Netflix Dolby Atmos problems with new Apple TV 4k

I've been following this thread for quite a while - thanks to everyone who has taken the time to post details and possible workarounds. I'm a developer, so I was able to try tvOS 16 over the past week and so far, I haven't had any audio stuttering whatsoever after playing various titles from both Netflix (including Stranger Things and Drive to Survive) as well as Apple TV+ (For All Mankind, Loot, etc).

I have a wired gigabit fiber network in my home (1Gbps up and down) and the AppleTV 4K Gen2 that I use in my media room has always been hardwired. I was prepared to unplug the Cat6 due to the feedback here - but so far I haven't had to since upgrading to tvOS 16.

My previous experience with the same device hardwired on various versions of tvOS 15 was fairly constant audio stuttering unless I rebooted the device. This would help for a while and the stuttering would return.

I've also read some recent threads where it appears that Netflix is downgrading some of their streams to 5.1, but I can verify that the ones above are being shown on my Denon AVR-X4700H as Dolby Atmos.

I have both the Gen1 and Gen2 4K devices, so I temporarily swapped the Gen1 to my media room to get around the issue for a couple of months and have now switched back to the Gen2. FWIW - the Gen2 seems noticeably better in terms of video and audio quality to me so I'm happy to have it back.

Hopefully someone else here who has access to tvOS 16 can verify.

I heard we should get 15.6 within the next couple of weeks and that's also supposed to help. I haven't heard anything about 16.

Does TVOS 16 finally add a pass-through option or is that hopeless? I want my receiver to do the decoding, but for non-Atmos shows, it just says "multi-channel in" and shows the 5.1 speakers lit up.

I had moved my apple tv 4k to wifi and connect it directly to my Lg CX instead of through my denon x4500 which pretty much took care of the issue for me. It was really bad on my system.

Today for kicks i reconnected it through my denon and back on ethernet after i installed 16. So far for the last few hours atmos has been working flawlessly.

I am encouraged.

I am having the same problem. Initially thought my SW was going bad. Then, I noticed the same cracking and popping coming from all of the speakers simultaneously. I've had it happen on HBOMAX and Netflix. I only have fronts, C and SW so I turned off Atmos and I still get the crackling. AVR is a Marantz 6011. I downloaded a firmware update for that and we'll see if they've made a change to compensate. Apple TV is up to date 15.5. 

This is a mega problem. People who don't know better might think their speakers are going bad.

I spoke too soon. This weekend I had several issues during Stranger Things S04E08 and S04E09. I had the repetitive ticking sounds, and twice the audio dropped-out completely, requiring stopping and restarting the stream. And I was so confident that the problem was fixed after I made it completely through an episode of DtS without issue.

I guess I will be using my Roku for DV/Atmos programming. The ATV4K has been a disappointing waste of time and money. If the final release of tvOS 16 doesn't fix this issue, we should pressure Apple to refund our purchases. They really should make this right.

I have a wired network connection and my ATV4K Gen 2 is connected directly to my Denon AVR.

I'm on 15.6 and watched The Sea Beast on Netflix all the way through with no drop outs at all. I did notice that an update to the Netflix app was applied on Sunday (I believe). There was a little blue dot under the icon. Whether that has anything to do with no drop outs, who knows.

BTW, if you are running a 4K set up, The Sea Beast is a demo worthy film. Utterly gorgeous film...superb animation, very colorful and just looked beautiful on my Sony A80J. I enjoyed the story as well. But I highly recommended just to see the fantastic presentation.

I installed 15.6 on my AppleTV 4K 2021 on Saturday and watched "The Grey Man". No joy: experienced five of the chopping, stuttering dropouts. Had to hit the back button twice on each one to catch the dialogue that I missed.

15.6 does NOT fix this problem. For the record: TV is Sony A90J, receiver/decoder is a Denon 8500HA, and the AppleTV 4K is connected to the Media Streamer HDMI input. I'm currently using WiFi on the AppleTV 4k because some say that helps.

Very disappointed but not surprised.

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.

It is a problem with TVOS, or at least the decoder. Netflix is the worst offender, but I experienced the helicoptering over the last week with Disney+ on "Ms. Marvel" and earlier tonight in AppleTV+'s very own "For All Mankind". I'm on 15.6.

I purchased an ATV4k to replace a Roku when it was on sale and am having these problems also. I didn't notice it until I watched a couple of things on Netflix and I wound up watching on the internal app of my TV. I couldn't figure out what was going on and came across this thread.

I had thought about keeping it since some people seem to be reporting improvement with tvOS16, but I think it's going back. I'll follow the thread and if this actually gets ironed out in the final O\tvOS release, I'll consider picking one up again down the road. I like the ATV generally, but the Roku worked great and this seems to be more trouble than it's worth for little benefit.

It's a shame that this problem has been reported and going on for as long as it has.

There’s no benefit to watching UHD Netflix content via ATV over your TVs built-in app anyway. On the contrary, Netflix servers are able to determine if you’re watching via a smart TV and as such it receives preferred QoS.

When viewed via ATV, the Apple hardware merely acts as a conduit for UHD material. It’s when you watch Apple’s own content or content purchased via iTunes you may notice a difference as the ATV is able to pull higher bitrates from Apple’s own servers.

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.

Atmos works fine for me now, but it didn't work at all with tvOS 15.6. The official release date for tvOS 16 is tomorrow, Sept. 12, 2022. Apple goes nuts if anyone mentions early versions of software, so I won't discuss them here.

But if you close your eyes and click your heels and say: "There's no place like tvOS 16 for Atmos" you may not be disappointed.

To get the update tomorrow, make sure auto-update is on and/or check manually. While you're in there checking your update options look for other things that will speed up your access to bug fixes in the future.

That being said, it's entirely possible that some setups won't work with tvOS 16. I use premium cables and a premium receiver so YMMV. I have found that the Amazon Firestick 4K handles Atmos competently, even with Apple TV+ titles.

Incidentally, Apple TV has not always had issues with Atmos and the problems it has in 15.6 are not limited to Netflix.

Hi,

update not avaiable for me.

maybe because i am in the Netherlands?

when will be available for me?

Hope will be soon, bacause i am very tired of all isues with all kind of mediaplayers, there is not one! which gets everything right.

They keep you buzy with firmware updates until a new model shows up, you hope this one will be the one, but the proces starts all over again!