[boulder_bum]

I just bought a 2011 Odyssey and I love it so far, but there's one issue that would be nice to troubleshoot.

Namely, whenever I use Bluetooth audio (to play music, not use the phone), it's delayed by 2-3 seconds.

When playing music, it's a little annoying because fast forwarding through a song is ALSO delayed by 2-3 seconds, but it's even more frustrating when trying to watch video on an iPhone or something where the action and lips are 2-3 seconds ahead of the audio: you see an explosion and hear talking, but you never know it till 2-3 seconds later!

Does anyone know what could be going on?

Interestingly, there is 0 delay when making phone calls over Bluetooth.

I'm using an iPhone 4 if that matters.

Also, I tried Bluetooth audio with the iPhone 4 over other sources systems and there is no delay, so I don't think it's normal.

 

[boulder_bum]

I called Honda tech support about the issue and they gave the standard tech support answer which was that it was something else's fault.

In this case, they blamed the inherent latency of Bluetooth audio stack, though they didn't bother answering my question of why I don't experience the issue with other Bluetooth audio systems like the Toyota Sienna's, the Ford Flex's or in a kit I have for another car.

Oh well.

The answer, in reality, is that Honda's Bluetooth audio system isn't very good and you just have to live with it. It's new for 2011, so I guess they have some kinks to work out.

For me, it's not the biggest deal because I can just use the RCA inputs when my kids want to watch a movie on an iPhone (or maybe iPad in the future), but it's kind of a bummer nonetheless. I paid thousands for sophisticated car electronics and a $50 Bluetooth kit outperforms it in one area.

Here's hoping there's some sort of firmware update in the future that fixes the issue.

 

[joboo87]

I bought a Lexus sedan last year for myself and it has the Blue Tooth that works superbly; no lag or delay.

My wife wants to upgrade from her 2005 Odyssey and wants the same feature, but if it doesn't work well or isn't fixed, we'll wait or try the Sienna.

 

[kevin1844]

This is even more irritating when watching a movie on iPad and trying to run the audio through BT. Unless there's a video playing app that will play the video on a delay to accommodate for crappy BT connections I don't think there's any hope for us.

 

[sastexan]

The Honda BT takes a long time to connect to my iPhone 4, and even then, there is a significant lag when listening to music - either the iPod music or Pandora. I don't have the same problem with bluetooth audio streaming in my FR-S, my mother's RX350, my dad's G25, or any of the rental cars I've connected my phone to in the past 2 years (off the top of my head - Passat, Flex, Grand Caravan, Jetta, Camry, Altima, Traverse, tC).

There's a thread in the audio/video/nav about Bluetooth issues in the Gen4 Ody.