BD-P3600 audio delay on blu-ray discs and Netflix streaming

HD Tech - I called the retailer I bought it from this morning. They have heard this so many times he finished my sentence before I could! They haven't heard too many success stories from customers who've actually returned the units. They told me to mail the thing back and get a different brand because Samsung doesn't have a fix yet. Do you?

Thanks

I sent mine to a Samsung service center in southern california, and now it works fine... they said they knew about it too so apparently they DO have a fix?

Interesting, perhaps its a hardware fault that requires a jump wire or something soldering on???

Anyhow at least we know there is a fix, whatever that may be... good news!

Note, my player does not exhibit the problem unless I pause, rewind the play.

Unit shipped out of my house on Monday, was received by Samsung in LA on Wednesday, and is fixed back on its way home on Thursday. Not bad, I must say ... hopefully the problem has been corrected.

Do you have the contact information sao I can get my unit repaired. I need to send mine in but dont know where to start- thanks!

cbarletta,

You should be able to set up a repair at 800-SAMSUNG. If you encounter any issues in setting up this service, please let me know and I'll be happy to assist.

--HDTech

These billions of dollars that you are putting into your technology doesn't seem to stop the fact that a large group of customers are having a serious problem with your top two blu-ray players (3600 and 4600). And while your tvs still do have a great picture and are super thin, This is the first year that I can say that samsung isn't a clear winner in the category of TV with the best picture. In my opinion LG puts out the best picture, Now there are plenty that will argue the other way and say samsung does and I respect that.

I wouldn't go out and defend the quality of your product on a message board that consists of all of its posters are either complaining about your product or commenting that they bought different brands and the problem mysteriously disappeared and now they couldn't be happier.

I mean come on these are 400 and 500 dollar players and this is a huge defect that is clearly affecting more then a couple of players. This has been a complaint for 3 months now. Seems to me like these players were not tested as much as they should have before they were released.

I will give you credit where it is due, samsungs plasmas looked pretty damn good this year and were just as thin as your lcds.

Both posts from jakersummit and xraffle are correct.

Most Recievers and almost all new TVs contain a setting to adjust the audio delay which almost ALWAYS will occur with digital devices. So definitely check the Audio settings in your TVs and Receivers to see if adjustments are possible. There was about 100ms of audio delay relative to the video output which has been improved to approximately 50ms and will be implemented immediatley in the upcoming firmware upgrade due to release as early as the end of next week (Crossing Fingers.

I keep seeing many posts to check your receiver or TV for delay adjustments. This can only make the problem worse. I don't know about TVs but the Reveivers I have looked into only allow for delaying the audio further. Two Blu Ray players I have gotten (Samsung BD-P3600 and LG BD390) have severe audio delays on the order of 300ms (more than one quarter of a second). A 50ms improvement will not cut it. That still leaves 250ms delay which is unacceptable. If anyone has a TV that allows you to increase the VIDEO delay, please let me know.

DanHD,

These are good suggestions. Generally, the network takes about 20-30 seconds to connect, and I'm not sure what kind of status bar would work best. Any ideas come to mind?

A sleep mode is a good idea too, I'll pass that up.

As far as the delay, we are working on the issue, and in some cases posted here, those who have sent them in have had them returned with good results.

--HDTech

As I suggested, having an indicator on the main screen where the Netflix and Pandora icons are that tells when the internet is connected would save the user from clicking into these icons, only to find out that the internet is not yet connected. As this point the user must back out with the Exit button and keep trying.

My suggestion is that the unit should begin sniffing for an internet connection as soon as it is powered up, similar to it searching for a disc to load. Currently when powered on, it begins "loading..." a disc, until such time as it cannot find one or it loads successfully. For the internet, a similar message "Connecting to internet..." would be helpful from the main screen, and when complete, "Internet connected."

By the way, I must send my bluray back for a replacement. Besides the lip synch issue, it skipped both video and audio on my "Dark Knight" DVD. Hopefully the replacement will work out of the box, but if not it sounds like other users have success sending it to Samsung for a magic fix.

DanHD, just wanted to chime in and say that powering on only and leaving the unit alone is sufficient to establish an internet connection. No need to go into/out of menus. In fact, this is my routine when wanting to started Pandora or Netflix. Turn on, do nothing for ~20s, then press red or green button. That's it. Still, as you suggest, it would be great to have a little "connection established" indicator on the main screen right after power-on.

I have read through all 91 posts made over the last 3 months hoping that by the end of these posts, I would learn that this issue would be somewhat resolved. I am deeply disappointed. I am among the many with audio sync issues, but mine only involve blu-ray discs, and the delay varies by disc. I too have tried everything, minus sending it in. My player is 3 weeks old and I am shocked that I have to send in my new blu ray player that I spent $400 on in an attempt to resolve the issue (which Im learning guarantees nothing). I think I will return and never buy Samsung again. In fact, I guess Ill wait even longer to buy any blu-ray player until they figure this out. m fortunate I bought at a retailer that I can take it back.

I'm in the same boat as you. Upon finding this thread, and seeing that it was a few months old, I was quite optimistic with regards to finding a solution somewhere in here.

Firstly I was gutted by the fact that my Samsung Blu-ray player, connected through HDMI to my Samsung home cinema does not get the picture across to my Samsung TV. I see the start-up image for a couple of seconds just as I power up the P3600, but then it goes over to ?Mode Not Supported?.

A tech told me to instead connect it directly to the TV and use an optical cable to get the sound to my receiver. I didn?t really care for this idea, because that would mean that I?d have to unplug my computer (which is connected through HDMI) and my optical cable that runs from my TV to the receiver. Still, it?s not too often that I send the sound from my TV to the receiver, and I don?t send the picture from the computer to the TV all that often either, so I went on and did as he suggested. Then I notice the problems with audio sync, urk...

Using the optical cable, I believe the problem is not as big when I change the audio to Bitstream (audiophile). According to the manual, this only plays the primary sound of the disc. Being new to Blu-ray, I have no idea what I?m missing out of, but I?m hoping it?s not too much. I still don?t know if I will bother to send it back. It would be ideal if I could use the HDMI-in on the home cinema. That?s one of the reasons why I bought it! Getting a Samsung Blu-ray was supposed to be the safe option.

The BDP-3600, as well as Samsung's other models, have numerous unresolved issues... the HDMI issue you are having is among the most annoying. You should be able to restore picture by unplugging the HDMI from the player and then plugging back in... this isn't a sure fix, but it does work about 60-70% of the time. I own the 3600, and I have sold/installed dozens of them and this issue is a constant pain in the neck. I also have run this unit to Samsung TV's, with the same result, and 'recycling' the hdmi has worked for me. I speculate that the issue is an authentication problem within the player... for whatever reason, the TV and the player become unsynced and lose their handshake.

Some other reasons the 'mode not supported' message would appear would include: unsupported resolutions/frame rates, a damaged HDMI, etc... the player's specifications output supported resolutions and frame rates for all Samsung TVs, and nearly all manufacturers within the past two years. I suppose one or more of the video processing chips may be malfunctioning, but that is tougher to diagnose. The conceptual design of the 3600 is great... when it works, it is one of the best players at it's pricepoint - unfortunately, the problems are impacting the performance and leaving a negative impression on the player and Samsung. In my opinion, the players were rushed into production and need improving. If they can get them to operate, without major issues, then that would be great... but I'm afraid that it will not happen with any '09 products... historically, this is very true for all manufacturers... all electronics will have issues, sooner or later, it's their nature to eventually fail; but Samsung '09 products have caused me more to have more service calls than any other in the past... let's just hope that '10 models opperate to full compacity with fewer issues.

The tech gave you some advice that I would not follow... the fact that you are running the HDMI to your receiver is not causing this issue, for I have installed dozens of these units, direct to TV, with the exact result. The problem is within the player, not your receiver/TV - I discovered that months ago. I would absolutely not settle with an optical cable to your receiver from the BDP3600... you will lose out on all of the audio benefits that blu-ray has to offer... optical cables can NOT support lossless audio formats such as DD True HD or DTS HD Master Audio - and for any home theater owner, these formats are a must! If your receiver does not have the decoders for the HD audio formats, then definately use the 7.1 analog audio outputs from the player to the receiver - you will get full HD Audio benefits because connecting this way utilizes the players HD Audio Decoders, one nice feature of the player.

The bitstream (audiophile) option is designed for HDMI transferring the audio signal... it really doesn't do anything more for you with optical than the bitstream (re-encode), because the audiophile option will eliminate the secondary audio track, and use it to 'reassemble' the signal to reproduce the lossless audio track... when set to audiophile, the audio signal bypasses the secondary audio decoders all together... but the optical can't transmit the assembles 'bit-for-bit' lossless signal. I hope this was helpful, good luck!

I was told by Samsung's tech that I most likely need to send it in for service to resolve the audio sync issue. There is really nothing more I can do. I will just send it back and buy a blue ray player when all of the bugs are fixed. I feel cheated that I have to send my brand new $400 blue ray player in for service only 4 weeks after buying it. Im so angry!

took about 3-4 days and it came back just fine

Thats not bad. I thought I would have to wait weeks to get it back. Did you have audio sync issues too, and if so, were they resolved completely? Would you happen to have the info on where to send or who to contact? Thanks!!

My father got it for me as a house warming gift, so he called samsung and handled the repair. It was sent to a place in Southern California however, I think Long Beach.

I had the EXACT same audio sync issues everyoen else had, and now it works fine... I'm pretty shocked myself at how fast it took.

My father said the guy he talked to said they knew all about it. I also know it was the same unit because of the wrapping on it.

Does anyone know what Samsung is doing to fix this issue? Is it hardware-related?

Hardware related because it seems that you can send it in to Samsung to be corrected. I have tried all of the "fixes" but nothing has worked. I was finally told by tech support that I should send it in to be fixed.

As it turns out, my P3600 isn't the source of all my the problems I've been having. To sum it up: I have P3600, TXQ120 (home cinema) and LE46M86 (TV).

Initial problem:
Can't get picture when connecting P3600 to TXQ120 through HDMI.

Solution (compromise):
Connect directly to TV and send the audio through toslink to home cinema.

New problem:
Audio is not synced with picture.

Rushed conclusion:
P3600 is busted.

Ok...so I pick up my Blu-ray player and take a drive to my brother, who just happens to have the same home cinema as me and a Samsung TV. It works!

New conclusion:
P3600 is ok, either TV or home cinema has a problem.

I also borrow a Playstation 3 and hook it up to my TXQ120. Same problem.

Next step: I hook the home cinema up to my computer monitor. It works!

Just to make sure, I connect a different HDMI cable between the home cinema and the TV. The connection problem remains. The TV still shows "Mode Not Supported".

New conclusion:
P3600 is ok, TXQ120 is ok, TV is NOT ok!

Now that I know that the problem is with the TV, then that's the one that needs replacing, right? Oh wait, let me just see how it works with the computer monitor.

Picture is fine. Probably better than my TV. Audio is not fine... With PCM I only get sound in two channels. Audio delay is also present.

Bitstream, both re-encode and audiophile, seem very similar. I get sound in all five channels, but there is still audio delay. To make it worse, the audio completely stops for a split second once in a while.

New conclusion:
TV is not ok, P3600 or home cinema have a problem.

Final conclusion:
I have NO IDEA what's wrong!

I have an unconditional right to return the P3600 for a full refund (even if there is nothing wrong with it), and I will use this right. I'm also very tempted to sell both the TV and the home cinema. I'm thinking that my multimedia life without Samsung might be much less complicated and frustrating.

Purchased BDP-3600 based on CNET reviews, but should have read the forum first. After 1 day, problems with B-ray disc freezing up, skipping back to previous chapters and audio out of sync and drop outs. Upgraded firmware/reset unit and talked to Samsung support with no luck. Returned the unit. It's interesting that the day I bought the unit the price was $30 discounted. The next day it was another $20 off. I have feeling they are dropping the price on these to get rid of them due to problems with them.

I'm continuing my story. I returned my first 3600 to the retailer (mail-order). Within a week I had a replacement unit. I was suspicious that they were all bad so I expected the same problems.

I'm happy to report that there are some good units out there, becuase I have one now. No lip synch. Netflix streaming is excellent, even with some distance between my wireless router and my unit (I'm only getting 3 of 5 bars on the signal). Pandora is also working great.

I tested it with the DARK KNIGHT Bluray disc and everything worked fine.

You sent it in and it is still not working properly??

Yvesvh,

The only thing I can suggest is to contact the Samsung Customer Service in your region. I don't have any information for units repaired in that area.

--HDTech

I have just watched Dark City on bluRay (UK region). The main feature in 7.1 DTS HD was fine, no delay what so ever.

Watch the special features (making of etc), the picture was a good 0.5 seconds ahead of the sound, however the audio track is just a 2 channel stereo one.

What on earth gives, surely someone has been smacked up the side of the head enough to fix this?

Note, I tried all combinations of output modes which made not one single bit of difference!

Is this a hardware fault, in that it requires a send back to manufacturer fix, or is it going to be fixed in firmware?

This is important to know due to warranties etc. (Although in the UK any defect from manufacture found within the first 12 months should result in a completely new unit, this is from the sale of goods act).