Lip Sync issues - Sky Stream

[MattCray]

I went to visit my Mother in Law yesterday. 

To recap - she's on the current version of the software, but still had occasional lip sync issues with the puck. The "just change the channel" hack (I'm loath to call it a workaround - as Sky should be aware it's far from that) and that works to a greater or lesser extent mainly.

Yesterdays visit was to resolve another issue she'd flagged to me - on the surface level unrelated to the Sky Puck - but possibly of interest - in that the TV was switching off every 4 hours on the dot. This was easy to solve - it was the TVs Powersave mode kicking in - the absence of input from the TVs own remote control being the culprit, and this tricking the TV Into thinking it was dormant so could power itself off.

i also wanted to check that if unwound any lipsync compensation if put in on the TV (I hadn't) and on the puck itself (I had - so set that back to 0ms) 

Of more relevance I switched the Sky Pucks input into the TV to the eARC HDMI socket - and I have to say, things seemed to improve on the Lip Sync front.

So - very much still under review - but the combo of the new Software and switching to eARC (the HDMI cable was already high speed) seems to have got us to a place where while it's not perfect, it seems to be acceptable.

It does all leave a bad taste though - Sky have been flogging this product for 2 years, it's targeted at not technical users (my mother in law is in her mid 70s, and this is the first foray we've made into streaming for her) and the Lip Sync issue really undermined our - but more importantly HER - confidence in the viability of the solution.

Shame on Sky for not resolving (if we can even call it that) this issue for such a long time - absolutely no excuse - and frankly they should be refunding customers. 

[charliedawg]

Yesterday I received Sky's response to my CISAS complaint re the lip sync issue. Interestingly, Sky's reply included the phrase "this is still a known issue currently there is no timescale for resolution".   I suspect you will look long and hard to find that phrase in the advertising "bumph".....

[MattCray]

Has anybody secured an agreement from Sky that the service is free or discounted due to this issue?

...nothing creates pressure to resolve like the haemorrhaging of money... 

[Super+Anthony]

I have asked but no luck 

[charliedawg]

I have just had an offer of a one-off "goodwill payment"  from Sky after complaining via CISAS about the lip sync problem.  I have rejected the offer as it is less than I claimed and also given that the problem, by Sky's own admission, is ongoing, a one-off payment is not appropriate.

[kendoe47]

My last encounter with the technicians resulted in a price reduction using my VIP status.

Sky Ultimate/Netflix 

Sky Sports

Sky Ultra HD and Dolby

Ad skipping

£57.00

I accepted this offer on the understanding that the impending price rises for this year would not be added, they kept their word.

I was also given a promise that the next software upgrade would fix the problems this never materialized. I am operating on Sky OS 1.3, build No QS035.016.00P, hardware model IP061-ef and I still have lypsync and freezing problems. My Puck is connected directly to my Lg Oled via HDMI 1 and my internet speed is in excess of 900 Mbps full fibre, I only use the TV,s sound.

My feeling is the issues are still there no matter what configuration of set up you have, is it Latency, software or hardware the might of Comcast Corporation/ Sky cannot work it out.

[MattCray]

It feels like the more people that Sky have to "comp" the more focussed they will be on the fix - I'll certainly make a play for it, and will report back. 

[AJM48]

I bought a good quality HDMI cable and stopped the olby audio option and it seems to have cured the issue (hopefully)

[kendoe47]

Hi, Nine times out of ten the lypsync only happens when I go from a app IE Netflix or YouTube back to Sky channels it doesn't happen all the time but more often than not. Change channels and flip back all is well.

The big problem I get which I don't see anyone having this issue is the message (Please be patient while we load your program) nothing happens and the puck freezes. Only way out of this is to unplug and wait while it reloads. Most annoying.

[Bluegiraffe]

Interesting....they gave me a £15 Tesco voucher and said there was nothing they could do...

It seems like they can do better - also, annoyingly, even though I claimed the voucher
it's listed as 'Awaiting Dispatch' and it's been almost 3 weeks.

Time to pick up the phone I guess

Bluegiraffe

[Super+Anthony]

It seems to be inconsistent that some people are getting something whereas some aren't

[Paul+Dray]

@MattCray wrote:

I went to visit my Mother in Law yesterday. 

To recap - she's on the current version of the software, but still had occasional lip sync issues with the puck. The "just change the channel" hack (I'm loath to call it a workaround - as Sky should be aware it's far from that) and that works to a greater or lesser extent mainly.

Yesterdays visit was to resolve another issue she'd flagged to me - on the surface level unrelated to the Sky Puck - but possibly of interest - in that the TV was switching off every 4 hours on the dot. This was easy to solve - it was the TVs Powersave mode kicking in - the absence of input from the TVs own remote control being the culprit, and this tricking the TV Into thinking it was dormant so could power itself off.

i also wanted to check that if unwound any lipsync compensation if put in on the TV (I hadn't) and on the puck itself (I had - so set that back to 0ms) 

Of more relevance I switched the Sky Pucks input into the TV to the eARC HDMI socket - and I have to say, things seemed to improve on the Lip Sync front.

So - very much still under review - but the combo of the new Software and switching to eARC (the HDMI cable was already high speed) seems to have got us to a place where while it's not perfect, it seems to be acceptable.

It does all leave a bad taste though - Sky have been flogging this product for 2 years, it's targeted at not technical users (my mother in law is in her mid 70s, and this is the first foray we've made into streaming for her) and the Lip Sync issue really undermined our - but more importantly HER - confidence in the viability of the solution.

Shame on Sky for not resolving (if we can even call it that) this issue for such a long time - absolutely no excuse - and frankly they should be refunding customers. 

---

Did you check the TV's own audio settings as I suggested the other day? Specifically in regards to the optical digital out. 

Also the Sonos Ray has an app that can be used to adjust what they call the 'TV Dialog Sync'. Might be worth checking out if it's already adding a delay by using the app. .

The Sonos guide website also suggests this:

"Disable extra audio processing on your TV and source device-

A common cause of this issue is an audio setting either on the TV or an external source device that is processing the audio before it gets to Sonos, causing it to be delayed. Check the audio output settings on your TV and any external source device, or contact the manufacturer for assistance in disabling these features."

I'd be inclined to set both the TV and puck audio output to Passthrough.

I'm getting this from here: https://www.sonos.com/en-us/guides/ray

This info here I found separately is related to adjusting Samsung TV audio digital output:

To enable audio passthrough on a Samsung 4K TV to a digital optical output, navigate to Settings > Sound > Expert Settings > Digital Output Audio Format and select Passthrough. Make sure the external audio device is connected via optical cable.

[BrianG]

Still waiting for this to be resolved 

seems more prevalent on Chan4 and iPlayer than on Sky channels. So leaving sky to use iPlayer on TV fixes my issue. 

I am sure Sky would rather have me stay on their platform. 

[Paul+Dray]

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@BrianG wrote:

Still waiting for this to be resolved 

seems more prevalent on Chan4 and iPlayer than on Sky channels. So leaving sky to use iPlayer on TV fixes my issue. 

I am sure Sky would rather have me stay on their platform. 

---

If you'd like suggestions to try from the customer community here you really need to give a full list of equipment used, how they connect to each other and audio settings on each device. May just be something that can be resolved through getting the sky puck setup in a way that will achieve best results with your own specific equipment. Yes I know in an ideal world it should simply be plug and play but tech isn't always like that now with the amount of variables out there.

[charliedawg]

About a month or so back, and after a year of complaining to Sky about the lip sync issue,  I put in a formal claim to CISAS as recommended by Sky ( see Sky terms and conditions).  An initial "goodwill" payment of £150 from Sky was rejected but I have now accepted an improved offer.  So if you have reached an impasse with Sky and either have a deadlock letter from them or have been complaining for 8 weeks or so,  this is a way of getting some recompense for Sky's failure to solve this problem.  As I have been accused on this forum in the past of "inciting" folks to react to this problem, suffice it to say that, if you wish to follow Sky's own advice to contact CISAS, you may get a successful outcome.