Summary:
It would be very nice to have the ability to set an “audio offset” on a per client basis to allow for adjusting the audio/video sync for setups that introduce a delay in either the audio or video rendering.
Real world example of the problem:
The Xbox One sends audio out both the hdmi port and the optical audio out port. Oddly, the audio from the optical port (for me at least) is 120ms delayed from the hdmi audio. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem becuase a person only uses one or the other. If you are using the optical audio out, you are probably running through a receiver which can be used to correct for this problem. However, there are headsets your can buy (like the Turtle Beach Elite 800x) which utilize the optical audio out. In my case I need to be able to play Rock Band 4 while listening to the audio from either the hdmi or the optical audio port. It is virtually impossible to play rb4 if the audio is off by 120ms. As a result, I’ve used my receiver to artificially introduce a 120ms audio delay so it the hdmi audio is now in sync with the optical audio. This allows me to calibrate rb4 one time and it is in perfect sync regardless of which port the audio is coming from.
Unfortunately, this means that all the audio from the Xbox One is 120ms behind the video. For video games this really is not a big deal, but for watching video, it is a discomforting amount of delay. Granted, this is really an Xbox One issue, but there is no indication that they will fix it. Given the number of platforms the Plex client runs on, I suspect that there are many other scenarios where the hardware/software platform on which the client is running introduces an a/v sync problem. As such having the ability to configure an offset would likely be beneficial to many people.
