Audio in videos desync after watching for a while (Chrome)

This has been happening the last two or so weeks, never had this problem before. The audio starts to desync, and just gets worse and worse. Refreshing the page and starting the video where you left off works, but then it desyncs again after 15-20 minutes and on and on. Mainly in the HTML5 player, but that's the only player that works for me. Isn't happening in Internet Explorer (haven't tried Firefox), so I assume it might be a issue with the latest version of Chrome or something?

I'm noticing it in the very long videos, usually about a half hour to an hour, and gradually becomes more of a problem as time goes on. I'm on Chrome Version 43.0.2357.132 with the HTML5 player.

This has been happening on my iPad as well. Running iOS 8.4. I noticed it last week in the Ranking of Fighters video. Happened at the end of yesterday's Bloodborne vid as well.

I was having this problem on the Giant Bomb Video Buddy for iPad. It's pulling from the same Dabatase (or is it API?) as the site, right?

I've had this same problem with the html5 videos in chrome.

I've only had it recently. Also on Chrome. I also tried it in the Canary builds and it happens there too.

Only an issue in the HTML5 player for me.

I've also had this problem with the html5 player in chrome. It's noticeable at about ~10 minutes in and gets worse over time, refreshing seems to "reset" it.

Yep.

I as well have had this HTML5 issue using Chrome. All other versions work fine, but I do prefer HTML5 and it tends to be my go-to since it loads quick and the quality is typically outstanding. As others have mentioned, pausing and refreshing seems to reset it but it will go back out of sync after another ~10-20 mins. Only seems to be a recent issue; noticed it during Ranking of Fighters as well.

I've noticed this running the HTML5 video player in the latest Firefox release as well. Only noticeable on long videos like UPF but it's definitely there.

Not only in Archived videos but Live content also desyncs from time to time.

Yeah I'm seeing this too on latest Chrome on Windows. I'll test and see if it's a thing with Safari on my Mac as well.

It's actually been an issue with the original Mario Party Party for almost a year or so (was that video really that long ago?). That particular video always seems to desync after about 10-15 minutes and gets worse as time goes on.

I reported another audio sync issue a couple of months ago. It still isn't fixed - it seems like there is more than one bug or problem related to sync. These issues I reported aren't related to streaming or the player though, because the same sync issues are present even in downloaded copies of videos and sometimes even on YouTube, too.

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/bug-reporting-33/audio-sync-is-off-in-many-different-live-videos-1771272/#18

I know this stuff is complicated but it's getting pretty frustrating. Whether this is the same issue or not, this has been going on for months and months at this point. After two months of bumping the bug reporting thread a number of times, this is the response I finally got...this was a week and a half ago:

Yeah sorry. There's so much going on right now and this is but one of many open issues. Drew and Vinny need to talk with the video guys in GameSpot and they all want to standardize on bit rates etc.. I don't believe that's happened because there's a bunch of other stuff going on. Like jSlack said Giant Bomb's video bit rate got bumped way up when we had to move them to a different publishing platform and that set off a bunch of discussions that lead to open questions that are still open.

TL;DR We know, we're working it on. Herding cats.

I've noticed this as well. If i pause and then hit play again it syncs back up for me.

Just a general, honest question to the tech savvy people on this forum: can anyone explain how this slow desyncing even works? Or to rephrase it in the context of edgework's response: how does increasing bitrate on the back end cause a gradual audio/video desync during playback which can be user corrected by refreshing the video?

Also, why doesn't this happen with the progressive and streaming versions of the videos?

It might be "one of many open issues" but as a video focused site, can you really afford your main content to be the most frustrating thing about the site? Because from a user's perspective, apart from having no content at all, I can't really think of anything more annoying than having to restart your videos all the time because they keep desyncing.

Nothing new to add but I see this is issue with the Video Buddy app also. All videos start fine but after about 10 minutes the audio is noticeably out of sync. Pause, close and restart bring everything back in line.

@rvone: It's annoying for us too. It works with progressive because progressive is meant to keep everything in sync no matter what so it always re-syncs.

Let me go talk to the video guys again and see where we're at. I'm fairly sure the problem is the high bit rates and HTML5 players that aren't really that great. I've seen the problem when viewing on site but not when viewing the video in Quicktime player. Still its our problem.

HTML5 video is a small percentage of our video plays so the impact isn't really that great and we've had some really high impact issues to deal with lately. I'll dedicate some time today to try to make things better.

Wait, so most people aren't using html5? Interesting. Which of the other options has the most plays? Streaming?

@rvone: Progressive will always be your best option. HTML5 is really fringe option for people who don't have Flash or absolutely need the best quality in every pixel. Progressive will almost always give you the best experience because it adjusts to changing conditions on your PC and in the network. But because ZOMG! Its FLASH!!!! People think it sucks.

While I am sure you're right about what progressive will do for me (that honestly does sound pretty good), I have found that cpu usage is higher than html5 increasing battery drain which is why I like to default to html5. I'm not sure if it is some kind of optimization issue on my end but the difference is noticeable.

I never really used the YouTube option that much. Any benefits for you?

@rvone: I am with you on the defaulting to html5 player. I am stuck to using my surface pro 3 to view all GB content and the HTML5 player is the only option that does not make this thing turns its fans on high and feel as hot as a dying sun.

Yeah, progressive is more CPU and Network intensive. HTML5 is just a dumb player going on and on without much logic and it is network efficient. Progressive is always picking the best playback and it downloads small chunks of the video at a time. I use HTML5 at home because I have a good connection. On Wifi or elsewhere I use progressive.

Wait, I'm pretty sure Streaming is the one that adjusts to current conditions. Progressive downloads the same video file as HTML5 player and allows you to buffer a whole video, but you can't skip to the part that isn't downloaded yet. Streaming option uses chunks of video data in HDS format and changes quality dynamically according to your network throughput. The HTML5 option uses browser's native video playback capabilities which is a big advantage on mobile devices, where hardware acceleration is necessary.

Or maybe I'm going crazy trying to be smarter than the man who actually works on that video player.

@szlifier: Streaming also adjusts but the quality isn't as good. Its an older method. You're right about the source being mp4 for progressive. There's a bunch of versions of the source on the server all with different bit rates. Progressive switches between them depending on current conditions and they live on a regular HTTP server and the logic sits on the client. Streaming streams the same bit rate no matter what and requires a specialized streaming server where a lot of the logic sits.

HTML5 is definitely my preferred option. It's the one version of the player that has never given me issues (until now with the audio sync). I'm currently switching back and forth between progressive and streaming until it's fixed since progressive will sometimes stutter (even though I know my connection is fast enough). Good to know that people are on the case, though!

I had this happen in the last UPF video, refreshing it does work but its seems like after 30 minutes it creeps back up, Chrome is my browser.

I've had this problem with gb video buddy on my iPad with streaming

I've identified the problem. Hopefully any video published starting tomorrow shouldn't have this problem any more. I'm not sure if Vinny and Drew are going to be able to republish videos that currently have this problem. I doubt it since that's a huge task.

Videos played in the Quicktime player won't have this problem. This will only happen when using the HTML5 player in a browser.

Sorry!

@edgework: Top Men!

@edgework: I'm still seeing this issue in the Metal Gear Scanlon 4 video, still with the HTML5 player (which I use for the same reasons listed above; lower CPU and network use) in Chrome. Unless published refers to something that hadn't been put into the queue yet.

@glitches: Yeah, we're still working on it. I assumed throwing a solution over the wall would magically fix everything but my solution was too simplistic. We're still looking into the finer details. We do see the problems just don't have a good solution yet.

Alright. Will you update this thread once another solution has gone live?

In case it's an HTML5 player issue and because this was the top search result, the first mario party party still desyncs, and seems to get worse over time. win7, chrome.

Right, so I know I am ressing this, but I can't make a thread till I have 3 posts, and this is how I got here. So....

I have been having a similar problem. However, it happens to me in both Fire Fox and IE, and in games. I am on Win 10, and it was happening before the Creator Update, as well as now. If I pause vids and play them again, they 'reset' the sync, and the video 'catches up' with the audio. This is happening on YouTube where I am running HTML5. On Crunchyroll, which uses a Flash player, the video have wired audio glitch every so often.

On top of that, the longer I have my PC running, the worse it gets. After I reboot, its fine, but how long its fine for is random. It could be fine for a few days, or a few hours.

I am use the on board Mobo sound, and my GFX is a 970GTX. I am not sure at all what the problem could be, and would be super great full for any help.

And again, sorry for ressing a 2 year old thread.

@thejagji: Did you ever find a fix for it? I'm having the same problem.

I've had this issue for a couple years, and done ALL sorts of browser "fixes". None worked. Until today. Updated my BIOS ... for me, using Dell's support, they auto-detected my PC, and updated from original BIOS.

I always allow the normal updates to my computer, but I guess these types aren't automatic(?).

All video issues are gone. Streaming smooth, and no more audio lag!