Dell Dock Audio Delay WD19S / WD20S

[Frodo_Baggins]

Hi fellow IT people of the interwebz,

 

Had this reported at a few schools, but we use WD19S and WD20S Dell docking stations and experience a strange audio delay when a laptop is connected to the dock (delay of 3-5 seconds depending on the device.)

 

The laptops are Latitude 3510-40 and also happening on our precision laptops, the screens are a mix of a few different models but mainly Ctouch, Newline, Viewsonic.

 

Only when using the docks, firmware and drivers are up to date but think this is driver related - posting before I start looking through registry to find the relevant hive for our devices

 

anyone came across this before?

[HereIGoAgain2601]

We have this same solution with docks and Latitude 3510s, have about 450 of them out in our Trust used everyday in classrooms and haven’t heard any complaints of this as yet. Not helpful I know!

[dapaulio]

We too have audio delays on the hdmi. We have optiplex laptops and desktop. Not long enough for me to be concerned in all fairness

[soapyfish]

Apologies for necroing,

 

We have recently been having issues with audio delays in mock Media and MFL exams. When the sample media plays in VLC we get audio initially, but when the clip is paused and restarted, or if there is a period of silence within the media file for students to write answers the audio delay occurs and the students miss around 3-4 seconds of the audio before it can be heard again.

I believe this link has a solution

 

Reddit-Post

 

In short Windows seems to disable the PCM audio stream if there is no audio signal, and when it detects the presence one the HDMi/HDCP handshake has to reinitializes before the audio can be heard. This reinitialization seems to be the cause of the delay. We have been testing the linked Sound Keeper exe which for us has resolved the issue completely for us. We use HP laptops and docking stations connected with USB-C and then HDMI to a Smartboard from the dock all with updated firmware and drivers.

 

Just to note that the issue is not present when use old the good old 3.5mm headphone jack or when using Linux via the USB-C + Dock setup.