anyone having trouble syncing audio with HTML5 on iPads

Apr 07, 2014

Hello,

is anyone having trouble syncing audio with HTML5 on iPads?

12 Replies
Tess Curnow

Hi Kyle, I'm having this problem too. I have text building by paragraphs on-screen, which should happen in time with the audio. Sometimes it works correctly and at other times it doesn't, even though when previewed it synchs perfectly. I also have a problem with slides taking a few seconds to load, and while they are loading the audio starts... then, once the slide is loaded, the audio starts again.

Stefano Posti

Hello guys, if your published content plays well locally, the issues you're experiencing seems to be related to the website/LMS bandwidth;

I can tell you for sure that the very same SCORM package, uploaded to different LMS or websites, can have unpredictable results due to the way browsers process html5 code at different navigation speed.

At the authoring level, all you can do is to manage quality publishing settings; depending on the website /LMS, you may need to stay very "simple" or avoid long narration, videos, etc.

Hope it helps.

Stefano

Kyle Main

Sorry, I meant to reply,

I'm having trouble even in my testing phase,  It's not my LMS, because I'm not to the LMS yet.

It's an issue I've been seeing with the way iPhone's in Safari control Audio.

There seems to be a need for all assets to load before starting, because that was the same issue 10 years ago with Flash and that is why we used Preloaders in Flash, so all of the issue's Tess commented about, would not happen.

Also I have tested complete websites and have a great hosting service and even when I test files locally this issue happens, so it's not exactly the bandwidth, and if it was, then it would seem to me to be more of an issue of the end user's bandwidth.

I"m testing on T1 speeds, and Wireless N to my iPad from Google and my own website hosted, and there are still issues.  Everything always plays fine on my computer, but when it's time for the iPad, many things happen differently.  Some times it's really just hard to sync content and know it's okay on 90% of the end users devices.

Anyone else have thoughts on how to fix instead of blaming the LMS/Website hosting?

Thanks,
Kyle G. Main 

Paul Shorr

I was in the middle of working on a course when Update 5 came out.  We had very little time, and noticed that while there were many HTML5 improvements, screens that had lengthy voiceovers with synchronized visuals on screen had a tendency to lose sync after about 30 slides.  The audio would play normally, but the timeline would be moving more slowly than it should. 

Kyle Main

Paul Shorr said:

Sorry I posted before completing.  I did not think it was a loading or bandwidth issue, as the same content, on the same servers with the same connection published with update 4 synched fine. 


Thanks for your feedback Paul!!!

What could fix this issue of the Timeline not keeping up, if the audio is not slowing down or changing?

Do we need to use a bunch of short clips of Voice Over for our eLearning Projects?

How short, and if there is a fix, wouldn't that be better for hundreds of people to have a fix rather than everyone doing more work than should be needed?  IF it worked in the previous version, then what broke?

Kyle Main

Thanks Ashley,

Tess from above and Paul both had issues, They might have a file they can share with you, I scrapped mine and I'm trying to find a solution that I could bring into storyline instead of using Storyline now as the timeline that holds audio for syncing. I like Storyline for the other things, but slides that need synced audio to graphics is not looking to be a good solution with people reporting in this thread their issues.


Thanks,
Kyle G. Main 

Tess Curnow

I got around my problem by reducing the quality of my audio files (to 64 bit mono) and cutting my file into 4 smaller files. The synching issue went away.

The slow loading causing the audio to start, then start again is still a problem but Ashley suggested a work-around in another post (http://community.articulate.com/forums/p/47337/254634.aspx#254634) "You may want to change the behavior to trigger the audio based on when an offstage object appears to allow for more time for the slide to load. The HTML5 content can be slow to load, especially with media in mobile safari. "

I haven't tried this work-around yet, but will report back after I have.

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