Why is Netflix A/V sync off on particular episodes?

November 26, 2017 8:51 PM

In the past few days, I’ve been having trouble with A/V sync on Netflix—the video is ahead of the audio.

This has only happened on Peaky Blinders S1, E4 and S2, E6. We have tried:
-restarting the Roku
-deleting/reinstalling Netflix on the Roku
-unplugging the Roku, waiting 30 seconds, and plugging it back in
-playing a different show to see if the problem continued (it did not) and switching back (problem continued as before

Restarting occasionally causes the audio to sync correctly for 3-5 seconds, but then the video jumps ahead so the two are out of sync again. I have searched old questions and Googled, but those questions/answers all dealt with Netflix on computers. Is it the Roku, Netflix, the show, or the duendes?

posted by epj to Technology (6 answers total)

It's Netflix. I just checked on a Tivo and it was doing the same thing. Email them and tell them that you spent 30 minutes troubleshooting it and want a credit on your next bill.
posted by intermod at 9:15 PM on November 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

Some years ago I had some sync problems with Netflix, and I'm almost certain it was an encoding problem on their end. I emailed them about one? of them and IIRC they said thanks. Now that I think about it they used to pop up quality surveys back then, too.
posted by rhizome at 9:42 PM on November 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

I recently discovered by accident that on my fancy-ish new-ish TV, there is a "sync audio/video" option in the Audio menu. If the sound and video are off when I'm watching something, I can choose this option and a slider bar comes up and I can wiggle it back and forth until they're synced. I was amazed. I am sharing my amazement in case it turns out to be relevant to others as well.
posted by Orlop at 4:51 AM on November 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

I had Netflix and Hulu issues on the Roku this weekend. I'm writing it off to the hordes of new users that bought the services at Black Friday prices overwhelming the servers.
posted by COD at 5:53 AM on November 27, 2017

I'm experiencing the same problem on the same episode. I just chatted with Netflix support and they said this:

"It is an issue with the title we can fix, let me guide you on reporting this from your Viewing Activity

To check your Viewing Activity, hover over your profile picture, select Your Account, then scroll down to My Profile section and select Viewing Activity. There you can find the Report a Problem link next to the episode, click on it and select the situation that happens, that is out of sync, and any details you may want to add."
posted by punchtothehead at 6:04 AM on November 27, 2017 [4 favorites]

This is relatively common and has happened to us as well. We also use Roku, and the searches I did at the time led to me changing from Dolby + in the audio settings to regular Digital Dolby. It usually works, but then crops up again in a month or two. You may be able to find the current fixes by search for audio not synced along with your streaming service and name of box (Roku 4, etc).
posted by seasparrow at 9:50 AM on November 27, 2017