Netflix Dolby Atmos problems with new Apple TV 4k

Installed TVOS16. Did not fix it. I phoned up Apple support

First ATV expert had never heard of Atmos thought it was a brand of speakers

Eventually spoke to someone who insulted me by asking me if my TV and Soundbard supported Dolby Atmos. Because I would have waited 25 mins to speak to him about a standard my hardware does not support.

He did not seem to know his way round the ATV menu options but at least he had heard of Atmos.

He then told me that he has ATV with Home Pod and does not have this issue

Therefore he immediately concluded that the problem is with the "Third Party hardware" and not me

Despite the fact that I have tried multiple soundbars with the same problem and the 42 page thread here.

We must all be fools for not buying Homepods. Or buying ATVs , not sure which

Tested a full length feature movie with Atmos earlier today on tvos16. A total of 3 dropouts in 2.5 hours. So the problem is still there. My solution has been to install a nvidia shield- no issues with atmos using this device.

Hi,

Also a shield has his own problems, for example frame rating....

especialy when you play your own content like DVD FILES, and ISO ROMS.

but also streaming content.

And there also is this dominacy to other deveices connected. I had to switch all hdmi CEC etc. off.

In my case i also stopped using it because Real Racing 3 is no longer. supported on Android TV OS.

But ofcourse you can give it a try.....

Well this is not good news, was excited to hear the early TVOS 16 remotes of the beta fixing this issue. Have been waiting for months.

Guess I will just keep using my fire stick for netflix only content SMH.

So since updating to tvOS 16 I have watched on Netflix four episodes of "Drive to Survive", the movie "Spiderhead", two episodes of "Our Planet" and on AppleTV+ an episode of "5 Days at Memorial". All of these are Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. I haven't had a single drop out while watching. On 15.6 audio usually starting dropping out after 10 or 20 minutes on Netflix. So being able to watch all that content without issues on tvOS 16 is a big step forward for me. Strange that some of you continue to have issues though.

This problem was only with Netflix before, now it’s spread to Amazon Prime.

It’s strictly with AppleTV as the native apps with the TV always work without issues.

To resolve it, you have to disable Atmos and then return to the apps.

Manually turning on and off Atmos is a horrible user experience from any company, but we expect more from Apple.

Interestingly enough, I just bought the latest Apple TV 4K (2021) and no issues so far. The older model (2017) was updated to the latest TV OS and was having issues until I replaced it with the 2021 model.

Curious what model year others have who are also having the same issue.

I've had dropouts with the latest Apple TV 4K purchased this year (2022). I have not verified if the latest firmware resolves all the dropouts I've had with Apple TV Shows or Netflix yet when running with Atmos enabled.

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.

Turn off Match Frame Rate, this worked on my previous Apple TV 4K, but is not working on my new 2022 Apple TV4K I just got on Friday. It is having Atmos drop outs and I have not found a way to correct so I am back to using my previous gem model.

Same issue here with my brand new Apple TV 3rd Gen. 4k 128 GB. I am experiencing Dolby Atmos sound dropouts when watching Netflix, but, curiously, it does not happen with any other apps. I am very disappointed though, since this issue has apparently been carried over from the previous models. I thought they fixed it with the new Apple TV.

I’m using Gen 2 Apple TV 4K, I’m having same issue. Sometimes ATV restart works, sometimes I need to switch to different sound something like mono and come back later to atmos on my Denon.

I haven’t seen this issue last year.

very frustrating experience!!