AppleTV Blacking Out Dolby Vision and HDR

Hey there, and welcome to Apple Support Communities grahamod19,

We can certainly understand your concern and can help provide some insight.

We recommend checking out these steps for more information on what to do if your Apple TV doesn't turn on or shows a black screen.

" Learn what to do if your Apple TV doesn’t turn on or shows a black screen.

If you turn on Match Dynamic Range or Match Frame Rate, Apple TV automatically determines which dynamic ranges or frame rates your TV supports. You might experience a black or flickering screen as your TV switches between formats when playback starts or stops. 

Try these steps

If you experience a black screen that is unrelated to switching the Apple TV format, try these steps. After each step, check if your issue has been resolved.

1. Unplug both ends of the HDMI cable, then firmly plug them back in. Or try using a different HDMI cable to see if the cable causes the issue. For HDMI 2.1, use an Ultra High Speed HDMI cable. For HDMI 2.0, use a Premium High Speed cable. Then in the TV menu, make sure that you select the HDMI input that matches the HDMI port connected to the Apple TV. 
2. Unplug your TV and your Apple TV from power, then plug both back in.
3. Try a different HDMI port on your TV, starting with HDMI 1 or Input 1. Check your TV manual for further assistance. 
4. If you're using a receiver or an HDMI switch, one of these might be the issue. Connect your Apple TV directly to the TV instead of using the receiver or HDMI switch. If the Apple TV Home Screen now appears, connect your receiver or HDMI switch one at a time. After each additional device is connected, check that the Home Screen still appears on your TV. Check your receiver manual for further assistance. 
5. If the Apple logo appears and then a black screen, press and hold the Back button and Volume Down button for 6 seconds, then release. Your Apple TV will switch to a new resolution every 20 seconds. Select OK to choose a resolution or Cancel to quit. "

For additional information, check out this link: If your Apple TV doesn't turn on or shows a black screen - Apple Support

These steps will help ensure your device is working with ease and can fix common issues like the ones you’re experiencing.

Kindest regards!

I have the same issue. It only happens on some movies not all. That’s the weird part. But I just found out when manually setting the Apple TV into Dolby vision 4K mode with 24fps and turning off frame rate matching it works fine. Even more weirdly when leaving frame rate matching on, it seems to switch into some other mode and the issues are still there. But I know for sure the movie is 24fps…

I think this must be some weird Apple TV software bug so that it sets the tv not into proper 24fps mode.

Unfortunately there is no way to check on the LG TV what the current fps mode is. Would be interesting what the Apple TV is setting it to when frame rate matching is on that causes the issues.

Hello,

Never saw a solution to this posted.

Figured I would help.

My solve was to go into apple tv settings and turn off the match frame rate setting that is in the audio and display tab

I have the same setup and it is beyond annoying man. It’s definitely a LG issue and it seems they don’t really care about this issue because it’s a simple fix yet it’s been 2 years and I turn off hdr and Dolby when on YouTube because of the constant flickering between ads and different content.

Is the Apple TV directly connected to the TV or is there a receiver in the middle?

Just dealt with an interesting situation with one connected to a receiver, we wouldn't lose audio but would lose the picture for 1 second, and a very quick flicker on home menu even. Only happened when on 4kHDR or Dolby Vision. 4k SDR seemed fine and 1080 as well...

All HDMI's and devices were compliant and it was working for weeks when suddenly the issue arose.

After troubleshooting we replaced the receiver with a different model and seemed to have resolved the problem. When we bypassed the "bad" receiver, and went directly to the TV with the same HDMI, it worked just fine. However we took that same receiver back and hooked it up to a Samsung, dolby vision not supported but HDR is, and have had no issues so far running it on 4kHDR with this samsung.........very interesting.

Saw on another post something regarding UHD deep color on the LG tv's, if you find this setting in the menu and disable it - it shouldn't allow the appletv to go to Dolby Vision, this setting needs to be on for the apple to recognize the compatibility of that video setting.

Looks like it’s happening when we set it up to highest resolution (4K HDR) with 2.2.2 protocol.

if we downgrade to lower setting and hdmi transfer speed, it’s better.

the projector, hdmi cable are all rated 4K 60htz 2.1 hdmi support and hdmi is 8k rated. It’s still happening.

Hi guys, I am having the same issue from years with a sony tv and a denon receiver. it only happens on the apple tv. when using the tv os for netflix or others, it works just fine. Changed all hdmi cable to certified ones, but I still have this issue. It disapears time to time, but then come back. I have the feeling that this is due to the apple tv getting to warm. but not sure about it...

Kwa here

Hi... I have the intermittent black out

issue with my new LG-C3 TV and my Apple

TV component, and have solved it.

I have tracked it to the cables. I

bought

4K and 8K cables of various lengths and

tested them all. Some of them work,

some don’t even though rated highly. It

is a roll of the dice. In order to test them, I hooked up

the highest rating cable I can get (8K)

in a mid-price range (Even the expensive

cables are not consistent) directly to

the TV HDMI port, which defaults to

Dolby Vision. I advise to get the

shortest possible cable you can start with (I

started at 24 inches). I then swapped

out cables from different manufacturers

with different lengths all rated at 8K.

What surprised me is how some cables

simply don’t work, others allow the

Apple TV component to be detected by the LG

TV, but with a "No Signal"

message. Others yet have a constant black

flickering image right away, and even

others do not exhibit a problem right

away, but may after 15 minutes

I want to hook my Apple TV, about 10 ft

away from my LG C3, so I bought 8K HDMI

wall plate Key connectors, since I was

going through a wall interface 

(you can

find 8K connectors on Amazon) . With

over a dozen cables tested, I can now pick

the best ones and hook up the

components, even with the Keystone wall

connectors. (I test the daisy chain

first before installation because one cable which may have been fine on its own

, can still compromise the signal in a daisy chain)

This issue drove me up the wall for

weeks,

as I started with a different, but

related  problem. I bought a new Dannon high end receiver

and the LG TV could not 'see' it with

eARC. 

It all came down to cables. Once I found

the right set of cables that

work, everything is fantastic. It seems

that cables are not consistent even identical

ones from the same manufacturer.

So this was fixed but is now back with the latest LG firmware update. My settings was set to default to SDR but auto match to signal HDR. So not sure if this is a Apple or LG issue.

yes but when you need the match frame rate setting on…