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ghidorah Author

Level 1

8 points

Surround Sound / 5.1 Broken in Netflix on tvOS 14?

So I have an AppleTV HD (4th Gen) running tvOS 14.0, and surround sound is broken on Netflix. I am pretty sure it was working forever before I upgraded to tvOS 14, which is why I just spent an hour and a half trying to fix it.

I enabled tvOS Developer tools to show the media stream HUD, and it is clearly outputting 2 channel audio for all Netflix content. Disney+ and HBOMax are clearly outputting Dolby Digital or PCM (e.g. 6 channels). I have tooled with all of the Netflix and tvOS settings, including signing into a totally different Netflix account - all to no avail.

It's notable that when I view a content item on the AppleTV, Netflix does not display the 5.1 icon. When I access Netflix via my PS3, it does display the 5.1 icon. See below.

Is Netflix surround sound broken on all 4th Gen AppleTVs with tvOS 14, or just AppleTV HDs, or is it just me?

Note absent 5.1 icon on AppleTV:

Note 5.1 icon on PS3:

Posted on Sep 23, 2020 7:34 PM

Top-ranking reply

aapinto

Level 1

5 points

Posted on Sep 23, 2020 11:00 PM

I can report the same problem after the recent Netflix app update. I updated to tvOS last week and 5.1 surround sound was working fine with Netflix until the app update on Tuesday. I have a LG CX OLED and Marantz NR1602 which does not decode Dolby Atmos.

Plex also updated automatically yesterday and now my content only plays with 2.0 not surround sound. The same movie plays in correct sound sound with Infuse which has not had a recent update.

There is an active thread on MacRumors reporting the same problem:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/netflix-app-update-breaks-atmos-and-5-1-on-appletv-4k.2256308/

tvOS 14 has changed the auto setting sound output. I send sound via HDMI ARC to my AV receiver. With tvOS 13, i had to set the Apple TV to down mix to Dolby Digital 5.1 to get 5.1 surround sound as I cannot pass through 5.1 LPCM over ARC with my setup. Now, the auto setting correctly sends a Dolby digital 5.1 signal over ARC on Apple TV+, Amazon Prime video and Netflix until the recent app update broke surround sound. I suspect that the recent app updates in Netflix and Plex are to blame but only on tvOS 14.

It would be good if hear if the updated Netflix app on tvOS13 has broken surround sound. Also, has anyone else noticed the same problem with surround sound following the Plex update this week?

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Surround Sound / 5.1 Broken in Netflix on tvOS 14?

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