Will long Toslink cable cause audio delays?

[Techie333]

I just connected my TV to Home Theater system with a 12ft Toslink audio cable, however at certain times when I am watching channels off broadcast HDTV signals, the audio comes a little later after the video. Any explanations? Is it because the length of the cable?

closed due to thread necro. -Admin DrPizza

 

[cheesehead]

Originally posted by: Techie333
I just connected my TV to Home Theater system with a 12ft Toslink audio cable, however at certain times when I am watching channels off broadcast HDTV signals, the audio comes a little later after the video. Any explanations? Is it because the length of the cable?

No. Toslink cables are optical cables, and as such, carry data at the speed of light. However, various digital signal processors can cause lag. IIRC, a few receivers even have delay functions integrated.

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

Speed of light over a 12' run... I think you're going to be okay here As cheesehead said, the problem is most likely your receiver.

 

[Rubycon]

SPDIF is synchronized so cable runs are limited by the sensitivity of the photodetector on the receiving end and optical cable losses. Good cables can be run 1+ kM and still sync!

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: Techie333
I just connected my TV to Home Theater system with a 12ft Toslink audio cable, however at certain times when I am watching channels off broadcast HDTV signals, the audio comes a little later after the video. Any explanations? Is it because the length of the cable?

Quick question: Time Warner cable?

 

[Shawn]

the speed of light = 983 571 056 feet per second

I think you'll be ok.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Shawn
the speed of light = 983 571 056 feet per second

I think you'll be ok.

Actually it's about 70% of the speed of light. But it's probably less than that for toslink because of the large core size.

 

[Hinton4]

The length of the cable will not cause any detectable audio delays at all, but the hardware coverting the signal to fiber and back from fiber causes the delay you are encountering. To resolve this prolbem, you need to mute the source so it does not play on the tv and only play it through the amplifier you have the fiber optic connected to. You have to play one or the other, or you will hear the delay between both units. You could run a mile long fiber optic cable, and it would not add any noticeable delay, the delay happens at the conversion level, not at the cable level. You will allways have a delay due to the conversion, there is no way around this.

 

[Modelworks]

If you try to run it all the way to Mars with the source on earth you are going to have a very tough time keeping the audio in sync, otherwise no problem.

 

[s44]

Is this a thread necro record? Yikes.