big sur 11.3 sound and movie file issues

I have this issue as well. At first I thought it was a problem with my Apple TV 4Ks. Now I've realized it occurs during playback on the TV app as well. I am on Big Sur 11.3.1. It only occurs with my downloaded videos. The audio begins to drift and after about ten minutes there is a two second delay between the audio and the movement onscreen. There is also crackling. After ten minutes, the sound goes out completely. You can reset the audio temporarily by skipping back or exiting and resuming the video, but it begins to drift again afterwards. This software bug is only in the TV app and home sharing. If I play the same files with a different video player, the audio is in sync. It does not occur during streaming. Only with my downloaded video files. I hope apple is aware of this issue and working on a fix. It is very annoying and doesn't look good on the company, considering they just put out new Apple TVs. A lot of people are going to think their new Apple TVs are defective or just plain crap. Playing videos is about as basic a function as there is on a computer.

Likewise, I’ve got over 23,000 MP4 files in my library and really don’t fancy encoding them all!

First of all it only seemed to be affecting H265 (HEVC) encoded files, but it’s also happening on a few H264 files too. I’ve also tried just re-encoding the audio to AC3 and AAC but still get the same result.

Apple support say they are aware of the issue and that resetting NVRAM and reinstall macOS has fixed for some users. I’ll try it tomorrow when I’ve got more time but not expecting it to work.

I don’t think Apple care about people with local media libraries anymore as every single new update seems to introduce a new challenger.

You won't be surprised to hear that resetting NVRAM and reinstall macOS as apple support recommended, did not work.

I have fixed by downgrading an old MacBook air back to 11.2.3. I did this by creating a boot disk for 11.2.3, erasing the hard drive, then reinstalling the OS.

The problem I now have is that I cannot move my library from my MacBook Pro running 11.4 to the MacBook Air now running 11.2.3. This is because the TV App is an older version and the library file is not compatible.

> audio is crackling

FWIW I have a .mkv movie (VP9 and AAC) converted to .mp4 with ffmpeg (re-encode to H.264 and copy AAC as is) that faintly crackles in Big Sur 11.4 QT Player while in IINA it is OK.

I made another .mp4 with ffmpeg (re-encode H.264 and re-encode AAC) that plays OK in QT Player.

Invisor does not show any apparent flaw or difference in the copied AAC that crackles. Weird.

Does it occur if booting in Safe Mode >> Shift << immediately at Startup ?

Update: Restarting the Mac twice solved the issue :)

I'm having the same problem but only with certain files.

Re-encoding with FFMPEG does not fix the problem, but re-encoding with Handbrake does.

I've used FFPROBE to examine the file but cannot find a unique video or audio parameter that would make some plays ok and other not. Has anyone else managed to identify why it only affects certain files?

Yup I have the problem too. Never had an issue since the very first AppleTV came out now both my Mac and AppleTV have out of sync audio when using Apples software. Using VLC however everything is fine.

I feel validated, seeing that this is an issue for others. I just spent all day trying to figure out what I did wrong when trying out new streaming software for doing a screen capture. All day. Never imagined it was the player -- a software client I would consider essential to the operation of the operating system. But when I opened the files up in Audacity and VLC, they played crisp and clean. This kind of reinforces that open-source software can be of a higher quality (or at least result in a higher quality of life for the user) than even the most basic software built by Apple.

Hey,

Thanks for the quick response.

The file seems to have weird metadata. Try a normal mp4 file.

I have added an MP4 file on Microsoft OneDrive, and you can try using that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bLAq8IerjA

Thanks!!

Hey,

Could you please include more information in your question?

Like the type of video file, type of audio file, audio player, video player, Mac model and/or browser if streaming.

Audio issues after update here too. Sound returns after restart but quits after about 5 minutes - tested watching YouTube video and playing Apple Arcade game. Will try Safe Mode next. Side note - not having a reason to look at this before, I've just noticed "Internal Speakers" are not listed under Sound System Prefs Output. Only "iMac Speakers" are listed.

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020)

I'm so glad to see that I'm not alone. I'm having this same issue. I've spent a week trying to resolve. I've done a number tasks such as restore my mac (6 different times), restore apps, uninstall apps (I couldn't figure out how to uninstall TV app). I've been researching articles and no one has figured this out. It only occurs in TV (app) and not VLC. In fact, I have a Macbook with Catalina still and the MP4's work fine. So this issue has something to do with BigSur. Hopefully Apple can resolve quickly.

Restarted multiple times - no difference. My TV app library is currently unusable. I do have 5KPlayer and VLC in the meantime, neither of which is suffering this issue, but it would be nice to know if there is a decent workaround or when it may be fixed.