Apple TV - Optical audio cable problem

Hi Mark,

The odd thing is that I did nothing. Before running diagnostics, I tried every mode and setting on my receiver, but nothing worked. (The sound did come through my TV, which is connected via HDMI.) But after I ran diagnostics, it...just came back.

Perhaps my situation isn't the same as yours? Sorry I couldn't do more to help.

Ditto on the exact optical audio problems. HDMI to TV, TV sound off, optical audio to AV receiver. No problems since X-mas. Today only sound through TV. Checked all usuals, cables, ports, etc. I even noticed the red light was still being emitted but no sound.

Finally unplugged Apple TV power for 10 seconds or so, optical audio is back and functioning normal.

I do have to switch HDMI inputs on Sharp TV when switching devices since all HDMI cables go to TV, (Cable box, DVD, Apple TV). (My A/V receiver does not have HDMI inputs or outputs.)

Does the Apple TV have some sort of auto cut-off on the optical audio out when HDMI is being used? If this is the case then I will have to find a long optical audio cable to return the sound from the TV to the A/V receiver.

This is my first post, sorry if this has been answered somewhere else.

Veesh76 wrote:
Ditto on the exact optical audio problems. HDMI to TV, TV sound off, optical audio to AV receiver. No problems since X-mas. Today only sound through TV. Checked all usuals, cables, ports, etc. I even noticed the red light was still being emitted but no sound.

Finally unplugged Apple TV power for 10 seconds or so, optical audio is back and functioning normal.

This was my situation -- and setup -- exactly. Haven't had any problems (knock wood) since the diagnostics/ rebooting cycle.

Does the Apple TV have some sort of auto cut-off on the optical audio out when HDMI is being used? If this is the case then I will have to find a long optical audio cable to return the sound from the TV to the A/V receiver.

Nope, not to my knowledge. I run HDMI from ATV to my HDTV, and optical out from ATV to my receiver. Aside from that one bit of weirdness I posted about previously, it's worked fabulously.

I know it sounds risky, but it worked for me. Take a toothpick or something of the sort, (snap the tip cleanly) and gently (very gently) poke/wiggle it inside the optical out of your apple TV. If this doesn't work, try the same in the optical in on your receiver. Nothing is too fragile, but be careful with it all the same. Good luck..

Same problem here. Try everything else suggested first.I'm running ATV with a Yamaha Receiver with digital output and the component video to my TV. I had no sound when I connected my digital output and disconnected my analog connections. What worked for me was I turned everything off. Unplugged my D/O form both my ATV and Recvr. Turned everything on. Turned everything off. Plugged my D/O into my ATV and Rcvr. Turned on my ATV(plugged back in). Waited for it to boot up. Turned on my Recvr and what do you know, presto, sweet music again. Hope that helps.

You are not alone with this problem - am experiencing the identical problem with many of my videos encoded with AC3 soundtracks. The audio is either completely out of sync (always ahead of the video), or it fades in and out of sync as the video plays. Curiously, this ONLY seems to effect AppleTVs sending audio through the optical output, as my other AppleTV is connected via HDMI for both audio and video is always completely in sync.

I believe this is an AppleTV firmware bug and have submitted a report through Apple's Developer connection. I would encourage you do the same in order to bring more attention to this problem.

You can visit it using this link: https://bugreport.apple.com

I agree. This issue seems to come without any changes/reason. Both times that it has happened to me, simply rebooting the box (Menu and -/down keys) corrected the issue. Hope they have a firmware fix in the works soon!

I am also having the same problems. Two days ago the audio over my optical out just stopped working for no reason. Red light from cable but no sound. Rebooting/unplugging and restoring to factory settings does nothing at all.

I hope someone finds a fix for this soon. I am worried it is a hardware failure as the unit has always been so hot the to touch, it can't be good to always be that hot 24/7.

It wasn't a hardware failure, or the Apple TV at all. My receiver had been sensing an analog signal for some reason instead of a digital one. No idea how that happened, but I just forced it to digital and then back to auto and it corrected the problem.

I just tried to use an external DAC for the first time since I got my ATV about 9 months ago. It has the red light output, but the DAC would not lock onto the signal. Does anyone know what speed connection the optical puts out? Is it 44.1, 48 or 96k?
I will try again after a reboot, John

I'm in the same boat. My Apple TV just stopped sending a digital audio signal all of a sudden. I've toggled the Digital option in settings, but no dice. Kind of disappointing, considering I've had the ATV for 6 months now...

Same problem. HDMI audio to TV works, but optic digital audio to home theater was dead. I re-booted by unplugging for a minute or so, when the opening clip played, the sound was back. I am going to pester the Genius's until I find some answers. I don't want to have to re-boot over and over.

Hi all,

Same problems here.

Just bought a nice home theater set. Apple TV to TV with HDMI and Optical Audio to the home theater set.

The problem is that I do have visual on the TV and I do have audio via de home theater set however no menu items to select. Menu's were dead.

This was solved with an reboot 🙂 Glad about that, however too bad a reboot was needed.

I'm experiencing a similar problem. Everything used to work for about a month after I bought the ATV.

However, the optical output stopped working today when I play music. Amazingly, when I watch a TV show, it does work. Analog out works for both TV shows and for music.

It was my receiver's problem, not the Apple TV. Somehow my receiver had stopped sensing digital input, even though the input was set to optical. So I switched my receiver to analog, and then back to optical, and everything was fine. Try fiddling with your receiver settings, not the apple TV settings.