Netflix Dolby Atmos problems with new Apple TV 4k

Well, sounds promising sure but, I'll believe it when I see it.

I've suggested to do some beta testing. Didn't get instructions how to join. Not sure if there is such a thing for ATV TV os?

Ah man, just imagine. Buttery smooth auto framerate content with stutter free Atmos. Can it be? Can it really be? From ATV Gen 2 to some android 905x whatever to shield 2017 to ATV 4k 2021... Please don't make me go to Shield android 12 whenever it becomes available.

Why do you not want to go to Shield with Android 12? I just bought my 1st ever Shield and so far it seems OK (it’s only been 2 days). Their beta frame rate feature is a bit of a pain since it’s not in android itself but it did work.

I'm wondering the same thing -- I wish the AppleTV 4K (2021) would let my pricey receiver do the decoding instead of decoding the audio itself and then sending the Atmos overlay data separately. Regarding the number of channels, I suspect that it just passes PCM for whatever number of channels the source is encoded at (5.1 or maybe 7.1 but I don't know if any streamers can do that), and then the Denon somehow figures it out or mixes the channels together if necessary.

Just pass through the audio. What's the benefit in the ATV doing it -- other than to work with TVs that can't do the decoding themselves?

There are several threads here reporting this problem, especially in "Drive to Survive" which gets it every single time, as does HBO Max movies. I now have a new Sony TV with GoogleTV built in and I started using that to watch Netflix instead of the AppleTV -- Atmos is completely glitch-free over eARC. Fortunately, it supports the AppleTV app, so I can use it to watch Atmos content everywhere. But I miss the AppleTV "Up Next" feature -- the app does have it, but only for content subscribed through with AppleTV, like AppleTV plus, purchased iTunes movies, and channels (I get Paramount+ and Showtime through AppleTV+ because of a promotion).

Still waiting for someone to integrate everything, including Netflix.

I am wondering if it’s all about AirPods. Maybe a lot of Apple TV customers are buying it to stream the audio to their AirPods while they watch Netflix on their Mac or iPhones or iPads lol.

Perhaps Apple is trying to bring the Dolby atmos experience to airpod users :-)

ZimFromIRK wrote:

Just pass through the audio. What's the benefit in the ATV doing it -- other than to work with TVs that can't do the decoding themselves?

This is really the biggest flaw of the ATV. I keep a 2015 Nvidia Shield around just because of HDMI passthrough on Plex.

I bought the newest version of the ATV just to watch DV + Atmos content, which hasn't been the flawless experience I was hoping it to be. Although to be fair, since the last update and forcing a restart of the ATV, I haven't experienced the issue of Atmos audio shutting down for like 10 seconds every 15-20 mins.

Definitely there is no advantage to having the AppleTV do the decoding instead of an expensive AVR that specializes in that type of thing.

I am wondering what is lost when the AppleTV decodes the Dolby signal. Can the AVR still manage to do Neural X or Dolby Surround post-processing to simulate Atmos type audio and make use of rear speakers and height speakers when the input is only 5.1?

is the AVR able to do post-processing if the input has already been decoded/uncompressed and is in PCM format?

my guess is that AirPods need the input to be decoded and in PCM format so Apple would need to have a switch to support passthrough or PCM which would confuse others who don’t have AVR’s

You asked: "I am wondering what is lost when the AppleTV decodes the Dolby signal." It's hard to say what's lost, but tonight, I watched a "Ghosts" episode on HBO Max for a while on the AppleTV 4K. It's a British show and the dialog is often hard to understand because of the accents and slang and so I often turn on the subtitles. I watched about 5 minutes on the AppleTV and then decided to try my new Sony TV with built-in GoogleTV -- both over the Denon 8500HA; the AppleTV is connected to the Media Player HDMI input while the Sony TV was sending audio over eARC. With the TV, the dialog from the center was crystal clear -- no trouble understanding anything and the sound was much more lively. I was shocked at how easy the dialog from the center channel was to understand. I then switched back to the AppleTV and sure enough, the muddy hard-to-understand dialog was still there. My Denon receiver said it was decoding "Dolby Digital Plus" with the Google TV while, with the AppleTv it just said "multi-channel input".

I do have the dialog clarifier function turned on in the receiver's sound menu as a result of previous attempts to get clearer dialog. To me, this pretty much indicates there's not much the Denon can do with the multi-channel input the multi-channel input. Since the TV's built-in GoogleTV supports all the apps that the AppleTV has (including an AppleTV app that has the "up next" list, but only for AppleTV+ and AppleTV channels (for me, the Paramount+ and Showtime bundle), but fortunately also movie purchases and rentals from Apple.

This tells me I'm going to have to abandon my AppleTV 4K 2021 streaming box unless Apple adds an audio passthrough mode because clear audio is very important to me, and the GoogleTV app works really well -- watched a lossless DTS/iMAX movie streamed over Sony's Bravia Core service with stunning sound and never an Atmos glitch in "Drive to Survive". I hope Apple is paying attention.

I have the same issues with the dropouts. How to restart the Apple TV unplug the power cord? Or is there an option to restart the device? I don't know if it's good to unplug the power cord each time I have issues. Hope apple will fix that problem soon.

Some more bad news all.

Running 15.3 Beta 3 and the issue is still occurring :(

A bit of positive news though is that it seems to occur less frequent and when it does, for a shorter period.

I have the ATV behind a remote power switch so I do a cold boot every day I start watching.

I've also provided feedback via apple.com/feedback. The Beta program requests to give feedback via some assistent app which needs to be installed on a Beta iOS!? I don't use an iPhone so not an option. Why not install the assistent app on the ATV for all Beta installations?

Hi,

my setup is a bit complicated :) So I have an Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX monitor and a JVC XP-EXT1 sound system with Dolby Atmos. I connected my Apple TV to an HDMI Matrix (https://www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/B083K39RHF/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&crid=296CPVF11CIQL&keywords=MX42HS&qid=1642499724&sprefix=mx42hs%2Caps%2C122&sr=8-1) to copy my HDMI signal to both devices. It works very well except for the audio dropouts.

My Apple TV settings are, 4K HDR, Dolby Atmos, and chroma 4:2:0. I tried chroma 4:2:2 but I think I got more often dropouts. My cable length is 0.5 meters to the matrix and 0.25 meters from the matrix to my sound system. I have no issues with my PS5 that is also connected to that matrix. The Playstation has only a 7.1 linear PCM stream as the highest settings you can set. I will try my Xbox Series X with Dolby Atmos soon. I think there is an Apple TV app as well.

But I think it is an Apple TV issue and don't hope that is my sound system.

ZimFromIRK, ...this is perhaps the most informative post i have seen on this message board!

Thanks for doing this research.

After I asked "what is lost when the AppleTV decodes the Dolby signal?", I also did a quick test and connected my old Apple TV HD to my Denon (since i already returned my 4K to BestBuy), and i saw that the Denon was able to do the NeuralX and Dolby Surround post-processing to the PCM signal received from the Apple TV at least, so thats something. But if the Apple TV decoding is inferior to the Denon decoding, that's a show stopper and means the Apple TV isn't a good fit for folks with expensive AVR's..

Strange that this topic is rarely if ever mentioned on most review sites that compare streamers.

I think this confirms it for me. Nice to see others with the same issue I have been fighting. Only happens to me in Netflix and they just told me it’s probably the Apple TV. Not sure where to go, might have to try and find an old ATV 4k until they get this fixed. Might have to hop over to a Nvidia Shield.

Netflix told you it’s probably the Apple TV?

Yeah I just switched to the Shield …I guess time will tell if I ever buy another Apple TV lol…I was driving myself crazy trying to troubleshoot the problem…finally decided to return the Apple to Best Buy and use the $$ to buy a Shield instead so I could stop the obsessive behavior of trying to fix the audio issues on the Apple TV 4K and start streaming again :-)

Yup, was just on chat and they eluded to the AppleTV being the issue. I bought my ATV when it came out so I am hosed on return. I just picked up brand new high speed HDMI cables too. Should have just grabbed a Shield instead, haha.