Netflix Dolby Atmos problems with new Apple TV 4k

A lot of people would prefer to have the ATV4K support bitstreaming so that their AVR could do the Atmos decoding, but we are obviously wrong because the Apple way to do the Atmos decoding and then reencoding into LPCM + MAT 2.0 Atmos metadata must be the right way. There are other reasons for doing it the Apple way, but for the highest quality, I would rather have my Denon do what it was designed for, skipping the extra decode/encode step, and not having to deal with the Atmos sloppy seconds from the ATV4K.

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 😡

I am on the latest tvOS 15.5 b.e.t.a and manually updated all my streaming apps (they had not yet auto-updated yet), including Netflix, and the Atmos dropouts took less than a minute to show up on 'Drive to Survive'. I also have a Gen 1 ATV4K with no Atmos issues in the same setup.

Considering this and the Martin Logan Gen 2 Atmos problem threads are over 6 months old, I would assume Apple is ignoring the problem.

Hmmm.... Perhaps you could convince your contact at Dolby to put some pressure on Apple to resolve the Gen 2 ATV4K Atmos problem. It would be in Dolby's interest to do so, since it isn't helping Dolby's reputation to have Atmos in an unwatchable state. Most Apple customers are going to blame Dolby and never accept that there could be a problem with an Apple product.

It is quite hypocritical of Apple to expect perfection from their content providers, yet be completely okay with selling a product that makes Atmos content unwatchable. I wouldn't be so angry about if Apple were open about the issue and what they doing about it, rather than ignoring the problem entirely and worse -- trying to pass the blame to our equipment. And as a content provider, you have every reason to be incredibly disappointed, if not furious with Ample.

And congrats on the movie -- it looks interesting and I plan to watch it.

I checked the Netflix version and it seems to be the most recent version from April.

So I'm assuming that is the update that uses the internal ATV player.

Well, I'm on latest official FW release and Netflix "drive to survive" was still the same mess.

Also played AppleTV+ Atmos (fireball, comet docu) and that didn't take long either to start stuttering.

Not with voice-over but, only with music.

Though Netflix is still much much worse and more often.

Why is Android 12 with auto frame rate taking so long to roll out? Save us!

Btw, HBO Max on ATV showed frame rate issues. Seems to be following Prime with auto frame rate intermittently broken.

The cable is in my case not the problem. I use Avinity HDMI 2.1 cables 48 Gbit/s and the only device that had this Dolby Atmos problem is the Apple TV 4K. It occurs only when watching a Dolby Atmos film or serie on Netflix. HBOMax and Apple TV don't have this sound drop out problem.

Maybe that is if you are not using high speed HDMI cables that the problem then is worse and then besides on Netflix also occurs on other Apps that play sound on Dolby Atmos.

It is a very annoying problem and I don't get it why we have to wait so long for a solution. I went from the old Apple TV 4K just because that supported Dolby Atmos and now I have to switch back to 5.1 sound to see series and films without sound interrupts. That is just stupid.

You may expect that it isn't the HDMI cable then.

When after rebooting the Apple TV I start the same serie who has the problem and the problem occurs, I reboot again and the problem occurs not at the same moment in the serie.

Seems to me that you can rule out the source. Maybe there is an overflow somewhere in the Apple TV. The picture stays okay it's only the Dolby Atmos sound.

Some of use here have disabled Atmos in ATV settings. Well, I went even a step further.

Went to the lower Netflix plan altogether. Yep, that's right, even willing to go to 1080p SDR.

Especially with the account sharing soon disabled or, ads coming back (say whaaaat??)

I just cannot justify the high Netflix monthly premium anymore given that you don't even get what you pay for.

Saves 25% per month. And, if I really want to enjoy a movie, I'll go to the much cheaper Disney, Max or Prime.

I mean, many movies on Netflix that actually are available in Atmos on Blu-ray, are still 5.1 on Netflix.

And, then there is not having English subs for a some of the content here (huh!? are we non-native ENG speakers suppose to understand ENG audio better than native speakers!?)

It's highly unlikely to be the cable. Even HDMI. 2.0 cables should be fine for anything the Apple TV 4k can do. Up to about 15 ft. If you're doing 20 ft or more then you need to worry more about the cable. HDMI 2.1 cables are really only helpful if you're doing gaming on the latest PC video cards or gaming consoles that support 4K 120 HZ 10 bit color with 4:4:4 chroma. HDMI 2.1 cables if properly manufactured should be able to handle up to 48 Mbps, HDMI 2.0 cables and the Apple TV 4k max out at around 18 Mbps.

If it is the cable, it's digital so normally you're getting the signal or you're not getting signal and you'll see random dropouts or if it's just barely working maybe some video artifacts or completely random dropouts of audio and video. You're not going to see just Dolby Atmos on certain shows dropping the audio or making loud popping sounds randomly like mine did.

Mine's been working up late and I haven't changed anything so I don't know what's going on for sure. If it's specifically the streaming service and the show and how do the atmos is encoded or if I'm just totally lucking out. Cuz I've had times where it's behavior really well and then others were it's dropping out every 5 or 10 minutes.

Definitely not solved. Just forced the update for Netflix on ATV4K and restarted the ATV. Watched the opening scene of the Adam Project, which has been a problem with audio drop outs, and all was good! Then put on Sol Levante, which has a heavy amount of Dolby Atmos content. Made it about 1 minute in and choppy sound.

Definitely not fixed!

I have brand new certified 48gb hdmi cables through my theater, my Apple TV is out in the open, and I’m on the latest fw. 5 minutes after updating yesterday I was getting popping and drop outs. I tried the Adam project, Army of the Dead, and Underground 6 and they all had issues.

And I also had Apple replace my Apple TV under warranty and I still have the same issues, so at this point I’m thinking apple doesn’t care to fix the issue, and I’m not 100% sure that it’s software related.