Apple TV 4K 3rd generation eARC sound issues, no problems with Apple TV 4K 2nd generation

LOL, I accidentally upgraded my 2nd Gen 4K on our el-cheapo $95 40" no-name bedroom TV (no sound bar) to 17.2 last night now half the stuff has no sound. Even worse than my LG G2. Apple really blew it on this firmware. I had to disable EVERY audio setting to get sound on everything,

Turning off the eARC support on my LG has no effect.

I solved this problem by doing this:

I smashed my LG Tv, I smashed the brand new Apple TV 4K, and I ordered a Roku. Solved!

All of this used to work before they updated to tvOS 17.

Well, my main two reasons for using the AppleTV in the first place are:

Apple's stance on user privacy is much better than most companies, LG and especially any bargain TVs sell and use our data in ways I don't appreciate.

I have lots of HomeKit Thread enabled devices, so my AppleTVs are hubs in my HomeKit ecosystem.

Also, honorable mentions, it is nice to have the same interface and controller in all of my rooms and devices, and have easy airplay streaming, etc etc.

But this problem is silly. It worked fine up until os17.

And it works fine in many apps. Like I never have a problem in the AppleTV+ app itself.

What that leads me to believe is that in os17 Apple changed something in a framework that requires apps to tweak something - but not all apps have made the tweak. Or maybe Apple changed something and some apps were using an undocumented method or whatever and the change Apple made broke that. You get the idea.

Something changed from Apple in os17 that made several apps kind of lose track of the sound in some way, and the app developers have not fixed it or even know about it.

Definitely not a cable or bandwidth issue. The cable is a top rated, high bandwidth, eARC compatible cable. 4K video works perfectly fine 100% of the time but not audio. ALL, or most all the problem shows are NOT in 4K. Showtime, HBO, Peacock all have this audio problem on SOME SHOWS. It's definitely an audio issue with certain types of audio on the ATV 4K THIRD GEN. Watching the same streaming app on a Firestick 4K, and on the TV's apps itself are all fine. Using a ATV 4K SECOND GEN it's perfectly fine. Started when I upgraded to the 3rd gen and moved the 2nd gen into a bedroom. Many others have reported the same issue happening on the 3rd gen but not 2nd gen. FWIW this started happening with TVOS 16.

Sorry but that's ridiculous. 3ft wouldn't even reach from the TV hdmi port through the flush mount cable holding slot on the back of the set down to the sound bar mounted the suggested 1ft below the set on the wall. That alone measures 3ft 7 inches not even taking any safe diameter bends in the cable into consideration.

I am beginning to think you (and others) are not understanding the situation as it clearly is described in the first post of this topic from last August. After this post I am going to go back to "lurker" mode because it is going nowhere as other issues not pertaining to the OP are getting mixed up into this discussion.

The SPECIFIC issue in question ONLY happens with SONOS ARC, LG G(x) Oled and Apple TV 4K REVISION 3 with TVOS 16 or higher. TVOS 15 was fine in same ATV 4K 3rd gen. Nothing else.

The issue is: Only content with Dolby Atmos sound PLAYS but Dolby 5.1 and HD content HAVE NO SOUND

4K is fine, Atmos is fine everything EXCEPT Dolby 5.1. I can hear Oppenheimer in full 4K w/dolby Atmos but NO SOUND on Chicago PD 8yr old reruns on Peacock or His Honor on HBO and many other "older" series. If these SAME APPS are streamed on different HARDWARE (Firestick 4K instead of ATV in same input) or the LG OLEDs own same apps (HBO, SHO, PEACOCK etc etc) it's perfectly fine. Common denominator after swapping in different hardware seems to be the ATV 4K 3rd Gen w/TVOS 16 or greater

What this would have to do with eARC cables makes no sense since all the "HIGHER AUDIO TYPES" like ATMOS 4K is 100% FINE. It's the older ones that do not play SOUND (vid is fine) and for those of us with this issue (may not be everyone with the same problem) it is reproducible 100% of the time. Everything was 100% fine with TVOS 15.x. 16.x and above broke it ONLY on the 3rd gen ATV.

WIth this last comment I say thanks for all the suggestions and I bid this topic adieu :-) unless and until it is resolved (most likely by Apple). Since the issue can be fully bypassed with the eARC Sound setting slider off on the LG it's pretty invisible. That setting, per those on the various AV forums should have zero negative effect on sound quality.

I'm 54 and I notice a massive difference with Dolby Atmos with e-arc enabled and disabled. I guess i just like to get the best from the products I've bought even if the difference is little - this is definitely a bug in the Apple TV so it's frustrating they havent fixed.

Just to confirm what other have said which is that this is an ATV hardware issue I took my 2nd Gen 4K and my 3rd Gen 4K to my LG G2. Both are configured 100% identically on every setting and every app. The 3rd Gen ATV 4K (wifi+ethernet) has this "loss of sound" issue while the 2nd Gen ATV 4k does not. Both were swapped out to the same HDMI port on the LG (the one marked eARC). With eARC in LG Menu ENABLED I lose sound on the ATV 4K 3rd Gen on certain programs but not on the 2nd Gen. OBVIOUSLY the issue is with the 3rd Gen ATV. The 3G uses HDMI 2.1 and the 2G uses HDMI 2.0 and of course the main chip is different.

My "test program" is using Peacock App and watching "Chicago PD." Always no sound on the 3rd Gen (unless I turn OFF eARC support on LG G2) while the 2nd Gen has no issue with that program.

This whole topic discussion is based on LG OLED, SONOS ARC and Apple TV 2nd vs 3rd gen. Any other combo of hardware "it works fine for me" is not pertinent to this thread which has already gone way off course.

I posted this based on the minute chance that Apple might be following it.

This may already be posted but the way the posts are listed here I can't find anything easily. Been posting on internet forums since the early 80's (Compuserve) and none have sorted messages as this forum does. In any case, FWIW I just got latest update to my LG G2, Sonos Arc and then downloaded the <cough> "latest" <cough> update that you are not supposed to mention here for the Apple TV, and, at least for now, all my "NO SOUND" issues have gone away. I was able to swap back to my news ATV box and have no problems on all the shows/apps that previoously did not work with the eARC setting turned on in the G2 menu. Not sure which update fixed it though but likely the ATV update.

Greetings rmartin7me,

HD and Dolby 5.1 need an Apple TV 4K or newer.

Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD automatically play sound in the highest quality that's supported by your home entertainment system setup and that's available with content that you watch.

You can see this information and more here: Play audio in Dolby Atmos or surround sound on your Apple TV - Apple Support.

Setups you can use

On Apple TV 4K with the latest version of tvOS, you can listen to music, movies, and TV shows in Dolby Atmos. You can use the following setups to play sound in Dolby Atmos or surround sound:

* One or two HomePod speakers*

* A television that supports Dolby Atmos audio

* A Dolby Atmos compatible sound bar with a television that supports Dolby Atmos audio

* A Dolby Atmos-enabled AV receiver

We hope this information helps you out.

Cheers!

This solved my problem:

• this is a bug in Apple TV 4K (Gen 3 and Gen 2 with tvOS at 17.0 or above)

• happens on LG TV’s

My set up:

Apple TV 4K Gen 3 and Gen 2 , tvOS 17.3

Sonos Arc

LG TV

How I solved it.

Purchased an OREI eARC 4K 60Hz Audio Extractor ($99) that split/extracted the siginal from Apple TV 4K Gen 3 and sent it to the Sonos Arc. Worked perfectly right away.

The audio extractor allows for 2 outbound ports. Hooked up as shown below:

Input port: Apple 4k

Outbound Port 1: Apple TV 4K > Audio extractor >Sonos ARC

Outbound Port 2: Apple TV 4K > Audio extractor > eARC of LG TV

Once connected, you can toggle between Dolby 5.1 and Atmos on the Apple TV 4K in the “Audio Format” section of Apple TV.

note: not a perfect solution because it costs $99 and a toggle. Ideally, Apple would fix the issue.

Same issue with the following devices

• Apple TV 4K 3rd gen tvOS 17.4 (updated Mar 7, 2024) with atmos/auto audio
• LG G3 oled 55” with eArc and pass through audio enabled
• Bose 900 soundbar

Everything works with Atmos or stereo. Dolby 5.1 programming has no audio. Right now, my workaround is to press and hold the Home button Apple TV, select audio from the menu that pops up on the top right of screen and select the Bose soundbar as audio output via airplay. With this workaround, I can at least keep Atmos enabled.

There is a setting to disable the volume OSD in the ATV settings. Don't remember if it's in the SYSTEM or AUDIO section but it's there as I have used it. It's definmately broken.