected to the soundbar first. Searching the internet has been harder than I expected as HDMI inputs is not a common searchable item. And many searches I come up with are just giving me older models that are no longer made. I was hoping to search here as well, but again, it is not a searchable feature. I have found a few by going model by model. Is there any way you could help me by providing a list of current soundbars that have at least 2 HDMI Inputs + the HDMI eARC output? I appreciate your help.

Hi, I have a question about the video latency comparison of the soundbar vs when it is directly connected to the TV.

Since 120hz support is becoming common on soundbars as well, do you plan on testing the video latency for a 120hz signal as well? Since the latest TVs can achieve a very low latency of sub 5ms with 120hz, I’d imagine the difference could be bigger than it is with a 60hz signal.

Hi Reerden,

While we do not currently have plans to test video latency for a 120Hz signal that is passed through a soundbar, from what we measured in this article, the video passthrough capability of a soundbar does not add latency to the video stream. You can expect the same video lag as if you connected your console directly to a TV. In other words, if a TV offer 5ms video latency with 120Hz, it is safe to assume that a soundbar with 120Hz passthrough capabilities would still offer a video Latency of 5ms when connected to this TV.

Of course this will add a slightly larger delay between audio and video if the video stream comes even earlier, but the added delay would be negligeable considering that the A/V sync error is in most cases mostly due to audio delay and not video delay.