# TV question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 21, 2008, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-question/450098 "2008-05-21T14:20:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Joe\_Mahma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@Joe\_Mahma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Mahma)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-question/450098/1 "2008-05-21T14:20:37Z")
I stayed at a hotel last week, and the room had a nice new widescreen TV (LCD I think).At times, on some channels but not others, the video and audio were horribly out of sync. What would cause this? Thanks in advance JM ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-question/450098/2 "2008-05-21T14:22:32Z")
In my limited experience with digital TV I’ve seen a lot of sync problems with video and audio. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Mahma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@Joe\_Mahma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Mahma)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-question/450098/3 "2008-05-21T14:47:48Z")
[QUOTE=kunilou] In my limited experience with digital TV I’ve seen a lot of sync problems with video and audio. [/QUOTE] The TV was reporting that the channels in question were analog, though. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-question/450098/4 "2008-05-21T15:08:33Z")
[QUOTE=Joe Mahma] The TV was reporting that the channels in question were analog, though. [/QUOTE] The signal was probably originally made in digital format at the TV station and only converted to analogue for broadcast. Digital TV signals are much more prone to video/audio delay inequalities, which suggests that the signal was digital at some stage. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-question/450098/5 "2008-05-21T15:25:45Z")
Most hotels that I’ve stayed at have their own signal distribution systems, and they’re not just blindly passing on the antenna or cable signal. They’re also not using common, off the shelf television sets, either. Instead its fed from a central computer system kind of like IP television. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Mahma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@Joe\_Mahma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Mahma)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2008, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-question/450098/6 "2008-05-25T11:23:45Z")
Is this a common occurrence with digital TV functioning? Kinda discourages me from buying a digital TV if so. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2008, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-question/450098/7 "2008-05-25T12:17:32Z")
[QUOTE=Joe Mahma] Is this a common occurrence with digital TV functioning? Kinda discourages me from buying a digital TV if so. [/QUOTE] Well, in something less than a year you won’t have a choice. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Mahma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@Joe\_Mahma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Mahma)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-question/450098/8 "2008-05-26T18:11:15Z")
I’m wondering how common this effect is. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-question/450098/9 "2008-05-26T22:27:56Z")
I have noticed that there tends to be a slight time shift between analog and digital broadcasts of the same programs. For example, if analog channel 7 and digital channel 7-1 are broadcasting the same program, the digital channel might be behind the analog channel by a quarter or a half a second. I suppose it’s possible that the hotel in question is distributing audio from an analog channel and video from the corresponding digital channel, or vice versa. I’ve had a DTV for a while, and I’ve never encountered a sync problem with a digital broadcast. Drop-outs, yes, but not sync problems. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2008, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-question/450098/10 "2008-05-27T00:28:08Z")
[QUOTE=Jeff Lichtman] I have noticed that there tends to be a slight time shift between analog and digital broadcasts of the same programs. For example, if analog channel 7 and digital channel 7-1 are broadcasting the same program, the digital channel might be behind the analog channel by a quarter or a half a second. I suppose it’s possible that the hotel in question is distributing audio from an analog channel and video from the corresponding digital channel, or vice versa. I’ve had a DTV for a while, and I’ve never encountered a sync problem with a digital broadcast. Drop-outs, yes, but not sync problems. [/QUOTE] It happens at my home, with my DirecTv, on a telecast of one of the local stations (ABC) that I watch on my HDTV, but this a.m. on my other, analog, tv, on the CBS channel. BTW, the city I’m near will be going all digital in September as a test of the nationwide transition. There has been a lot of conjecture about what will we do in this very hurricane-prone area to watch the news during hurricane arrivals/hits, when we have always been able to use our little battery-powered sets. The FCC commissioner is coming to town this week to talk about it the transition.