5 ms·

So basically what a Sonos does, as a standard.

by cicloid 10y ago

n1000 10y ago
...or Airplay.
- themihai 10y ago
  Airplay works on top of wifi and it can't play multichannel audio. Not to mention the crappy experience when the video is "buffering". Hopefully this standard will fix such issues but I have big doubts.
  - thebradbain 10y ago
    I thought this too until recently, but Airplay does, in fact, support multichannel audio in sync–but only through playing music to speakers through iTunes Desktop [1], as its the only client to officially implement it. Of course, we don't see more multichannel Airplay clients because it is my understanding the standard is proprietary... [1] https://support.apple.com/kb/PH19497?locale=en_US https://support.apple.com/kb/PH19497?locale=en_US
    - themihai 10y ago
      Is there ANY multi channel client? I tell you: no! And it can't really be because Apple specifically limits AirPlay output to one single destination. It's because wifi sucks and as it is and it just can't work on multi channel(things will get out of sync, some channels will buffer while others will play etc). If you read the avb specs you will underatand why. Wifi needs hw changes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Video_Bridging https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Video_Bridging
pkulak 10y ago
Sonos was the first. But now everyone is doing it, so it's cool to see it standardized.
intopieces 10y ago
Sonos doesn't have the ability to sync audio with video, only audio with audio, correct? We recently acquired a Sonos Playbar and the interplay between HDMI/Optical Out/TV processing made the lip syncing a nightmare. Still not sure it's entirely solved.
- tjohns 10y ago
  Typically, you need to plug in any external speakers (including the Sonos Playbar) to the optical out on your TV itself. This port is intentionally placed at the end of the TV's (latency-inducing) processing chain, and will get you properly synced audio. If you connect to the optical out on any other devices, you're pretty much guaranteed to have sync problems.
- themihai 10y ago
  I thought sonos can't even do multi channel audio. It's just a kind of mesh network. Wisa was supposed to fix that but for some reasons it seems it failed to get mainstreem
  - wyager 10y ago
    No, you can have multiple speakers synced together with Sonos. It works very well; I've never noticed any drift. As I recall, this is why Sonos devices can't just run off a home wifi network and require a bridge.
    - themihai 10y ago
      Ok, but can you play multi-channel? Like a 5.1 system in a home theater ? As far as I know it's not possible. Multiple speakers playing the same content is not really multi channel.
      - jonknee 10y ago
        They sell 5.1 systems: http://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/wireless-5-1-surround-sound-package.html http://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/wireless-5-1-surround-sound-...

So basically what a Sonos does, as a standard.

by cicloid 10y ago

So basically what a Sonos does, as a standard.

n1000 10y ago

...or Airplay.

themihai 10y ago
Airplay works on top of wifi and it can't play multichannel audio. Not to mention the crappy experience when the video is "buffering". Hopefully this standard will fix such issues but I have big doubts.
- thebradbain 10y ago
  I thought this too until recently, but Airplay does, in fact, support multichannel audio in sync–but only through playing music to speakers through iTunes Desktop [1], as its the only client to officially implement it. Of course, we don't see more multichannel Airplay clients because it is my understanding the standard is proprietary... [1] https://support.apple.com/kb/PH19497?locale=en_US https://support.apple.com/kb/PH19497?locale=en_US
  - themihai 10y ago
    Is there ANY multi channel client? I tell you: no! And it can't really be because Apple specifically limits AirPlay output to one single destination. It's because wifi sucks and as it is and it just can't work on multi channel(things will get out of sync, some channels will buffer while others will play etc). If you read the avb specs you will underatand why. Wifi needs hw changes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Video_Bridging https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Video_Bridging

pkulak 10y ago

Sonos was the first. But now everyone is doing it, so it's cool to see it standardized.

intopieces 10y ago

Sonos doesn't have the ability to sync audio with video, only audio with audio, correct? We recently acquired a Sonos Playbar and the interplay between HDMI/Optical Out/TV processing made the lip syncing a nightmare. Still not sure it's entirely solved.

tjohns 10y ago
Typically, you need to plug in any external speakers (including the Sonos Playbar) to the optical out on your TV itself. This port is intentionally placed at the end of the TV's (latency-inducing) processing chain, and will get you properly synced audio. If you connect to the optical out on any other devices, you're pretty much guaranteed to have sync problems.
themihai 10y ago
I thought sonos can't even do multi channel audio. It's just a kind of mesh network. Wisa was supposed to fix that but for some reasons it seems it failed to get mainstreem
- wyager 10y ago
  No, you can have multiple speakers synced together with Sonos. It works very well; I've never noticed any drift. As I recall, this is why Sonos devices can't just run off a home wifi network and require a bridge.
  - themihai 10y ago
    Ok, but can you play multi-channel? Like a 5.1 system in a home theater ? As far as I know it's not possible. Multiple speakers playing the same content is not really multi channel.
    - jonknee 10y ago
      They sell 5.1 systems: http://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/wireless-5-1-surround-sound-package.html http://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/wireless-5-1-surround-sound-...