PC to AV Receiver Bluetooth Connection – Can I Get Rid of the Lag?
Most of the time, we aren’t really worried that much about lag when it comes to a Bluetooth connection. Bluetooth is audio-only and most people are streaming audio content. The only time you notice (or care about) lag is when there is an obvious disconnect between the audio and the visuals. With Bluetooth, there usually isn’t any video to see, so lag isn’t something you need to worry about. Even if there is a little lag, it is usually unnoticeable or at least not distracting. If you are gaming on a PC and using a Bluetooth connection to an AV receiver, suddenly you have lag that you very much want to get rid of. How can you do it? Or can you? Let’s discuss.
Short Answer
No. Lag is part of the Bluetooth connection. If you want to get rid of the lag, you’ll have to ditch the Bluetooth connection between your PC and AV receiver and use a wire.
Long Answer
When we think about lag in home theater, we are usually experiencing video lag. This means that the audio comes out first with the video lagging behind. Every lag solution (including HDMI Auto Lip Sync) assumes that you need to delay the audio so that it will match up with the video. That isn’t the case when you are using a PC and experiencing lag because of the Bluetooth connection to your AV Receiver.
The wired connection between your PC and your monitor is much faster than the Bluetooth connection. This means that the video comes out before the audio. There is no way to delay the video so that it lines up better with the audio. The only solution is to connect to your AV receiver via some sort of cable.
What About Video Processing?
If you are paying attention, you may realize that you could add some sort of video processing to “slow down” the video. This could (if you were VERY lucky) get rid of the Bluetooth connection audio lag by somehow matching up the PC video and AV receiver audio. At the very least, you could slow the video down enough that the video is again slower than the audio so that you can adjust your audio lag settings on your AV receiver.
If you are a high-end gamer, this isn’t an acceptable solution. Lag is to be avoided at all times as it can be the difference between a win and a loss. On top of this, if you care at all about video quality, requiring your PC to process the video just to slow down the picture is very likely to add artifacts or other visual problems.
While technically you might be able to add video processing to fix your lag issue, you’d be creating even more problems that would at least be as bad if not worse. And the solutions to those problems? Hardwire your PC to your AV receiver!
