One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for synchronizing playback of digital content on two or more different content players. Each content player synchronizes a local time signal to a time reference signal maintained by a time server. Actions related to content playback are synchronized with respect to each local time signal for a given content player, which thereby synchronizes playback for a group of associated content players. Each content player may be advantageously configured with different playback options, allowing each user to have a better shared viewing experience than possible with prior art solutions that provide only one set of playback options.