[BuGsArEtAsTy]

I have the Xbox 360, and there are serious audio synchronization issues with the 360 HD DVD add-on drive . This problem seems fairly widespread, particularly with some titles. In fact, approximately 25-30% of people who have voted in that poll thread say they have audio sync issues. (MS is aware about it, but unfortunately we have no idea if/when they can do anything about it.)


I also bought the Toshiba HD-A1 and there were some audio synchronization issues with the HD-A1 as well (albeit milder), so I returned it. I have also seen posts about HD-A1 audio sync issues by some other members here claiming the same, at least with some titles , so I know I'm not alone. I don't know if this was ever fixed with the Toshiba, but my HD-A1 had firmware 2.0, and had the problem, so I'm guessing people still have this problem.


I haven't heard much on this with 2nd generation Toshiba HD DVD players. Does anyone with an HD-A2, HD-A20, or HD-XA2 have any audio synchronization / audio lag problems? If so, please post which disc(s), and which scene(s) show it the most.

 

[BuGsArEtAsTy]

BTW, I'm not sure how much of this is due to the discs themselves, but Amir claims that ALL HD DVD and Blu-ray players suffer from at least some audio sync issues.


I'm disappointed to hear this, but the claim seems to be supported by this poll. Already out of just 10 votes, four say they suffer the issue with the Toshiba HD-XA2.

P.S. There is something wonky with the poll calculations: 4/10 = 44%

I guess it counts each individual voter only once, even if s/he has two votes (for two players).

 

[BuGsArEtAsTy]

5/14 second gen Toshibas in this thread so far have audio sync problems. That's over 1/3rd.

The audio sync issue was never this bad with name brand DVD players early on. I got a $299 RCA DVD player in 1998 (less than a year after the launch of DVD) and it had no sync problems at all.

 

[almostinsane]

It's because these players are crap. Without more manufacturers making them and just relying on one company the quality will suffer. If I didn't already cut out the UPC code from my box I'd return the A2 I have today.

 

[BuGsArEtAsTy]



Quote:
Originally Posted by almostinsane /forum/post/0


It's because these players are crap. Without more manufacturers making them and just relying on one company the quality will suffer. If I didn't already cut out the UPC code from my box I'd return the A2 I have today.

FWIW, Amir (a biased source in favour of HD DVD to be sure) claims that his Panasonic Blu-ray player also has lip sync issues.


Also, while the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive is currently a Toshiba, MS will also be sourcing them from Lite-On soon. Anyways, the drive itself is irrelevant, since it's just streaming the raw data. The data is actually decoded by the Xbox 360, which is not a Toshiba product.


So, the claim that these issues are because there is only a single manufacturer is wrong.

 

[Bizill]

MAN, these sync issues just won't go away. i feel they will not be cured, either. but i am starting to lean more toward the fact it's the media more than the player. i went back and watched' king kong' again on my 360 add-on and had next to no sync issues. first time i watched it i thought it had issues, but just barely. played my 'we were soldiers' and it's very pronounced.


of course, standard dvd's have no sync issues at all in the hd dvd add-on...

 

[angelo913]



Quote:
Originally Posted by BuGsArEtAsTy /forum/post/0


FWIW, Amir (a biased source in favour of HD DVD to be sure) claims that his Panasonic Blu-ray player also has lip sync issues.


Also, while the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive is currently a Toshiba, MS will also be sourcing them from Lite-On soon. Anyways, the drive itself is irrelevant, since it's just streaming the raw data. The data is actually decoded by the Xbox 360, which is not a Toshiba product.


So, the claim that these issues are because there is only a single manufacturer is wrong.

I have agree about the Xbox 360. It looks like a Interface (USB) issue or a software playback issue.


As for the Toshiba players, I have the A1, me and family/friends that have seen HD-DVD movies on my 65" RPCRT for nearly a year, we have not had a sync issue.


IMO, the only thing that can cause these issues are HDMI compatibility issues with HDTV or audio receiver, video delay processing on the HDTV or audio delay processing.


IF, Toshiba has an issue it would be the HDMI compatibility with other HDMI devices. OR HDMI compatibility issues that your "other" components have with Toshiba can be a possibility.


....Angelo

 

[joffer]

i think you need to distinguish between audio lagging the video and video lagging the audio. the latter is pretty common, and usually fixable. the former is much worse. i've never seen the audio lag the video personally.

 

[Bizill]



Quote:
Originally Posted by joffer /forum/post/0


i think you need to distinguish between audio lagging the video and video lagging the audio. the latter is pretty common, and usually fixable. the former is much worse. i've never seen the audio lag the video personally.

take advantage. feel priveleged. be thankful. don't take for granted.

 

[almostinsane]



Quote:
Originally Posted by BuGsArEtAsTy /forum/post/0


FWIW, Amir (a biased source in favour of HD DVD to be sure) claims that his Panasonic Blu-ray player also has lip sync issues.


Also, while the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive is currently a Toshiba, MS will also be sourcing them from Lite-On soon. Anyways, the drive itself is irrelevant, since it's just streaming the raw data. The data is actually decoded by the Xbox 360, which is not a Toshiba product.


So, the claim that these issues are because there is only a single manufacturer is wrong.

One drive manufacturer, 2 for software. And both have significant problems.

 

[BadCommand]

I have the XA1 and had tremendous synch probs with my connection via 5.1 analogue into my rotel rsp-1098 (certainly not the pre/pro's fault.). I have since temporarily replaced the pre/pro duties with a denon 4306 for hdmi integration and I have absolutely no synch issues with any sources- including the XA1- running pure hdmi.


I did come across this thread searching on the A2, XA2 and x360 add on to find if these units have issues with skipping/freezing- which my XA1 does with exuberence- only to find other issues.


Skipping, freezing, synch or ?, what shall my poison be?!


What a fun time for HD formats.

 

[BuGsArEtAsTy]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Bizill /forum/post/0


MAN, these sync issues just won't go away. i feel they will not be cured, either. but i am starting to lean more toward the fact it's the media more than the player. i went back and watched' king kong' again on my 360 add-on and had next to no sync issues. first time i watched it i thought it had issues, but just barely. played my 'we were soldiers' and it's very pronounced.


of course, standard dvd's have no sync issues at all in the hd dvd add-on...

Judging by amirm's comments , he seems to agree it's a player problem (at least in part).

Quote:
Originally Posted by me /forum/post/0


However, do you know of any discs that are themselves problematic, or is this strictly a compatibility issue with certain hardware? The reason I ask is because some Toshiba players (at least the first gen) exhibit the same issue, and because the problem is not seen with all discs.

Quote:
Originally Posted by amirm /forum/post/0


Good question. We have indeed analyzed sync issues on multiple players. And problems exist in all the players we tested including BD. My Panasonic BD player for example, gets out of sync in some scenes and if you go back over them, sometimes they are in sync again (or better) or not.


Here is the dark secret here. With audio/video encoded separately and them "multiplexed together", a lot of black art goes into getting the two to match at playback time due to variations in decoder clocks, bugs in buffer management (both encode and decode), etc. When these anomalies occur, the player attempts to slow down or speed up one stream to catch. I suspect over time this situation gets better but for now, one cannot expect to see broadcast quality sync between audio/video in either format.


Having said all of this, we are trying to make things better in 360. But as I type this, I am still waiting on verification of which release contains such fixes.

P.S. So far 25% of voters have sync issues on their 2nd generation Toshibas. There are only 35 voters so far though.