Some movies are not in good lip-sync. Can that be adjusted?

Lip-sync is a cumulative problem with potential errors entering at any stage in the broadcast chain where video is delayed and an equivalent audio delay is not added to counteract it. It can occur during post production, broadcast (at many stages), and even in disc mastering - and finally your TV may add more video processing delay (especially if HD or 4K TV) making it worse. The only way to correct it completely and have perfect lip-sync is to adjust (or shift) the audio relative to the video at the final output stage. That can fix lip-sync error no mater where it came from.

Since it has been documented that lip-sync error - even when not consciously noticed - causes viewers to perceive the characters and story as "less believable" , many cinema enthusiasts use external delay boxes made by companies like Alchemy2, Felston, Primare, etc.to intercept the audio and delay it to match the video perfectly via remote control.

I use a Felston DD740 and contrary to what the industry believes I can detect lip-sync errors down to the millisecond. I mean when I adjust the DD740 and achieve what looks perfect moving it a ms either direction looks "off". Most viewers will never see "perfect" lip-sync if they aren't performing such an adjustment while viewing.

Getting it "close" - perhaps within 30 or 40 ms - will allow most viewers to ignore it but the study done at Stanford showed the negative impact was still present.

The current theory to explain this is that our brains - even subconsciously - can't process the impossibility of sound before lip-movement and we look away from the lips to avoid the impossible and in doing this we form the same opinion of the characters as we have of people who don't make eye contact with us. Ironically "we" are the ones not making eye contact with the characters in order to avoid the impossibility of sound before lip-movement.

You can run your own test to prove this: Force yourself to focus intently on the lips and you will see lip-sync error you never noticed before. You were ignoring it because it was below your "threshold of recognition" and looking away could conceal it.

After the cable change and adjustment you didn't notice lip sync error because it was probably below that threshold but something ( a digital video effect in the broadcast possibly) boosted it above your threshold and you noticed it again. The only way to eliminate the negative impact is to look for the error and adjust it out.

Most AV receivers and some recent TV's offer a fixed audio delay to correct lip-sync error and that can usually get it close enough that most people won't consciously be bothered but masking the problem like that doesn't eliminate the negative impact on the characters and story.

Vizio HDTV- Lips out of sync

Anyone with a new Vizio E601i-A3 60" or 70" HDTV that is having audio "Lips out of sync problems" with a cable or satellite box.

On Comcast cable boxes (or others), here's what you need to do: FIND MENU for AUDIO or HDMI setup on CABLE BOX or Satellite Box.

FOR COMCAST

1. Turn on TV and have Cable box Turned OFF.

2. Press MENU on COMCAST REMOTE.

3. Go to AUDIO Setting OR HDMI Setting. (On cable or Sat. BOX)

4. Change setting from Auto to L-PCM. (Turn off cable box to exit)

This should resolve any "out of sync" lips to picture after commercials on HD channels.

*This is a handshaking issue from the cable box to the Vizio E601i-A3

This usually happens when your computer is running other applications or when your surfin the net while burning the film when burning dvds. turn the transfer rate to a lower one instead of max and try not to use the computer when its doing as it takes alot of processing power to transfer it. if you have a fast computer just means it keeps going out of sync lower the transfer rate and it will be fine

Have you connected the Blu-ray player to an AV receiver. If so you can go into the setup of the Receiver and adjust the Lip Sync in some receivers its called Timebase Correction. It will be given in milli seconds. This adjustment allows the use to delay the voice in milliseconds to sync with the picture. Maybe even your Bluray player setup might have this feature. Mostly it is done by the Receiver.

This monster has a lot of built-in opportunities to tune or mis-tune the sound but nothing to deal with the effect you're addressing.

A discussion of lip sync:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_to_video_synchronization

There is extensive use of audio and video signal processing circuitry with significant delays in television systems. Particular video signal processing circuitry which is widely used and contributes significant video delays include frame synchronizers, digital video effects processors, video noise reduction, format converters and MPEG pre-preprocessing.

The video monitor processing circuit may delay the video stream. Pixelated displays require video format conversion and deinterlace processing which can add one or more frames of video delay.

A video monitor with built-in speakers or line-out may not delay sound and video paths by the same amount of milliseconds. Some video monitors contain internal user-adjustable audio delays to aid in correction of errors.

Therre is serious time delay issue in the processing of the audio and the video section. It is possible that the time delay circuit could be aggravated within the processor IC. It is important to use a test signal to clarify. If the TV is working fine with all other inputs and cable then you must check your kenwood for sync issues. I think this will require very professional attention and may be beyond the scope of this forum. Good day

When viewing on Digital TV:-
Sometimes Audio and Video signal can not be transmitted simultaneously due to additional process time for the video signal compared to that of the audio signal.
Often video signal takes more time than the audio signal to convert from analogue signal to digital signal in the Digital TV.
It may result in mismatch of the picture and sound.
In the TH-G30/40's HD AV Sync menu, you can adjust the audio signal delay for simultaneous AV signal transmission
1. Delay time can be varied in 10msec steps.(0 to 300ms)
2. Delay time is different between TV Brands.
So you need to adjust the delay time for correct lip-sync.
The adjustment is listed in the instruction book page12

Look at the settings on the DVD/Receiver you are using. There is an option for adding a delay between the movie and the sound. Try to adjust that.

This may be the broadcast, or the service provider's equipment. We have seen this before. Most people are not too sensitive to lip-sync problems unless they are very severe. With digital TV distributions and the many conversions and signal processes along the way it is possible to have many types of delay problems. On my own TV set which is on a digital cable service I see this on a number of stations.


Jerry G.

Lip-sync error is a widespread problem caused when video is delayed and audio arrives too soon. Widespread enough that three different manufacturers make dedicated products to address it, in fact (see review link below for those three). It is present to some extent in essentially all broadcasts and DVD?s. If you have a recently acquired DLP, LCD or plasma display it may have added enough additional video delay to make it noticeable but lip-sync error comes from MANY sources starting at image capture and continuing through post production and broadcast or DVD encoding and it is cumulative. There is usually enough lip-sync error in broadcasts and DVD's to cause a negative impact on viewer perception (Research done at Stanford showed this.) Many people don't consciously notice it until it gets very large because it's such an unnatural phenomenon ( audio can't come before the action causing the sound in the real world) we apparently subconsciously avoid looking at the faces and seeing the lips move "after" the sound from them is heard. A study at Stanford proved this causes negative viewer perception even for those who don't notice it so this is something we all need to notice as you already have. For those reading this who haven't noticed it, take a close look at the LIPS - force yourself to overcome your natural avoidance mechanism that keeps you from looking at the lips - and you will see lip-sync error you never noticed before. I think you will be amazed that you could possibly not have noticed it before. You will be seeing what JC is seeing. I even see it now on CRT TV's and am amazed I never noticed it so it's very obvious some avoidance mechanism is at work. And back to JC?s solution: I'd recommend one of these digital audio delay units. That way you can correct for ALL cumulative lip-sync error no matter what its source might be. Any one of these units reviewed will correct it ALL. With any one of these units you can adjust for perfect lip-sync at the start of each DVD or broadcast and not disturb the image you are watching during that fine adjustment. I have had a Felston DD340 since 2004 (three generations earlier than the DD740 covered in the review) but it still has the most important feature of all these units from these three different manufacturers which is their "plus and minus" buttons on their remotes that allow you to tweak the delay while watching your material without upsetting the video your are watching. My av receiver has a built in delay of 80 ms which isn't even enough audio delay to offset the video delay my plasma display adds but even if it were it isn't practical to adjust it for the changes in lip-sync error from program to program and DVD to DVD since it overlays the screen with menus when making the delay adjustment. With my DD340 (and any of the units reviewed) all you have to do is press the plus or minus button until you get perfect sync. Here is the review I mentioned: [URL="http://www.audaud.com/article.php?ArticleID=3011"]