Audio Delay Issue Xbox Series X with Dolby Atmos

Interesting post, thank you for trying and posting your findings.

I've had the audio delay issue for years and tried everything. I had the nu8000 Samsung TV before and recently got the qn90b and the issue is still present.

My set up is, Xbox series x > qn90b > onkyo 676.

If I do 5.1, stereo uncompressed, mono, there's no delay. There is only an audio delay with dolby atmos for home theatre option.

Your suggestion does not work on my end however, because the only way I can set the qn90b to pass-through is if I unselect the dolby atmos option under it, which allows me to change audio output format from auto or pcm, to pass-through but when I do that, the Xbox series x no longer detects my set up as dolby 5.1/7.1/atmls capable and says not supported so I can't even force the Xbox to output atmos.

As for the qn90b audio delay option, it's already at 0, and the delay is very noticeable in shooter games, but especially while watching movie.

Hello AnchelLabena,

We appreciate you for bringing this up to Xbox Forum.

We are sorry to hear that you’re experiencing audio delay when using Dolby Atmos for Home Cinema on your Xbox Series X with LG OLED C2 TV and Samsung Q950T Dolby Atmos soundbar.

We've found similar issues with LG OLED and LG Atmos soundbar (with rear speakers) and used an earc extractor (4k Dolby Atmos compatible) which completely solved the problem. You pass the audio HDMI earc out from the TV through the extractor and into the HDMI in of your sound bar.

Another user, states having delays using the Xbox Series X with Dolby Atmos games and apps such as Youtube and Gears 5 but NOT from the Dolby Atmos app’s demos. The Xbox is connected directly to their LG BX TV via the HDMI 2.1 and using eARC > ARC on their Onkyo TX-NR656. The TV’s apps do not cause this delay using Atmos, and the Dolby App on the Xbox.

We also found an explanation from another that the delay exists because natively, surround audio from a gaming console is in LPCM. To output a bit streaming format (or in this case a proprietary PCM codec like DOLBY MAT 2.0) it has to re-encode the audio real-time which introduces delay. And keep in mind ONLY a very select few games are in Atmos.

It's good to know that connecting the Series X directly to the soundbar works just fine and Atmos content will play as intended with no delay. However, this causes a loss in other features such as VRR, 120 Hz and more due to the soundbar not supporting all HDMI 2.1 features.

We understand that you want to do the setup with the console connected directly to the TV, as should be intended. We hope that the information we provided is helpful.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please let us know.

We will be glad to follow up and help you.

Sincerely,



Moderator

Microsoft Community

Well yes. The problem is constant. Whenever you’re in a game that uses Dolby atmos or even on Netflix through the series x. It needs a software patch to fix it. Delay is present on all Dolby atmos content

Issue has been reported multiple times by many people as indicated in this and few other threads (reddit, xbox forums, etc). I myself have opened several tickets (currently have one ongoing now) on the issue and yet it still hasn't been resolved. I have also created help tickets with Dolby Access Support, and their responses continue to be that it is a Microsoft issue in how it is outputting Dolby Atmos. Summary of my issues is below:

- Bitstream audio out no longer an option in the HDMI output settings. In the November 2021 update on the Xbox Series X, the audio settings page was changed and unfortunately the option to output bitstream audio was removed. Despite the many issues this has caused, Microsoft still has not fixed the issue. Please bring back the bitstream/lossless output formats instead of forcing PCM only.

- Despite Dolby Atmos being selected as shown in the picture, the Xbox is outputting PCM 'multichannel audio' instead of Atmos (receiver display shown in lower portion of picture). This appears to be causing delays/hiccups in the HDMI handshake process as whatever PCM signal is being sent is not fully correct and the receiver bounces between seeing multichannel audio and dolby atmos until finally settling on multichannel audio. To my earlier comment, being able to pass true bitstream dolby atmos audio to the receiver should eliminate this issue.

- I have the Xbox Series X running to the AVR and then to the TV in order to have access to all the audio formats. When I tried to run the Xbox directly to the TV and then audio over eArc to the receiver, the Xbox will only output PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital or Dolby Atmos. I have tested the TV/receiver and they are able to pass other formats (such as DTS:X) over eArc so it is an Xbox issue of not allowing all the formats to be output (possibly related to bistream vs PCM also?).

Hello jesseinsf94122,

We really appreciate for the time and effort that you have extended to us.

What we have found out an article for some Dolby errors;

Audio delay on Xbox Series X



Question: Some games or movies on the Xbox Series X have audio/video sync issues, how can we fix this?



Answer: Dolby is currently investigating any A/V sync related issues while playing some games or watching some movies on the Xbox Series X with Dolby Atmos enabled. A/V latency problems normally occur because of specific hardware compatibility issues, faulty hardware, or incorrect configuration on one or more devices. For the Xbox Series X, users should double-check the below checklist to make sure your setup fully supports Dolby Atmos.



1. Are you connected to your TV or AVR using eARC?

2. Are you using HDMI 2.1 supported cables?

3. Does your AVR/soundbar support HDMI 2.1?

4. Is your TV configured correctly to use eARC?

5. Is Atmos enabled correctly on your Xbox Series X?



Additionally, one setting in the Xbox Series X that is known to cause some A/V sync errors is the feature to play content in 4k 120hz. This setting has been shown to cause audio delays with some hardware when playing Dolby Atmos content. Microsoft is currently looking into this issue. For a temporary solution, users should change the setting to 60hz.



Please see any of the above items apply to your system and fix as necessary. If you believe all is in correct order, please contact Dolby support to follow up with more troubleshooting.

• Dolby Access Support - Dolby
  
• Dolby Support - Dolby
  

We hope it worked out well for you. If not, please reply back to this forum to let us know. We will be glad to follow up and help you.

Sincerely,



Xbox Forum Moderator

Microsoft Community