Apple TV outputs 2 Channel Stereo only!

Movies seem to work fine.

Then your device settings are probably correct, else it would be in stereo for everything.

What remains is either the app or the stream itself from the content provider.

Try this for any misbehaving app:

1. Force-quit the app, then relaunch and try again.
2. If the issue persists, force-quit the app, restart the device, then relaunch and try again.
3. If the issue still persists, delete the app, re-download and try again.
4. If the issue still persists, then contact the app developer for further assistance.

Be sure to set your Audio Output on Apple TV to ‘TV Speakers’, to have it send audio over HDMI. Selecting the audio system directly as audio output would send audio over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth in stereo format, as temporary output – not what you want for multichannel receivers.

FWIW

I have my Apple TV 4K 3rd generation connected to my Yamaha Advantage AVR then out to the TV via eArc HDMI. I have the Apple TV 4K set to Dolby 5.1, I used to have it on Auto but I don’t use Atmos speakers anymore more, just a straight 5.1 speaker setup.

Watching movies etc. putting out 5.1 shows properly on the receiver as Dolby Digital, and the little speaker setup icon on the display shows appropriately for my speaker setup.

Here is my experience when using “straight” it defaults to 2 channel but changes to 5.1 as needed when watching movies, streaming apps, etc. Some TV shows will show as 2 channel stereo on the receiver, sometimes I’ll just turn-off “straight” if I want 5.1.

Also, with movie trailers if I have “straight” turned-on, some trailers will output 2 channel stereo but the movie itself will output 5.1.

It has worked this way for me for quite a while, even with earlier versions of tvOS, I currently have tvOS 16.3.3 I also have a 2nd generation Apple TV4K and it works the same way.

I have the Audio Output set to “TV speakers”, in much older tvOS versions this setting showed an Apple TV icon along with “HDMI” so there would be no doubt you were using HDMI, they shouldn’t have change it to “TV Speakers” which can be confusing

I’m having the same experience, ATV4K on latest OS, Marantz Cinema 40 AVR. I have both Spectrum Cable and Internet, so I compared the cable box audio to the Spectrum app audio (on ATV4K) using a TNT NCAA Men’s Basketball game as the source. On cable, I get DD+DSurr (as expected), while on the app I get two-channel stereo. WTH… like you, I did not have this experience prior to the most recent update(s).

Tried restart/remove app/ options someone listed out, no change. Audio setting is “TV speakers” and audio format is “Auto, Atmos available”. Also like you, movies decode fine, it’s only certain apps that seem to be screwed up. Needs resolution, must be happening widely.

Lastly, I’m not using ARC, just straight HDMI from ATV to the AVR.

Ok more weirdness - changed ARV4K Spectrum app channel from TNT to TBS (another March Madness game) and the audio changed to Multi-In+DSurr, which is different than the cable box (DD+DSurr) but better than 2-channel stereo. I tried changing the ATV4K audio format from Atmos-ON to Atmos-OFF, does not affect these results.

So this leads me to now believe that the source material (cable channels) fed through the Spectrum app isn’t well managed by Spectrum. If the cable box is receiving Dolby over a given channel (TNT), the app should too. The fact other Spectrum channels on ATV4K are receiving Dolby means (to me) the ATV4K settings are not the issue.