Audio dropouts or out-of-sync sound with a soundbar or AV receiver
If the sound cuts out briefly while the picture plays on (or disappears entirely until you restart something), and your sound comes from a soundbar or AV receiver (we’ll say “soundbar” from here, but everything below applies to both), the cause is usually the audio format changing as you move between apps and channels. Streaming apps often send Dolby audio while most live TV channels are plain stereo, and each change of format forces your TV and soundbar to re-establish their audio connection. That handshake is the brief silence – and if it gets stuck, the sound can stay off until a restart. The same stuck handshake can also leave the sound out of step with the picture, often from the moment everything starts up, until something is restarted.
The fix is to keep the audio format constant, so there’s nothing to renegotiate.
The reliable fix: PCM at both ends
This works for any setup, and it’s the right choice if you’re not sure what your kit supports:
- On the Aero: Settings → Sound → Digital Audio Format → PCM
- On the TV: set the TV’s digital audio output to PCM as well (the menu name varies by brand – on Sony TVs, for example, it’s Settings → Display & Sound → Audio output → Digital audio out → PCM)
If your soundbar uses standard ARC and your TV has a separate eARC setting, switch that off too. It adds a negotiation step your soundbar can’t use, and TV manufacturers (Sony among them) cite disabling it as a fix for audio delay.
Then switch the Aero, TV, and soundbar off at the mains for about 30 seconds and back on, so the audio connection re-establishes cleanly. Without this step, a previously stuck connection can make it look as though the setting change didn’t work.
PCM converts everything to one simple, constant format that virtually all equipment handles reliably. The trade-off is that your soundbar receives stereo rather than a surround format. On most single-soundbar setups the difference is small, and it’s what stops the dropouts. If you’re running a full surround speaker system, the loss is bigger, so you may prefer to start with the surround option below and fall back to PCM only if the problems continue.
ARC and eARC: what your connection can carry
Most soundbars get their sound from the TV through the HDMI connection, and that link comes in two versions. Standard ARC has limited bandwidth: it carries stereo, or compressed surround formats such as Dolby Digital, but not full-quality multichannel audio. eARC is the newer, higher-bandwidth version, and it’s what’s needed for lossless formats including full Dolby Atmos. Both the TV and the soundbar have to support eARC to get its benefits; your soundbar’s specifications (or the label by its HDMI socket) will say which it has.
A mismatch between the two halves of the chain is a common cause of trouble. If your TV supports Atmos but your soundbar connects over standard ARC, the TV can accept audio from the Aero that the link onwards can’t carry, and it has to convert in the middle – more format changes, more renegotiation, more chances for the sound to drop or stick. The rule of thumb: choose audio settings to suit the device that finally plays the sound, not the TV in the middle.
If your Aero plugs directly into an AV receiver, which then feeds the TV, this section doesn’t apply: ARC isn’t carrying the Aero’s sound at all. The receiver gets the audio first, and Bitstream on the Aero is usually the right choice, since the receiver decodes everything itself.
Keeping surround sound
If your soundbar can decode surround formats, you can trade a little of PCM’s reliability for proper surround sound:
- On the Aero: Settings → Sound → Digital Audio Format → Bitstream
- On the TV: set the digital audio output to the option that passes audio through unchanged (commonly called Pass-through or Auto, depending on the brand)
Over standard ARC, this gives a Dolby Digital surround signal to any soundbar that can decode it – which is most surround equipment, including older models.
Over eARC, with a soundbar that decodes Dolby Atmos, the same settings deliver full Atmos from compatible content.
Bitstream sends the original audio for your equipment to decode, so the format still varies between content. If dropouts or sync problems continue on these settings, switch both ends back to PCM as above – reliability beats surround if your equipment is sensitive to format changes.
If the sound is out of sync
A constant audio format (PCM at both ends, above) is the fix here too, since a mishandled format change at startup is the usual cause of sound that’s out of step until you restart. If a small offset remains after that:
- Check your TV’s lip sync adjustment, if it has one. On Sony TVs it’s Settings → Display & Sound → Audio output → A/V sync; other brands have similar settings.
- The Aero has its own adjustment: press the Settings button on the remote while watching, then choose the audio delay option to fine-tune against the picture. Note it can only delay the sound further, so it helps when the sound is ahead of the picture, not behind it.
A quick way to narrow down where a delay lives: while the sound is out of sync, switch your TV’s sound output to its built-in speakers for a moment. If the TV’s own speakers are in sync, the delay is in the TV-to-soundbar connection rather than the Aero, and the soundbar’s own settings and connection are the place to look.
Still having trouble?
If neither setting helps, or the problem only happens on specific apps or channels, please get in touch and let us know your TV and soundbar models and how everything is connected – in particular whether the soundbar plugs into the TV (over ARC or eARC) or directly into an AV receiver.
For more on the Aero’s sound settings, see Sound & Audio.