Ever seen a TV channel where the sound leads or lags the image? Of course you have. The problem is becoming more prevalent in these days of compressed transmission through satellite and cable.
It's particularly annoying when people's lips don't synch with their voices and the sound of explosions, etc. leads the visual event.
I propose a separate audio and visual memory buffer that stores upto five seconds of data stream so that the user can manually lead or lag one with respect to the other and correct the synch error.
Ideally this would be built into the TV and the lead/lag setting associated with the channel preset configuration. It could of course be sold as an aftermarket device connected in-line between the VCR/TV-tuner and the TV.
It's incredibly simple, and there's already so much digital processing going on in today's TVs that I wouldn't expect the electronics involved to significantly add to the price of a mid-to-high-end AV system.-- FloridaManatee, Apr 22 2003 This could also be useful for people who are hard of hearing (or just trying to watch TV in a noisy place) since they could delay the video of live events to match the captioning.
[BTW, during the Olympics, which were shown on tape-delay, the captioning was about five seconds behind the video. I can understand the reasons for such lag on live events, but when the whole sportscast is on tape-delay anyhow, why not time the captions right?-- supercat, Apr 22 2003 These are called audio/video frame synchronisers and have been around for more than two decades. Today they are cheap, plentiful, exist on a single IC and, as you allude to, I think many pieces of consumer or prosumer video gear already incorporate one, particularly for timing multiple inputs so that there's no "glitch" when switching between signals. Seems like your idea would be . . . a natural.
(Your "lead/lag" title caught my eye for another reason but that can wait 'til another time)-- bristolz, Apr 23 2003 Different sets of equipment and even different viewing setups can produce an apparent loss of sync. Having the opportunity to slide the audio around so that, at the point where the viewer is sitting, adjustments can be fine tuned.
Admittedly, it is an esoteric adjustment.-- bristolz, Apr 23 2003 random, halfbakery