Netflix Dolby Atmos problems with new Apple TV 4k

I watched a movie on Netflix over the weekend that was shown in 4K, DV and Dolby Atmos. I was getting dropouts every 5 minutes or so. So I would rewind the movie 10 seconds and then hit play and the sound would then work where it had dropped out. This went on for about 20 minutes. Not sure why I didn't give up then. But after about 20 minutes, the dropouts stopped completely during the remaining 90 minutes of the movie. I didn't try anything else on Netflix over the weekend.

I watched the fist 3 episodes of The Boys on Amazon with Dolby Atmos without a single problem

Well I didn't have this issue after the last update. But I hadn't really watched any Apple TV + shows, but now I'm watching For All Mankind and I get the same issues, I skip the advert at the beginning and the sound goes... sort it out Apple, it's embarrassing your £199 device plays all other media apart from your own with sound!

Interesting development. While watching The Umbrella Academy on Netflix this weekend, I noticed that on the show's main screen with all the info, it listed Dolby Vision and 5.1 only. No Atmos was listed. I looked at another show that I know has Dolby Vision and it also had 5.1 for the sound. I have not turned off Dolby Atmos in my ATV 4K settings, so I wonder if Netflix has turned off Atmos for some shows. The DV looked great and the 5.1 sounded fine. I will check again tonight but found this interesting.

I checked some of those "Atmos" shows that didn't play in Atmos, and it turns out the English stream was 5.1, and it was only the native language stream that was in Atmos. In other words, Netflix advertises Atmos if any one of the audio streams is available in Atmos. This mostly affects foreign produced shows.

I am not completely sure this is a problem with Apple TVOS. I had this problem a while back and it seemed to have disappeared and everything was fine until this past weekend. This has me wondering if a bad piece of code got reintroduced into the Netflix app during the last application update or if this is an issue with the Atmos encoding of certain shows.

Same problems here! With other dolby vision / atmos players no problems (connected on the same cables and avr).

So far only noticed with Netflix, don't use ATV.

Hope will be fixed soon, invested in good device's not to set Dolby Atmos in settings off....

I've been having this issue with Netflix ever since I updated my system to handle Atmos sound. And I started watching Game of Thrones on HBO with the new 4k release on the platform. It is also having the issues where the sound cuts out. I've found out that if I restart the Apple TV is works for a bit, but then the issues returns.

Just found this thread and read the reply which outlined that this may be an issue with pass through. Apple TV 4K won’t display at all through an Onkyo TX-NR797 (4K ) into a Sony 4K LCD, using all new compatible HDMI cables.

Thought I would try a fall back option and went Apple TV direct into HDMI input of tv, and use an optical cable out from the tv back into the amp to at least have the good sound, but now just have video and stuttering sound. Audio and as stated video through the tv is fine, but god forbid I try to run the ATV through the amp. I even tried changing the audio format in ATV settings from Atmos to Dolby 5.1 (Argh) and the stuttering still remains when audio is passed through the amp.

This all started when our older Apple TV no longer supported YouTube, so we bought the new ATV 4K only to find it wouldn’t function at all through our existing non 4K Onkyo amplifier. Thinking we needed to upgrade our amplifier we purchased a new (2021) TX-NR797 4K only to have even more issues with the ATV as in no signal at all. All other inputs ( Cable PVR, PS3 and PS4 and Roku) function flawlessly through the new amp. The new amp processes fantastic colours and detail in the video of all our other devices and has great sound quality. It seems like a shame to run the ATV direct to the tv and listen via the tv speakers

A bit frustrated and honestly considering shelving the 4K ATV and going back to our old model……..

Yes, and I should have mentioned I also did both the soft reset and full factory reset procedures listed for the new Onkyo amplifier, and installed the latest version firmware from Onkyo.

i see that other brands of amplifier seem to operate without this issue, but if we have to choose between replacing a $1200 amp with another brand of $1200 to $2000 amp, versus losing a $175 streaming device……well…….as much as I enjoy all of our other Apple devices we can watch both Netflix and YouTube on our Roku premiere 4K just the same.

PierreRanger, just reread your reply and actually I don’t think I have tried that. Our Sony TV has 3 HDMI inputs, 2 standard HDMI, and 1 HDMI eArc. I’ve run the ATV first into the Amplfier then out of the amp into the TV eArc HDMI input-that produced no picture or sound and the Tv showed a message “no signal”

Next step was to run the ATV direct into the TV and trying both the standard HDMI inputs and the eArc HDMI input with an optical cable out of the TV running back into the optical input on the amplifier-that produced a clear picture but choppy sound through the amp, clear sound through the TV speakers.

If I read your suggestion correctly I may not have tried ATV direct to TV using a standard HDMI input while the amplifier is running into the TV input using the eArc HDMI. I’ll confirm that today and get back. Thanks for the suggestion

Still experiencing this issue on my ATV 4k running Netflix or HBO apps. Swapping to stereo or 5.1 allows me to use these apps but is no solution (like the post about restarting the APT being marked as “solved”…). Even did a full “resent and update” of the device today, no difference. This began about 2-3 weeks ago for myself and has been 100% consistent (garbled audio using atoms audio out for these apps) since.

So do you get all 3 of the symptoms popping/dropouts/stuttering with your Pioneer? and by the way i have seen this on AppltTV+ and HBOMax so its not only Netflix

Just installed another latest 15.3 test version. Still Atmos stutter issue.

Tried all video types (RGB hi, low, ...) No difference.

tvOS 15.4 problem is still here.

The Silent Sea on Netflix did it for me every time, usually in the first 10 min of episode 1