Netflix Dolby Atmos problems with new Apple TV 4k

I have an ATV 4K 2nd Gen in my living room that is connected via 8k rated HDMI cables to an LG C9 OLED with eARC and then to an LG SN11RG sound bar 7.1.4 (supports eARC and Atmos). So everything is connected to each other using eARC and it’s all seamless. But I get the dropouts on Netflix content that has Atmos. So eARC works in my setup, but it isn’t issue-free. I had this same setup running through my ATV 4K Gen 1 and never had Atmos popping or dropping.

AceManUSC wrote:

I have an ATV 4K 2nd Gen in my living room that is connected via 8k rated HDMI cables to an LG C9 OLED with eARC and then to an LG SN11RG sound bar 7.1.4 (supports eARC and Atmos). So everything is connected to each other using eARC and it’s all seamless. But I get the dropouts on Netflix content that has Atmos. So eARC works in my setup, but it isn’t issue-free. I had this same setup running through my ATV 4K Gen 1 and never had Atmos popping or dropping.

Sounds like what you've got should simply work... Any difference when you plug the ATV4K into one of the soundbar's HDMI inputs instead of the TVs? I realize it should work either way, but we might speculate that your ATV4K's Dolby MAT-encoded (uncompressed) output could occasionally overwhelm your TV's eARC audio passthrough capacity... I found this quote in Nakamichi's The Ultimate Dolby Atmos Guide:

Dolby asserts that listeners will get the best possible audio quality when the final device in the chain does the audio decoding. Therefore, with the exception of built-in TV streaming apps, it is recommended that source devices should be connected directly to the sound system to get the best and most stable Dolby Atmos experience.

Of course, this same assertion from Dolby argues that the Apple TV 4K itself should pass along the Dolby Digital Plus-encoded Atmos stream received from Netflix to the "final device in the chain". But that's why we're begging Apple to add a digital audio bitstream passthrough option in Settings :-).

It seems to me the Apple TV 4K is built with the priority being people using Apple Airpods…in that case it would make sense for the ATV 4K to be doing the decoding since it is the final device in the chain.

And obviously Airpods can’t do the decoding themselves, which is why the ATV 4K is doing it. I agree for people with expensive AVR’s there needs to be a passthrough option on the ATV 4K

For some reason I didn't have dropouts when watching Vikings Valhalla but yesterday I watched The Power of the Dog and got a couple of dropouts again. Both on Netflix.

Before watching the movie I had updated to the latest public version (sorry I don't remember the version number).

I'm not using ARC or eARC. My ATV is connected straight to the Sony receiver.

I agree with others that this supposedly high end device should support HDMI audio passthrough. I need to have a second device (Nvidia Shield) just to be able to watch Plex content with TrueHD Atmos audio with proper audio sync.

Just updated to TVoS 15.4 and now having Atmos dropouts with 1st gen Apple 4kTV (Netflix Lost in Space) which I never had before (only with 2nd gen which I moved to a room with a non atmos soundbar.) Apple TV connected to Yamaha RX-A1080 connected to Sony A80J.

Cannot believe it 😡

Just updated to TVoS 15.4 and now having Atmos dropouts with 1st gen Apple 4kTV (Netflix Lost in Space) which I never had before (only with 2nd gen which I moved to a room with a non atmos soundbar.) Apple TV connected to Yamaha RX-A1080 connected to Sony A80J.

Cannot believe it 😡

I believe you are the 2nd (and 3rd) report that tvOS 15.4 is causing problems on Gen 1. I didn't have much hope that Apple was actively working to resolve the Atmos issue, but this is ridiculous. I haven't been using my Gen 1 lately as the Gen 2 has been working fine on 15.4, for whatever reason (both are currently connected to my Denon AVR). I also never had the problem on my Gen 1 unit -- I will leave it on 15.3 for now. Thanks for the tvOS 15.4 warning for Gen 1.

I think Ikrupp jumped the shark though! On the same receiver, I have a Roku, Amazon Firestick and from the TV(LG C9) using EARC no problems whatsoever with Atmos on Netflix, HBO, AppleTV+ or Disney+. Only happens on the second generation AppleTV+ and does not happen on the first generation, I own both and tested both. It is highly unlikely IMHO for the problem not to be with the AppleTV 4K second generation. If Ikrupp has no such problems, that's a good thing. We that do are not imagining it.

Yeah I've had the same issue since I first got the Apple TV 4K version 2021 whatever. As my first Apple product since the Apple IIc it's been a pretty lousy experience.

HBO Max has gotten stuck a few times. Most apps are always crashed when I wake up the. I had to completely uninstall and reinstall HBO Max.

Netflix has this Dolby Atmos issue but I can't uninstall Netflix. Not that it necessarily would help but anyway. I guess this issue's been here long enough, it's not something they're going to fix. Before the last software update, I could restart the Apple TV and it would be good for the rest of the day. Trying to watch a few shows tonight that has not helped.

Running the apps on the LG C9 TV and using eARC to the Denon AVR works fine, but the Apple TV being plugged directly into the Denon has this issue. Pretty lame and disappointing.

Yeah i am inclined to agree that Apple won’t fix it any time soon. I assume they know what’s causing it and the fix would require a major effort and big updates to TVOS and likely the Apple TV firmware as well.

if it was a quick fix they would have done it by now. Plus at least some advisors have supposedly told people that Apple is aware of the problem.

Well they do have more money than they know what to do with and charge a high price for their products and have tons and tons of people to work on stuff. So I guess it's totally okay that their products don't work that well.

When they had me swap out my Apple TV 4K for a new unit, then had me replace the HDMI cables with ones they approved of, all with zero improvement, then started telling me it was likely my AVR (even though my UHD Blurays and Roku all worked flawlessly with Atmos content), i knew it was looking pretty bleak.

So glad i was able to return my 2nd ATV 4K to Best Buy and get off this train...

Anyone who is talking to Apple Support get an ETA for when this bug will be fixed? I can't believe it's still around!

I just got a new gen AppleTV to replace the old AppleTV 4k because I wanted Youtube 60fps, but now all of a sudden I'm getting sound cutting out on Dolby Atmos content. I've only experienced this in Netflix app, and if I restart the app it temporarily resolves it for a few minutes. Restarting Apple TV completely will fix it for maybe 30-40 min. Really frustrating. My setup is not ARC. It's Apple TV -> Denon X3300W -> 5.1.2 sound system

Return it and get your money back. It's a nightmare. And don't update the software on your 1st gen to TvOs 15.4 because when I did that my 1st gen began dropping Atmos and it is even worse the the 2nd gen

Good advice! Only a few advisors seem to tell customers that’s it’s a known issue…many will instead suggest replacing HDMI cables or swapping out the ATV 4K for a replacement.

As far as I know there is no official acknowledgment by Apple of any problem.