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Crackling/popping noise in movies since tvOS 14.5

Hello,


since I updated my Apple TV 4K (5th gen.) from tvOS 14.4 to 14.5 yesterday I hear crackling/popping noise in movies.


I can only hear this in movies.

Music, audiobooks and TV streaming via app are not affected.


Here is a sample of the problem (Spider-Man: Homecoming 5:38): https://streamable.com/2to2a9


Please guys help me to fix this.

I cannot watch my movies since yesterday, this is not really well ...


Best

Felix


Posted on May 1, 2021 3:39 AM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on May 2, 2021 4:22 AM

Great. Keep us up to date.


I did some research.


I have hundreds of BluRays copied to m4v and converted containing audio streams to Apple Lossless Audio Codec to keep quality.

So audio streams of all movies have the ALAC but the problem occurs only with audio streams whose original source is DTS!

Dolby sources don't have this problem.


See additional text:


The only difference is this:

Duration_LastFrame                       : -47 ms


My conclusion ist that all audio streams lacking Duration_LastFrame have this problem!

37 replies
Question marked as Best reply

May 2, 2021 4:22 AM in response to mark-s1

Great. Keep us up to date.


I did some research.


I have hundreds of BluRays copied to m4v and converted containing audio streams to Apple Lossless Audio Codec to keep quality.

So audio streams of all movies have the ALAC but the problem occurs only with audio streams whose original source is DTS!

Dolby sources don't have this problem.


See additional text:


The only difference is this:

Duration_LastFrame                       : -47 ms


My conclusion ist that all audio streams lacking Duration_LastFrame have this problem!

May 2, 2021 10:07 AM in response to mark-s1

Here are the specifications for the Apple TV 4K 5th gen:

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/FP7P2LL/A/Refurbished-Apple-TV-4K-64GB

Audio
HE-AAC (V1), AAC (up to 320 Kbps), protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (up to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Apple Lossless, FLAC, AIFF, and WAV; AC-3 (Dolby Digital 5.1) and E-AC-3 (Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 surround sound)


Because we're using the supported Apple Lossless Audio Codec from specs Apple should definitely fix this problem!

May 2, 2021 8:36 AM in response to FLX90

I have spoken with support who went through the details and could find nothing in their documentation regarding this issue. Because the content isn't provided by apple or encoded using apple software it is something that they could not help further with. If I had any content purchased through iTunes Store and could replicate then they would be able to look further into it. (Unfortunately the purchased content I have is only 2 channel from source) However he did say that from what I have described it sounds as though something has changed in the latest software updates. Am now filling out multiple feedback forms on apple.com/feedback

May 2, 2021 9:11 AM in response to FLX90

that would assume you can locate one. I have an Apple TV HD which is running tvOS 14.4 and every time it is woken up it prompts to do a software update. And I'm sure someone will click on update when waking up the 4K one if I buy one as that would be in the lounge. plus I currently have 2 4K models so to be able to access my library could be expensive. As much as I don't want to I might have to see if Plex has audio issues.

May 3, 2021 12:05 PM in response to FLX90

So seeing that some devices have updates stating bug fixes I have done the updates and the results are as follows


updated iPad to iPadOS 14.5.1 home sharing now says that there is a problem playing back the content. iPhone updated to iOS 14.5.1 still plays but crackle still exists. macOS updated to 11.3.1 still plays but again the crackle is still there.


tvOS didn’t receive an update so we still wait for a fix from Apple

May 5, 2021 11:33 AM in response to FLX90

Apple Support told me to check if problem also exists with paired BT speakers (KEF MUO used) to exclude problems on signal path.

Unfortunately it does ...


Also I should check if problem with same media exists on iPhone (iPhone 11 iOS 14.4.2 used) and there is no problem. Audio is fine.

But! I updated to 14.5.1 and now I have this problem also on my iPhone (just like mark-s1)!


Dolby_Digital_sample.m4v: Audio is fine.

DTS_sample.m4v: Crackling/popping noise in audio.


Unfortunately Duration_LastFrame doesn't have anything to do with this problem. As you can see Dolby_Digital_sample.m4v doesn't have this flag.


Please Apple, fix this soon.


[Link Edited by Moderator]

May 5, 2021 11:51 PM in response to FLX90

I have the same issue with 14.5 on all of my mp4 collection that uses AAC audio. Not seeing this with anything encoded with AC3. My AppleTV 4K was under warranty so Apple support had me take it in for repair and they ended up just replacing it with a new one. Luckily the new one has 14.4 installed. I am happy it works again but very annoyed at the constant prompts to upgrade every time I pause what I am watching.

I missed the downgrade window on my iPad and iPhone though. Will have to wait until Apple has a fix for this to use my devices with my video collection.

May 14, 2021 9:07 AM in response to FLX90

Good news that it has been replaced.


Bad news on the tvOS version though.


Unfortunately my understanding is the 4k versions have to use the current ota version of tvOS and there isn't a way to choose which version installs. The other issue is if it were possible to choose which version installs Apple have stopped signing 14.4 and is only signing 14.5, 13.4.8 & 10.2.2

May 14, 2021 10:48 AM in response to mark-s1

Oh okay, that's bad.

I'll update to 13.4.8 later and hope for a fix.


I just want to confirm that everything works now. No crackling/popping sound and asynchronous anymore.


BTW: I always had to open the channels (from 2.0 to 5.1) by opening a TV streaming app when watching movies from home share.

But with this version I don't need to.

May 28, 2021 10:25 AM in response to FLX90

I really hope they take this seriously as it happens on every video I have converted from DVD to MP4 and even some bought off the apple store itself. all have AAC audio and worked fine before 14.5 not the sound pops and goes out of sync before dying completely. I am having to use usb keys and the playstation to watch movies homesharing should cover. These videos work fine on my computer but any device on os 14.5+ cannot maintain audio.

Jun 3, 2021 5:02 AM in response to Strafe79

Thanks for posting and thanks to FLX90 for raising this problem with Apple. I've only just noticed it, but it affects a number of mp4 files on all my Apple devices that played perfectly until now.


It's a small consolation to discover I'm not the only one affected. Hopefully a fix will be forthcoming now that the problem has been identified.

Crackling/popping noise in movies since tvOS 14.5

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