Apple TV 4k frequently looses sound

Hello bleen18,

To start, is your Apple TV fully up to date? Here's how to do so per Update your Apple TV

1. Go to Settings > System > Software Updates and select Update Software.
2. If there's an update, select Download and Install. 
3. Wait for your Apple TV to download the update. Don't disconnect or unplug your Apple TV until the update completes.

After the update downloads, your Apple TV will restart, prepare the update, then install it. When the update is complete, your Apple TV will automatically restart again.

Additionally, we'd recommend ensuring that your television and stereo system has any applicable firmware updates if present.

Thanks

Hi bleen18,

Thanks for the details. Have you been able to test to see if the sound works as expected with a different HDMI cable? If the issue persists, you may want to try resetting your Apple TV. This will restore it to it's factory state, so it would need to be set up again afterward.

To reset your TV, follow these steps:

1.) Open Settings  on Apple TV. 

2.) Go to System > Reset, then select Reset. 

Reset Apple TV - Apple Support

Resetting your Apple TV can resolve potential software related issues.

Let us know the results.

Take care.

Great. This is the behavior I expected. Now try switching the audio format back to Auto (to enjoy Dolby Atmos) and connect your Apple TV directly to your Soundbar, as described in this Apple Support Article. I don’t believe the other devices you have connected to your TV will be negatively impacted by this setup.

I believe your Samsung TV doesn’t like the audio format being sent by your Apple TV.

Here are two potential solutions:

1. Connect your Apple TV 4K directly to your Samsung Soundbar.
2. Change the audio output format of your Apple TV. On your Apple TV, go to Settings…Video and Audio, change the Audio Format to either Dolby Digital 5.1 or Stereo.

For my setup, I like the first solution because I wanted to use Dolby ATMOS.

1. I have the audio cutting out at the start of every video since I set the ATV to multichannel LPCM audio output. It happens randomly on any video stream, from YT App or Plex App home server, but not on the Spark Sport App. I was prepared to live with it for the 'better' dynamic sound.
2. BUT
3. Since the ATV was turned off from end of July til mid August, it has now decided to cut both the video and the audio at the beginning of a video, only on YT videos, and seemingly RANDOMLY, even on the Adverts. So the first words are missing from that video and the video appears a second later, OR the video and audio are both cut out for a second or two after a couple of seconds from the start of the video.

The ATV has been perfect until now, it's under a year old, it is connected to a Yamaha AVR RX-A3030 thru HDMI which is set to direct throughput for video.

Anyone got ideas why it has recently changed its behaviour..?

Cheers for the reply…

Actually I have match frame rate enabled, just did a test, with that disabled the problem is gone. But it means that I have to change the frame rate each time a differing source is played..

it all worked fine for many months, only now the problem appears.. (I am a very fussy viewer)…

Hi bleen18,

I understand the difficulty with rerouting of wires. At a minimum, you should change the audio output format from stereo to Dolby Digital 5.1. You shouldn’t have any audio drop outs and the audio quality should be better than stereo. Hopefully this helps. :)

Do you have Match Dynamic Range turned on? If so, I would try turning it off.