While using Bluetooth wireless audio during video playback there is a noticeable audio lag. I've measured this lag at about 300ms. Regardless of whether I'm watching a movie or playing BG3 (or any other game), the audio lag persists.
At first I thought it was my (hi-quality) Sennheiser earbuds. So I sent them an email inquiring if there is a remedy for this, possibly an updated driver or codec.
My question:
"I use my earbuds with my computer for gaming and watching stored videos. There is an audio lag of -300ms (+-) between audio and video. During video playback, my app allows me to offset audio to properly synchronize with video. But with gaming there is no way to adjust synchronization. Does Sennheiser have a remedy for this?"
Response:
"Bluetooth is not universal, being made up of profiles and codecs to dictate how the subordinate unit (in this case the headphones) will respond in different situations. Any time streaming profiles are used (aptX, A2DP) all of the bandwidth between the headphones and the master unit (phone or computer) is used for one way transmission of audio, providing sound quality up to the Masters capabilities to send, or the subordinates ability receive. As soon as a communication profile is used (HFP, HSP- used whenever the microphone is activated, or can be activated in a program) the bandwidth is split between the headphones and the microphone, resulting in a loss of audio quality. This is a limitation inherent to Bluetooth technology.
Communication profiles always take precedence over streaming profiles, so if you use an app or program with microphone capabilities, the audio quality will default to communications profile levels."
The response didn't directly answer my question but I did get the gist of it - audio lag is inherent in wireless audio transmission.
OK
Internet search provides a good handful of long tutorials to 'fix' A/V synchronization problems but none that I've come across target wireless audio lag. In fact, it is widely known industry-wide that this is a technical issue that doesn't yet have a solution. Huh.
But.
I use VLC Media Player to watch movies. It has a setting that allows a positive or negative offset to be applied to audio to manually synchronize A/V. Works like a charm. After applying the synch correction for the first time, I was very surprised with how degraded my enjoyment had been while watching mis-synchronized movies. Then I fired up BG3 and was no longer able to ignore the audio lag. I.E. I'm unable to enjoy BG3 to it's fullest measure.
So I'm posting my experience here with Larian because they've clearly shown their attentiveness to Larian game customers. Please include a setting that allows for manual A/V synchronization. I, like thousands of other BG3 players, use a beefy, noisy, laptop that begs for wireless audio gear to get the best immersive gaming experience. Larian could continue to boost their customer-sensitive reputation by leading the gaming company pack with this simple setting.
Thanks.
Really looking forward to playing the full release of BG3.
