Audio delay between Xbox 360 HDMI and optical cable!

pinkacidbootson · 17 Sep 2008 at 22:03

I used this hack: http://www.chadledford.com/?p=50 to use HDMI and digital optical out for my Xbox 360 without paying £20 for the official cable/dongle, but now I get sound coming through the optical cable and to the TV via HDMI at the same time, and there is a noticable delay in the sound through the optical cable, less than half a second.

So now I have 2 problems, the sound delay and having to turn down the volume on the TV every time I use the Xbox! Anyone got an idea why it does this? I don't want to have to buy the Microsoft cable cos it's a rip-off tbh.

cokecan · 17 Sep 2008 at 22:11

the 360 outputs audio and video on all of its outputs at the same time as far as I know, that is why you hear audio on your tv via hdmi and through your amp via optical. never heard of the audio lagging via optical however? I have my non hdmi 360 connected via optical and have no lag.

What have you got the optical cable connected to?

Kreeeee · 17 Sep 2008 at 22:17

It's not a 360 issue as mine is fine.

As said, how are your devices hooked up and what are they?

geordie10 · 17 Sep 2008 at 22:49

Mine is also fine.
I have the sound from my elite going into a denon surround sound amp and the picture into the tv via hdmi.
I do not have any delay.

pinkacidbootson · 18 Sep 2008 at 01:05

Before I went HDMI I was using the component cable with the optical cable going into my Z-5500 speakers and it was fine.
I do the same with my PS3, HDMI into the TV and optical output going to the speakers and there is no sound delay.

Ignoring the sound delay for a minute, is there a reason why the sound goes through both the HDMI cable and the optical output at the same time? Does it do this with the official HDMI + audio dongle?

Tobes · 18 Sep 2008 at 11:57

Yes it will do it.

Reason why is because HDMI was built to carry sound and video. Not being funny but it's down to your setup.

I have my Samsung TV on internal mute. If I want to watch normal TV the audio goes to my amp.

My 360 is connected to my amp via HDMI and then HDMI to my TV.

So you are stuck with turning down the volume or if you do have your TV hooked up to your speakers then put it on internal mute.

Dingleberry88 · 18 Sep 2008 at 12:30

Got an optical out on your TV?

If so, try using that instead of the optical out on your 360.

Jonnycoupe · 18 Sep 2008 at 12:46

Dingleberry88 said:
Got an optical out on your TV?

If so, try using that instead of the optical out on your 360.

Most are only 2 channel stereo, not 5.1 and I cant help thinking that would only add to any delay.

Was the delay there on the ZZ5500's before you started using HDMI?

Have you changed between the two dolby digital options in the Xbox dashboard.

EL_JOCK · 18 Sep 2008 at 15:04

Hi,

It's not very simple to sort this as a few factors need to be looked at.

However to start with you must understand that the HDMI carrys picture and sound in snyc (not the boy band) to the tv, but your also sending sound over optical cable into an ext amp in effect splitting the sound from the picture, it then gets processed before going to your speakers(5.1 system) thats why it is no longer in snyc with the tv.

Within your amp setup menu there should be a dely setting over the input that the optical cable is going into in Milly Seconds (MS) all you need to do is adjust this up or down to match the sound from the tv, but!

and there is a but!

I very much doubt you will get this spot on, as now the sound is coming at you in 5.1, plus out the tv, all that stuff in the rear channel will be out of snyc due to distance, normally you would snyc for lip but as game charcaters can never give 100% lip snyc you need to do this on a film.

Also if the distance on the speakers to lsiting spot are not right this will make it out of snyc, so get the tape out and adjust, also are the speaker levels correct does the white noise test sound the same out of all speakers (you do need a sound meter to get it right you will never get this right with just your ears)

If you do have a sound meter i can tell you what level it should be

So in short if the lip snyc is ok on your amp on a film it's best just to turn off the tv's speakers during a game.

pinkacidbootson · 19 Sep 2008 at 01:16

With the PS3 I can set the video to go through HDMI and the sound to go only through the optical output. I assumed that the Xbox 360 would do the same

seems a bit silly that the sound goes through both outputs.

As for the sound delay, it doesnt happen with my PS3 on the same setup, or at least the sound delay might be so small that I've never noticed it when watching DVDs/Blu-ray. I'll try a DVD on my Xbox and see if I notice it through the speakers.