AppleTV audio cuts out and pops on Dolby Atmos audio content

Same thing here just got a new tv and Apple TV 4K only to have this issue now.

Here’s my setup

qn90b

Apple TV4k 2022 Ethernet directly into tv and i have a pioneer elite avr (older gen no earc) in a corner with a 50 footer fiber optic cable connected.

before the new tv first gen atv4k was plugged into avr and then avr to receiver. Everything worked for the most part had to power cycle tv every few weeks but wasn’t really a big issue.

Now with the new setup I had to plug atv directly into tv to get hdr10+ and then arc sound back. I know all the limitations with atv and sound output. I’ll get a new receiver that supports earc in a few months but I will still have to use earc to get sound the fiber optic cable is in wall and does not support 48gbs.

Everything works but then get sound drops for about half a second every minute or few minutes, but only with atmos sound. If I power cycle just the tv issue goes away but then comes back, still need to do more testing how quickly it comes back.

some folks at Reddit are saying it is related to content matching due to 24 fps vs 23.94 or whatever it is.

It is definitely an Apple issue though.

Please make sure you post back here when it stops working as there is a lot of miss information on here.

It’s an Apple codec issue with atmos and their firmware and nothing else, not cable or playing around with settings or anything else. FYI.

Me too. Bought Apple TV 4K last week. Running IOS 16.3. Audio out on TV speakers- no sound bar. Made audio changes suggested in other posts. That didn’t work. I’ve got a 20 yr old Sony Bravia 720p TV. I noticed the video feed setting was 1080p so I switched that setting to 720p SDR. So far it seems to have worked and I’m not getting any audio dropouts.

I have this issue in all applications. The best example and worst offender is the Netflix app. If I just browse through shows it will change audio format from one preview to another and the audio will completely cut out for 5-10 seconds. Sometimes there is a terrible noise that pops up when Atmos kicks in. The only way I can resolve this is to force Doble Digital 5.1, which completely kills the point of Atmos and invalidates my entire home theater design. I'm at the point of just abandoning the Apple TV in favor of something else.

I’m having the same issue on 3 gen Apple TV 16.0. Looks likes there’s an update for 16.2 gonna see if that fixes it

I bought a new 4K 2022 ATV and having audio drop out issues. Netflix and using dolby atmos sound drops out. Also plays sound in PCM format when dolby format is encoded ATV fails to decode it and it drops sound out.

New Model with A15 seems a let down. I suggest we all return it if it allows you. Apple needs to test and fix issues before releasing hardware. Firestick 4k max has no issues.

Same issue here, with the A15 apple tv and a sonos beam soundbar. Everything works perfectly when I’m using the built-in android tv apps. Whenever I switch to the apple tv audio starts frequently popping on ATMOS content.

Seems like it’s quite an old issue too…

The same thing happens to me, sound cuts when the playback starts or loss of sound for 4 seconds. This happens when you have the apple tv4k + denon soundbar +tv Philips, if I connect it to the TV without the soundbar there are no problems.

With a fire tv 4k zero problems and it doesn't matter how it's connected.

OK this is my follow up response after fooling around with everything there’s no fix for surroundsound. I think that’s blatantly clear what I did was simply plug back in my optical cable TV to sound bar not only did the plus minus volume indicator come back but there’s been zero drop on the sound bar again that does not solve the surroundsound so yes I’m highly ****** but at least I’ve got a high quality, sound bar and my subwoofer works. I’m gonna try to go through the settings and see if I can get anything figure it out future update to come.

I don't believe Atmos will work over an optical cable. It requires HDMI.

Beta updates is not your issue. This has been ongoing for quite some time.

There is a high likelihood that this has to do with HDMI handshake issues. I've read about people with similar issues for other products using longer HDMI cables to ameliorate the issue.

appreciate the response what I am doing is disconnect and everything after the update that was pushed out this morning I left the optical cable plugged in, but basically unplugged and replug in all my ethernet cables and USB cables, and it seems to be working now. I knew it wasn’t that HDMI or ethernet issue like most people say because I’m running nothing but top-tier Spect 8K to 10 K gigabyte cables and everything so hopefully this solves the problem maybe just needed time to reset for today’s update but I guess to be determined, hope more people have better luck in. Apple gets their head up their ***.

The problem is with the Apple TV and I'm telling you why, although you force the exit in digital dolby when you're at Home, it emits sound in estero. My home cinema is constantly changing the type of source, so it causes outages, delays in my case. In the Home in stereo, I go to Netflix or Apple+ and I see how it changes the sound format during that moment it causes several cuts and when it ends it works correctly until you go out to the Home and get back in the stereo.

@Peterwww,

Why is "what" not Apple's problem? There is much confusion here resulting from the unrelated issues that @per118 is experiencing, which I am trying to clarify for others who may come across this thread.

People are talking about all manner of different issues and lumping them in as part and parcel of the original issue, which they're not.

The issue being discussed in THIS support thread, is that Atmos audio drops out randomly on the Apple TV platform.

@DJrapcat, This issue happens on every generation of the ATV4K. I have the current gen and the previous 2 gens and they all have the same problem. If you read through this thread, you will find that this is corroborated. Several people have upgraded to the 2022 model in hopes of a resolution, but it persists.

Previously, restarting my 2nd Gen ATV4K would keep the audio dropouts away for a day to a day & a half. So I bit the bullet and did a full reset. It was already running the latest TVOS but I selected the option to download the latest anyway, thinking that might be more like a clean install. The audio dropouts went away! For about five days. This is just insane. So I'll be calling Apple Support, expecting the runaround on the usual simplistic, scripted solutions. When that conversation is exhausted, at least I'll have a ticket on file. The last thing would be to buy the new 3rd Gen unit, which I would happily do if it solves this problem. But that might truly be the last thing to try and if it doesn't work, then what, Apple? I hope Apple is reading this stuff.

Yeah I’ve having having the same issue, it’s happened multiple times where it indeed cuts sound every other 10 to 20 seconds for about one second, it happens with Apple Music, YouTube and even my Crunchyroll streaming app, it goes back to normal but then it goes back to the same issue, I don’t think is the hdmi input since I changed it to multiple ones, I’ve even swapped the hdmi cord and the one I bought for it on day one is a “Belkin UltraHD High Speed 4K HDMI” which I bought through the apple store when I purchased the Apple TV 4K. Is getting tiresome to keep trying to fix and look for ways to fix the issue. I Hope they update and patch the issue.