How to fix audio sync problems on Xbox 360?

June 22, 2011 2:19 PM

How can I fix audio / video sync issues with an XBOX 360 playing DVDs? The voices and picture are out of sync with each other. Cable is HDMI, and the TV is an LG 32 LH3000.

Discs are original not pirate copies. Any thoughts on what this could be?

posted by Tapioca to technology (9 answers total)

Is it just isolated to the TV? (eg. will they play ok on a computer?)

I think I narrowed it down to it being your audio output selection. Try using AC3 instead of DTS:

"There is a synchronisation problem with the sound and the picture when viewing an HD Channel (PS3 HD; Freesat HD; Sky HD set top boxes)
Most LG HDMI ports do not support the DTS HD signal, so please change the audio settings on your set top box to either PCM or AC3"
posted by samsara at 2:38 PM on June 22, 2011

It it only DVDs that are out of sync? Do you use the TV's internal speakers?
posted by The Lamplighter at 2:41 PM on June 22, 2011

The post that samsara dug up appears to be only applicable to broadcast TV with DTS-HD coded audio (also found in Blu-ray discs, but I suspect that no TV broadcaster is using DTS-HD Master Audio yet - they are probably using DTS-HD High Resolution Audio as a competitor to Dolby Digital Plus). DVDs never contain DTS-HD audio. Still, it may be that LG is hesitant to disclose that they screwed something up in a DTS decoder, so it's worth a shot.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 3:28 PM on June 22, 2011

Thanks for all answers so far!

Using the TV speakers only.

TV isn't hooked up for broadcast TV, so don't know if there are sync issues there. Games seem fine, though, don't know if that is relevant.

How do we try Ac3?
posted by Tapioca at 3:34 PM on June 22, 2011

Hrmm, looking at my PS3 I see a setting under Settings -> Video Settings -> BD/DVD Audio OUtput Format (HDMI). Try setting that to Linear PCM if it is set to Bitstream.

Otherwise you could try different settings within the DVD's menu as well...2ch instead of Dolby, etc. I'm kinda thinking Inspector.Gadget is on to something about LG possibly messing up on the decoder and perhaps they were quick to phase that model out of production.
posted by samsara at 4:00 PM on June 22, 2011

Oops! I just left an ask.me thread talking about a PS3. Unfortunately I don't have an xbox nearby, but there might be a similar setting.
posted by samsara at 4:03 PM on June 22, 2011

Long story short:

The 360 is a terrible DVD player.



Yes, that article is 4 years old. No, it hasn't improved since then.

Get a cheap upscaling player from bestbuy/target/walmart/whatever and you'll be much better off,
here's a bunch under $50

Or, for a little bit, you can get a blu-ray player for a little under a hundred. It's not a huge, huge difference on a 32" set, but it's noticeable.
posted by Oktober at 4:57 PM on June 22, 2011

Whoops, this article
posted by Oktober at 5:07 PM on June 22, 2011

The Xbox 360 isn't a great DVD player but I've never noticed it having any significant AV sync problems.
posted by The Lamplighter at 7:58 PM on June 22, 2011