Apple Broke Dolby Digital 5.1 Output on Apple TV 4K

Yes, I now absolutely regret having auto update on and allowing both of my units to get broken. I will never have that feature selected in the future, if I continue to use Apple TVs, that is. If Apple isn't going to fix this, I wish they'd allow an option for going back to 17.

I have an Apple 4k (1st gen) and off-brand earbuds that are seen as "AirPods" but couldn't get this to work. I wonder if it's because they are off-brand or some other reason. Are you running 18.0 or 18.1?

I thought I saw someone with a 4K say it worked for them but maybe I'm misremembering. I know it hasn't worked for me switching to earbuds or bluetooth speaker but I don't have a HomePod. EDIT: It was someone on another forum with a 4K 1st gen who got the workaround to work.

I had a vane try by pairing a non-apple pair of ear phones via Bluetooth. It hooked up alright, but didn't solve the 5.1 problem.

I switch the audio output to my Bluetooth ear phones and then back to Apple TV, but nothing changes...

Amazoon has got a Fire TV HD Stick on sale for less than $20 today. (Fire TV 4K is $25).

Both claim to do Dolby Atmos.

But that would be an awfully big investment.

Though their web page says you can "Save 20% with Trade-In". That would certainly help.

I have an Apple TV HD and can’t find the solution that people are saying is working for them.

Apple TV > Samsung Smart TV > optical > Sonos.

PlayStation, Sky Stream, smart tv apps all output Dolby digital. YouTube surround test works, otherwise the Apple TV reverts to PCM stereo.

This was working fine, but now can’t get it to work. I’ve tried everything I can.

It's weird. I don't have the 'use both' option. It's either 'TV' or my Bluetooth device.

Perhaps it's because it's a non-Apple device I connect (I down own any, so tried with my Sennheiser earphones.)?

I have th HD version (1625).

Atmos was never a problem for me. It was non atmos 5.1 stuff that was being down mixed to pcm stereo instead of DD5.1 when I selected DD5.1 in the change format option. Are you saying that’s fixed? I’m not near my box to check but 🤞🏻it has been sorted out.

Try turning off the "B" update setting then back on and see if the update os available.. it could be you're region and/or device model which needs to wait for the update to roll out bit the fix should hit you soon

The only option I have here is to remove user from Apple 4KTV.

Problem is, I have 2FA turned on and an iPad that isn’t up-to-date (and can’t be updated anymore. I have no way to log back in again as I can’t remember my password.

I updates to the latest “B” version today and now I am getting Dolby Atmos on streaming services like Disney plus. However I am still getting stereo pcm on YouTube videos that are suppose to be Dolby Atmos. Sometimes i get multichannel PCM 5.1 on the exact same video, it seems a bit random.

Using a Sonos system

I was getting my hopes up, after reading posts that the latest b version works regarding 5.1 dolby digital.

As far as I can tell I have also updated to the latest b version. But unfortunately for me it still does not work. My Logitech z906 does not receive an encoded doldy digital 5.1 signal. This is very frustrating, because when I bought the apple tv, it did work. I just don't understand why this is still not working. I have to use my old Xbox One machine to watch Apple TV on in dolby digital. How crazy is that.

So, for some time, I have noticed that my AppleTV would sometimes output in stereo. I noticed this would happen especially after it played something that was in native stereo. It seemed to get "stuck" in stereo after that, but if I restarted the Apple TV and/or my TV, it seemed to get "unstuck" and would work fine.

It didn't always happen consistently but restarting always seemed to fix it. This time, restarting did not fix the issue.