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Google's new TV Streamer box is driving owners nuts with out-of-sync audio (Update: Google response)
- Multiple owners of the Google TV Streamer report the device losing sync between video and audio playback.
- The issue seems to get worse the longer the box is left on, and briefly gets better following a reset.
- The problem appears to be system-wide, rather than impacting only certain streaming services.
Update, October 4, 2024 (03:14 PM ET): We’ve now heard back from Google regarding the reports of these issues, and the company is able to confirm that it’s a real — if uncommon — problem. A Google spokesperson tells Android Authority:
Unfortunately, it’s a bug affecting a very small number of users that have very specific equipment and configurations, we’re currently working on a fix and will update users once it’s resolved. In the meantime, we encourage any users who may be experiencing this issue to contact Google Support for help at g.co/nest/contact.
Hopefully you’re not among the new owners of this hardware who are already running into problems, but if you are, take some solace in knowing that Google’s on the case.
Original article, October 1, 2024 (03:28 PM ET): Modern video streaming can be something of a nightmare for people particularly sensitive to sync issues — when audio and video playback aren’t quite exactly lined up. While on old physical media sound and video would be tied together on the same piece of tape or film, with modern digital transport mechanisms and signal processing, it’s easy to get into situations where you’re out of sync by hundreds of milliseconds or more. New owners of the Google TV Streamer are now running into what seems to be a particularly egregious case of this kind of sync problem.
A growing number of users have taken to Reddit and Google’s support forums to report their experiences, and accounts from ShadowMario01, SleepyOne, and Aluuh share similar problems. They’re seeing pervasive issues with audio delays across the Google TV Streamer experience — not just in multiple apps, but also with the system UI itself. At least one report notes that the issue appears to get worse over time, almost as if there’s a “drift” to the problem.
Indeed, rebooting the box can supposedly at least temporarily mitigate the sync condition, but that’s far from a lasting solution. Considering how many moving parts are involved here, from remote streaming services, to the Google TV Streamer itself, to the audio and video hardware you have in your living room, it might take a little digging before anyone’s able to get down to the root cause of the glitch. While the device itself is still new, some owners only report having these problems over the last few days, so it’s possible something recently changed on Google’s end.
We’ve reached out to Google to see if the manufacturer can shed any light on what’s going wrong here, and will update you if we learn anything more.