Stereo - no surround sound

I downloaded and played the free show "Ordinary Family" (in 5.1) and that seems to have enabled 5.1 playback from my iTunes library.

Same problem here.

Same sources on ATV1 and everything is fine - ATV2 and no surround sound - seems anything I have ripped wont do surround but the free HD pilot "No Ordinary Family" plays properly.

Forcing my Amp into the various surround modes does not produces surround, looks to my like the ATV2 is at fault.

Most annoying.

dave.

For Protocol:

Same problem here with ATV 2nd Gen connected via HDMI to an Onkyo TX-SR 606, even when using the Optical SPDIF Port.

ATV is configured with German Language.

No matter of Dolby Digital is Auto or On.


Anyone knows a Movie Trailer which includes AC3 5.1?


Cheers

SchmuFoo wrote:
For Protocol:

Same problem here with ATV 2nd Gen connected via HDMI to an Onkyo TX-SR 606, even when using the Optical SPDIF Port.

ATV is configured with German Language.

No matter of Dolby Digital is Auto or On.

I originally encoded for downloading my videos to my PS3. At the time the PS3 did not support AC3-passthrough and I encoded them all as 6 channel ACC. They played fine with full 5.1 in the PS3. Later a PS3 firmware update included AC3 passthrough and I started encoding using passthrough.

I feed my ATV2 to my Onkyo SR-705 via HDMI (both optical inputs are taken, one by an XBox 360 and one by the PS3). I find that none of my AAC encoded videos will play with 5.1 audio in the ATV2 and all of the ones encoded with AC3 passthrough will play 5.1.

I used Mediainfo Mac to examine the differences and I found that I had set the audio bit rate to 320kbps. As the ATV2 supports 6 channel AAC from 16kbps to 320kbps and mine was encoded at 320kbps I find it strange that my AAC encoded 6-channel videos will not play in 5.1 using the ATV2. I'll be re-encoding them with AC3 passthrough as the simplest 'fix'.

I didn't have to change anything in my ATV2 setup, my Onkyo detected the 5.1 from the AC3 passthrough with the default settings on my ATV2.

I may try experimenting with encoding with 6 channel AAC at other than the full 320kbps bit rate just to see how that plays out.

Message was edited by: crh24

I've done a bit more experimenting. Here's what I found:

1. Encode with Turbo HD.264 ATV preset. This give an AC3-passthrough audio track that plays 5.1 in my PS3 but does NOT play 5.1 using ATV2. ATV2 converts it to PCM. I've heard reports from original ATV owners that this plays in 5.1 on the original ATV but not owning one I can't verify.

2. Encode with Handbrake using 6-channel discrete at both 320kbps and 256kbps. Both play in 5.1 in my PS3 but neither plays in 5.1 using ATV2. ATV2 converts the output to PCM.

3. Encode with Handbrake using AC3-passthrough. This plays in both my PS3 and the ATV2 as 5.1.

As far as I am concerned both 1 and 2 should be considered bugs in the ATV2. Apple may not think so, for their specs say nothing about what happens with those input formats, only that it will play them and it does. In fact, the only Dolby 5.1 mentioned in the specs is with pass-through.

This still begs the question...why does (if it does) AC3-passthrough encoded with Turbo HD.264, which I'm told plays fine in the original ATV, not play in 5.1 in the ATV2?

I guess I'll be re-encoding using HB and AC3 passthrough until Elgato addresses this issue.

I set up the ATV2 via HDMI and set the audio video setup to auto. BTW the auto I think only pertains to the optical output. HDMI should by itself know what is what by its own convention. I have a Denon receiver that detects the proper format when fed. The Apple TV seems to know what it is doing. However, you need to be aware of the source being fed. What I purchased from Itunes is aways in Dolby Digital. Some of the Digital copies that are in the box you buy with Blu Rays will copy to ITunes but not in DD. All my Blu Rays added to ITunes show up DD. Up purchased from IT also is DD. Also depending on the receiver and how it is set up may default to Stereo on its own. However, in the Denon case it did correctly identify the DD flag. Not all receivers get this right especially if they are earlier 1.1 Also remember that every time you make a copy, for backup purposes, only something may get lost in the transfer.

I'm pretty sure when I first tested my new apple tv yesterday I got 5.1 when I played some movie previews with the stock settings, but tonight I have rented Iron Man 2. I will report back after I watch the movie whether I got 5.1 or not.

"I'm pretty sure when I first tested my new apple tv yesterday I got 5.1 when I played some movie previews with the stock settings, but tonight I have rented Iron Man 2. I will report back after I watch the movie whether I got 5.1 or not. "

The issue lies with streaming content from your connected computers, not from the ATV itself.

Didn't changed the settings but now, after buying one TV Show via iTunes, i got 5.1 on "Supernatural - Seasson 4 Episode 1 - Lazarus Rising"

Probably my other stuff just didn't contained an 5.1/DD/AC3 Audio Track..

Still having problems! If anyone has any suggestions, please help, because this is starting to drive me insane. Here are the problems I'm having.

First off I am running all HDMI: ATV2 -> Sony STR-DH800 Receiver -> HDTV. My audio language is set to default and my digital out is set to on. When digital out is set to auto I get 2 channel stereo only, even with DD content. Anyway, anytime I'm watching anything with DD 5.1 when I return to the menu, I lose all system sounds (the click when your moving around the screen, etc.) until I play some 2 channel content, then the sounds return. I can watch multiple 5.1 programs, and will not get system sounds restored until I play something with 2 ch. audio. Is this just a ATV bug or something I can control. Just to clarify, system sounds are set to on.

Also, I can't get iTunes to stream 5.1 no matter what. Rented content plays fine, but movies in my iTunes library which I know to be surround still just play as 2 channel audio. For example, this movie, when queried in iTunes shows: Channels - Multi, Dolby Digital 5.1 - still plays as 2 channel audio over Apple TV.

My receiver has a lot of options and the menu system and user manual leave a LOT to be desired, so I'm not prepared to throw Apple under the bus on this one yet, but I have tried everything I can think of.

Hopefully someone here can help me, because this is nearly a deal breaker for me. I didn't spend thousands on a high quality 7.1 system to watch movies in 2 channel stereo. If this is Apples fault, they really dropped the ball on this one.

i swear there was another thread regarding this topic, which seems to have disappeared.

anyway, i found that if i used Quicktime Pro to delete the stereo track from my movies that had both a stereo track and a surround track, the atv2 played the 5.1 audio.

Unfortunately using Quicktime to delete the stereo track still hasn't fixed the problem. The only track left on the .mov file is the 5.1 surround audio. iTunes still identifies it as such when I click 'get info', however the ATV is downsampling it to 2.0 stereo. This is a major problem as most of my movies are 5.1 and I have no desire to watch them in stereo. Seems like Apple really dropped the ball on this one.

Using handbrake's preset for apple tv I was able to stream 5.1 from my mac pro to my atv2 via hdmi into my pioneer av amp.

Hey Everyone.

If I understand the system specs of both the Apple TV 1st Gen and Apple TV 2nd Gen, neither have the capability to play either DTS 5.1 or AAC 5.1. It does specifically stated Dolby Digital 5.1 via Passthrough. This means the ATV isn't even capable of playing DD 5.1, its only able to push the raw data through to the receiver and its up to the receiver to actual decode the signal. I've tried multiple attempts to get either DTS or AAC surround to work and it just does not.

Apple themselves advertise that their content on iTunes is DD 5.1, nothing else. If you have the 2nd Gen ATV and you have files in a .MKV container but it contains a h.264 video codec and a DD 5.1 Audio codec the best option would be MKVtools. Its won't rencode the video or the AC3 audio but you can ask it to add a second 2.1 AAC files to the container. It outputs them as a M4V and then you can add to itunes. This will most often then not fail to play on the ATV 1st gent but if its 2nd Gen then you don't lose any quality from transcoding.

UPDATE:
P.S, 2nd Gen Appletv Is sooooo much nicer then the1st Gen!!! 🙂

Message was edited by: eddystek

Hi, I think I might have an answer. The problem is the data rate of the AC3 file (not data size). The old Apple TV seemed to passthrough a higher data rate 480.00kbits/s the new Apple TV (2) will only allow for 380.00kbits/s. I ran some basic tests and converted my AC3 files to the lower bit rate and they are now working. I have a heap of movies with the higher bit rate so I'll wait for an Apple update before a re do all my AC3 files. Hope this helps and I don't think it is your hardware just software.