Netflix Dolby Atmos problems with new Apple TV 4k

My go-to test has always been S01E01 of DtS, as it always has dropouts within the first 10 minutes, often within the first minute or so. I always attributed this to the fast action/cuts, but later found that the show is 4K 50Hz, which confirmed that bandwidth was the key factor. I only tested with S01E03 last night because I was getting tired of re-watching S01E01. I am sure that it made it 20 minutes in to the episode because there were not many fast action/cuts up to that point.

My repeated experience with DtS S01E01 suggested to me that making it to the end of the episode before having a single dropout on WiFi was significant. With several others having a similar experience, WiFi versus wired seems to make a noticeable difference. But I agree that a higher number of tests are needed to increase statistical confidence. I am just not terribly motivated to do a lot of testing as I have a Gen 1 that has never had a dropout, even when I tested it on S01E01 of DtS.

An update: I'm also trying to watch "Stranger Things", which has a fantastic Atmos soundtrack.

Before the first episode of the new season, in response to a suggestion, I unplugged my gigabit ethernet from the AppleTV 4k 2021 (now running 15.5.1) , forcing it to use WiFi. I didn't think this would have much effect since my WiFi is as fast as my wired internet (200mpbs, verified with an iPhone 12 Pro Max which is my internet download speed) but I figured it couldn't hurt. I also rebooted the box.

The first episode yesterday (1:15 long) had two dropouts -- the stuttering/helicoptering chopping sound. I backed up a few second both times to hear the dialog.

Today, to watch the second episode, I plugged the Ethernet wire back in and rebooted the box. There were constant audio dropouts -- 3 in the first 5 minutes! I finally couldn't stand it, so I unplugged the wire and again power-cycled the AppleTV again. This time there was only one dropout, about 1/2 way through the hour+ long episode.

So there may be something to using WiFi over wired Ethernet. I did notice that shows also took longer to get started at full resolution. The first 30 seconds or so of the first episode of "Stranger Things" yesterday (where the scientist is walking around the hallway) was streamed at very low-resolution and at first, I thought it was supposed to be an old-timey effect but it was pretty awful. I paused hoping the streaming would catch up, and it did after a few seconds, when I finally got a 4k picture. That never happened with the wired connection.

I'm assuming that Apple really isn't interested in fixing this problem. It's not very hard to reproduce.

I have two apple tv 4k 2021 both running 15.5.1. Both have exhibited this issue at one point or another on any service streaming atmos. My main device connected to my denon was so bad while watching stranger things season 4 that i had to use my nvidia shield pro 2019 to finish watching the series. I swapped hdmi cables (zeskit maya 8k certified) between shield and apple tv. No change. Today I swapped the apple tvs from main to office and office to main.

Office apple tv has been behaving as of late so took its cheap hdmi cable and moved it along with the office apple tv to main position and used 5g wireless instead of ethernet. So far so good. The main apple tv along with its 8k certified cable moved to office and connected to the tv directly using earc to soundbar and ethernet. It too is now behaving. Go figure. This thing is fickle and i still cant pin it to one thing.

Just asking for clarification. As in, I can make my Apple 4K TV work fine on my tv, my sound bar, my receiver with no audio dropouts. Of course, I have to make sure I turn off Atmos output on the Apple TV 4K.

I fully understand the science of viewing distance, and for context, I’ve worked in the AV industry for the past 25 years. On the Apple TV in particular there probably isn’t a huge difference between 1080 and 4K at certain distances, but there is with Dolby Vision. I still got dropouts switching to 1080, and there was a difference in quality. I sit about 9.5 feet from a 65” OLED in my living room. The difference is negligible between 1080 and 4K at that distance, but I can tell the difference depending on what exactly I’m watching. I refuse to accept that a device that was intended to play 4K with Dolby Atmos isn’t working to spec, and I also refuse to use a “work around” by dropping resolution, which for me didn’t even work. The ONLY thing that has helped is switching to Wi-Fi from a hard wired connection, but it doesn’t stop them completely. Apple just needs to get off there *** and fix the issue. It’s not Netflix, or HBO Max, or Disney +, or any of the other apps that offer Atmos, it’s Apples problem, and it’s a waste of time for people to contact the providers as they don’t care because it’s not their issue that it’s not working. It would be different if Netflix or HBO Max were having Atmos issues across multiple platforms, but they’re not, so the responsibility to fix it, is Apples and Apples alone.

And in my main theater, I don’t stream so it doesn’t matter.

I purchased a Roku Ultra for $69 on Amazon and so far it's working flawlessly with HDR and Atmos on everything I can test. The only think I miss from the Apple TV are my pictures but at least now I can watch content without worrying that it's going to mess up. As a bonus it also supports passing the audio stream directly to the receiver/processor.

Not sure if it has already been posted, but in another forum (Martin Logan owners) some users have mentioned that switching the connection to wifi from hard wired ethernet helped. It didn't completely eliminate the Atmos dropouts, but it helped reduce the number of occurrences. Figured I'd mention it here to see if anyone here has tested it or not. Otherwise, this needs to be fixed by Apple. It only happens with my Gen 2 ATV4K. I have already replaced it once and the same issue. My Gen 1 ATV 4K works flawlessly.

Good questions. I too got a replacement Gen 2 that was on 14.7. The dropouts were far less frequent in 14.x than 15.x. However, I caved to Apple's constant nag screens to update (I have a Gen 1 as a backup), and of course the dropouts were a lot more frequent in 15.x.

If you chose to update to 15.x, there are several things you can do to significantly mitigate or perhaps eliminate the dropouts. You can switch from Ethernet to WiFi, and if you you are far enough from the TV screen that 4K isn't discernable from 1080p (as many are), you can switch to 1080p (you still get HDR). My recent posts have more details.

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.

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.

Seems to me that Apple simply doesn't see this Atmos drop-out issue as a bug. I think it's obvious that Apple's QA team has a few modern Atmos sound setups that work just fine and can't reproduce this "bug". I happen to be an example of someone whose Atmos soundbar is perfectly fine with the ATV4K's Atmos re-encoding to an uncompressed multichannel LPCM with Dolby MAT stream (an acceptable-if-not-optimal Atmos implementation according to Dolby).

But many Atmos-capable receivers apparently can't handle the bandwidth of what the ATV4K is doing, so perhaps the better approach is to stop waiting on Apple for a fix (unless it's from your stereo vendor) and petition Apple's ATV feedback for a new feature: a digital audio stream pass-through option for HDMI receivers & soundbars.

It's stupid that they don't already offer such a settings option, but I suspect their desire to support Atmos streams with Spatial Audio when using AirPods Pro, etc. complicates their audio handling... Nonetheless, if you're monitoring this thread waiting for a "fix", I suggest asking Apple for a work-around to the bug in your receiver/soundbar in the form of a new audio configuration option in the ATV4K's setup.

Change your HDMI cord. It’s probably not up to date. I changed mine and it fixed the issue.

I can confirm that tvOS 16 appears to have fixed the Atmos problem. Also no dropouts in DtS, wired connection. I am confident that it is finally fixed and moved my Gen 1 into another room.

Have you tried to plug the Apple TV into the tv and then connect a cable from the tv to the amplifier with earc?

Yes. I have a Denon receiver with Atmos setup (height speakers). It all works beautifully with xbox and even with Apple TV—unless I try streaming Netflix via Apple TV in Atmos. And even that works fine until the program or movie has a segment that has dialogue and music starting at the same time. That causes clipping and drop-outs. It's not the HDMI cable bc no problem with other streaming devices—or even other services—or even Netflix without Atmos. It's not the connection which is wired ethernet tied directly to a fiber line. No wifi involved.

It's definitely a software issue in the Apple TV 4K second generation when running Netflix in Atmos....