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Q: AppleTV 4 surround sound issue

i just acquired an AppleTV 4 to replace my AppleTV 3. Since I used to connect the optical audio out to my Yamaha surround sound receiver, I am forced to use only hdmi. That would not be a problem for two reasons:

 

1. All AppleTV content plays with the receiver showing PCM and not DTS or some other form of surround sound.

2. All my movies i encoded are strictly playing in stereo only. The DTS stream is seemingly not being passed through hdmi.

 

Routing hdmi to tv then optical from tv to receiver does not change anything.

 

How can I fix this?  Surely I should be getting DTS with a Yamaha rx- v1900 receiver?

Posted on Nov 1, 2015 1:32 AM

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Q: AppleTV 4 surround sound issue

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  • by Jon Walker,

    Jon Walker Jon Walker Nov 9, 2015 1:39 PM in response to jvulto
    Level 6 (18,620 points)
    Nov 9, 2015 1:39 PM in response to jvulto

    When setting ATV to audio mode "surround" upon playing the same 5.1 content Mad Max Fury Road:

    - the receiver shows Dolby Digital 3/2/.1

    - The Surround L&R are silent

    - The BACK surround speakers produce the 5.1 surround

    So this is the opposite of what is happening in ATV audio mode "auto".

    What is your system's programmed "fallback" for DD5.1 playback to 8 speakers? I programmed my system to do this during the initial set-up years ago. As to the "Auto" mode not doing this, remember that it doesn't seem to differentiate between active and empty channels and so applies default 8-channel output to speakers.

    SJAUG.png

  • by bodosom,

    bodosom bodosom Nov 9, 2015 3:34 PM in response to jvulto
    Level 1 (28 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 9, 2015 3:34 PM in response to jvulto

    Since I happen to have Fury Road I reconfigured to 7.1 and set ATV Surround to AUTO.  I don't have audio in the rear channels, I do have audio in the surround channels.

  • by jvulto,

    jvulto jvulto Nov 10, 2015 12:54 AM in response to bodosom
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Nov 10, 2015 12:54 AM in response to bodosom

    This confirms my situation, thanks.

  • by jvulto,

    jvulto jvulto Nov 10, 2015 12:58 AM in response to Jon Walker
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Nov 10, 2015 12:58 AM in response to Jon Walker

    THanks Jon. I do not know the fallback but I thing it will not fallback because of receiving 8 channels from which it can not detect the empty channels. I can try to change settings on receiver to get back surround going upon receiving 6 out of 8 channels. Will do so this evening.

  • by RufusJazzDog,

    RufusJazzDog RufusJazzDog Nov 10, 2015 5:41 AM in response to pwnell
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 10, 2015 5:41 AM in response to pwnell

    I am having pretty much the same problem as everyone, but I can add another odd wrinkle. In Auto ATV4 plays only PCM, either 2-channel for music and some TV shows or movies (which is normal) or 7.1 for movies and TV shows that are in surround. When I set the unit to Dolby Surround, however, I get the following strange results:

     

    Surround movies and TV shows display as Dolby Digital 5.1, and I am getting sound from 5.1 speakers. This applies on both Netflix and content streamed from iTunes on my PC.

     

    Music streamed from iTunes on my PC and the movies and TV shows that were playing in 2-channel PCM in Auto mode also display as Dolby Digital 5.1, but sound comes only from the two front speakers.

     

    Apple Music content plays in two channels and displays as PCM.

     

    Finally, no matter how I set the surround sound in ATV4, all content from TV network apps (NBC, ABC, PBS, etc.) delivers only 2-channel sound. This does not seem right, since the same shows, like Heroes Reborn, play and display Dolby Digital 5.1 from my Dish Network box. If it were only one app, I would blame the app, but under the circumstances, I suspect an ATV4 issue.

     

    Sure hope Apple comes out with a fix for this soon.

  • by csmonroe,

    csmonroe csmonroe Nov 10, 2015 5:59 AM in response to pwnell
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 10, 2015 5:59 AM in response to pwnell

    I also discovered that (currently) the way to obtain 5.1 channels from Apple TV 4 is to go to Settings>Audio and Video>Surround Sound and change the default from Auto to Dolby Surround. The point is that the Auto setting should be sufficient to acquire 5.1 channels when that is what is "supplied" by the program. This will probably be fixed in a later patch.

  • by mikealvey,

    mikealvey mikealvey Nov 10, 2015 6:17 AM in response to pwnell
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 10, 2015 6:17 AM in response to pwnell

    I am so confused by all of this. I want my receiver to do the decoding, not Apple TV.   If I set to auto and I play a music file from my iTunes library it comes out of left and center channel instead of left and right. Always says PCM and all seven speakers are active even though no sound coming from them. If I play same song from iTunes on my roku with receiver set to auto surround it comes out as stereo as it should So I don't think the file is bad.

    I was really hoping that this would be my one box solution and I could get rid of ruku and the htpc that is in my system. The few movies I have in Dolby atoms I can live with out if I can get 5.1 and stereo to change automaticall like it should. Also think receiver should recognize Dolby digital encoded movies and switch to that on auto instead of just saying pcm.

    I Know on my Blu ray player I had to change a setting somewhere to get it to do it.

  • by bodosom,

    bodosom bodosom Nov 10, 2015 6:39 AM in response to RufusJazzDog
    Level 1 (28 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 10, 2015 6:39 AM in response to RufusJazzDog

    RufusJazzDog wrote:

    Finally, no matter how I set the surround sound in ATV4, all content from TV network apps (NBC, ABC, PBS, etc.) delivers only 2-channel sound. This does not seem right

    And yet it probably is.  Those apps are probably using the same files as the web versions.  You're lucky they're not mono.

    I'm not completely sure but I think HBO GO is providing surround content.

  • by bodosom,

    bodosom bodosom Nov 10, 2015 6:45 AM in response to csmonroe
    Level 1 (28 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 10, 2015 6:45 AM in response to csmonroe

    csmonroe wrote:

     

    I also discovered that (currently) the way to obtain 5.1 channels from Apple TV 4 is to go to Settings>Audio and Video>Surround Sound and change the default from Auto to Dolby Surround. The point is that the Auto setting should be sufficient to acquire 5.1 channels when that is what is "supplied" by the program.

    There have been multiple postings in multiple threads on multiple forums that verify that 5.1 content is correctly handled with Surround set to DOLBY or AUTO.  In the former case I suspect theres a decode/encode cycle which is why the dialnorm data is deleted from the bitstream.  In the latter it's LPCM output with correct channel assignment.

  • by bodosom,

    bodosom bodosom Nov 10, 2015 6:49 AM in response to mikealvey
    Level 1 (28 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 10, 2015 6:49 AM in response to mikealvey

    mikealvey wrote:

     

    I am so confused by all of this. I want my receiver to do the decoding, not Apple TV.

     

    I don't expect that to happen on the AppleTV5,3.  The next version could do things completely differently (and add UHD).

    They could do a software update but I suspect the target market is household that have their over-the-top box plugged into a television not an AVR.

  • by RufusJazzDog,

    RufusJazzDog RufusJazzDog Nov 10, 2015 7:36 AM in response to bodosom
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 10, 2015 7:36 AM in response to bodosom

    OK, so when I play a Dolby Digital 5.1 movie on ATV3, my Yamaha receiver displays Dolby Digital 5.1. When I set ATV4 surround sound to Auto and play that same movie, my Yamaha receiver displays PCM 7.1. Are you saying that I am actually getting the same sound in both cases, despite the different displays on my receiver? I am certainly getting sound from at least 5.1 speakers in ATV4 Auto. I have not done a careful listening test to compare.

  • by Ebola,

    Ebola Ebola Nov 10, 2015 8:50 AM in response to bodosom
    Level 1 (29 points)
    Apple TV
    Nov 10, 2015 8:50 AM in response to bodosom

    Do HDTVs offer 5.1 channel speaker output now or is this a benefit to those with soundbars?    Hard to know what they are thinking because they have zero documentation on surround sound Auto Vs. Dolby. 

     

    I am fine with the ATV doing encoding/decoding to benefit those users, but please give those with an AVR the option to turn it off and just passthrough the bitstream. 

  • by bodosom,

    bodosom bodosom Nov 10, 2015 9:12 AM in response to RufusJazzDog
    Level 1 (28 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 10, 2015 9:12 AM in response to RufusJazzDog

    RufusJazzDog wrote:

    Are you saying that I am actually getting the same sound in both cases, despite the different displays on my receiver?

    Yes, at this point I think it's safe to say any issues beyond the design of AUTO are configuration errors or faults.

    AUTO means:

    1) If the input is AC-3 (and nominally E-AC-3) the output is 7.1 LPCM with audio sent to the correct channels

    2) If the input is two channel LPCM then it's passed through as two channel LPCM.

     

    The other settings mean force that output without regard to input.

     

    There are some implications but the main operational issue is the apparent change in stream selection given multiple audio streams.

  • by RufusJazzDog,

    RufusJazzDog RufusJazzDog Nov 10, 2015 9:48 AM in response to bodosom
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 10, 2015 9:48 AM in response to bodosom

    I get the difference between Auto and forcing Dolby Digital. I get the pass through of PCM 2-channel. I don't get your reference to AC-3. What is that? Can the input not be Dolby Digital 5.1? And if it is, why isn't it just passed through like PCM 2-channel?

  • by JA Chong,

    JA Chong JA Chong Nov 10, 2015 9:54 AM in response to RufusJazzDog
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 10, 2015 9:54 AM in response to RufusJazzDog

    Do the new update fix the surround issue? I cannot test it right now... ugh!

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