Apple TV - Audio/Video Not Syncing (Matching Up To Each Other)

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Apple TV - Audio/Video Not Syncing (Matching Up To Each Other)

I am not too sure why i am asking this. I had 2 previous Apple TV's that I returned for this issue, but someone told me it was fixed in 2.3, yet sadly, it appears to be no...

Here's the issue; I have (all new) many TV Shows, home movies, and rented movies and the audio/video are not matched on playback. It makes no difference on what connection (HDMI, component + optical, RCA, etc.). It makes no difference on encoder or file (handbrake, and a couple pay-for-programs). Going in as mp4, H.264 or not, etc. Makes no difference if connected to any of my 3 TV's, 2 stereos, or my buddy's TV. Also, makes no difference on whether it is local to Apple TV or streaming (though the streaming has the pause at the beginning).

In addition, when listening to music, the first 1-3 seconds is cut off.

Interestingly enough, the Apple TV software 2.0 worked! I returned that one because it melted the power cable that was connected to it, and I was unwilling to give it a second shot at the time (now have a fan on it....ridiculous!).

So, hope someone can either confirm it has an issue, or provide some insight. I have corrected the issue AFTER the Apple TV in the line (via the stereo's adjustment, but that is not on the TV I have intended for use, therefore is not an acceptable solution. I believe it needs to have an answer.

Thanks for all who clicked!

Power Mac G5 Dual 2ghz, Mac OS X (10.5.5), Apple TV 2.3

Posted on Jan 18, 2009 7:01 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 19, 2009 4:54 AM in response to Crabitus

The only time audio video sync has been a problem for me is when there is a problem with the media file, (conversion from spatial synchronisation to temporal synchronisation will often cause this if some of the original data is missing or corrupt).

A melted power cable is very unusual and there should really be no need to keep a fan directed at the unit, although I acknowledge they do run warm to the touch. I wonder if you are placing the unit in enough ventilation, when these units overheat it has been noted that playback gets affected.

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Answer 2

Mar 5, 2009 6:42 AM in response to Crabitus

You are not alone with this problem - am experiencing the identical problem with many of my videos encoded with AC3 soundtracks. The audio is either completely out of sync (always ahead of the video), or it fades in and out of sync as the video plays. Curiously, this ONLY seems to effect AppleTVs sending audio through the optical output, as my other AppleTV is connected via HDMI for both audio and video is always completely in sync.

I believe this is an AppleTV firmware bug and have submitted a report through Apple's Developer connection. I would encourage you do the same in order to bring more attention to this problem.

You can visit it using this link: https://bugreport.apple.com

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Answer 3

tmartine

Level 3

995 points

Mar 5, 2009 7:06 AM in response to Crabitus

i've had this problem on a few converted DVDs when the original DVD had scratches or dirt... removing the scratches and/or cleaning the disc before the re-conversion seemed to solve the problem... the out of sync files played fine in iTunes and elsewhere. seems like appleTV is checking the timing slightly differently than iTunes, quicktime etc..

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Answer 4

tmartine

Level 3

995 points

Mar 5, 2009 7:34 AM in response to tmartine

i'll just add that maybe the dirty scratched disc thing was completely inconsequential and there was some other reason the sync problem with the file and just re-encoding was the thing to do... but all of the bad files did have dirty and/or scratched discs and the software i used does deal with bad portions of discs... so don't know for sure, but just re-encoding worked.

Message was edited by: tmartine

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