No Sound when TV is off

Guys, When you shut off the TV, the two-way HDMI link/"conversation is interrupted and the new ATV pauses/goes to sleep.. so all you need to do is push play (on the Harmony remote or the ATV remote and it will play through your AMP with the TV off

I can confirm with Kurt Allan: I have a 40" Dynex TV with a Yamaha system. My Apple TV is connected by HDMI cables to the Receiver and then again through HDMI to the Dynex TV. By playing an iTunes match playlist, I can see on the screen (and hear through the sound system) music playing from the Apple TV. However, as soon as the TV is shut off, the sound will stop. This is because of the communication between the TV and the Sound System. The Receiver interprets the TV turning off as a "stop-all" command to all inputs, and this stop-all command goes to the Apple TV, effectively shutting it off. Pressing play on the Apple TV (after the receiver has settled down) will resume playback (you may have to allow some buffer time if using iTunes Match) Is it the cleanest system? No, but that's not Apple's fault, nor is it Yamaha's. It is simply a built-in feature of HDMI, and therefore, for us a hindrance, but for the college student who forgets to turn everything else off, it is a time-saver. I hope this helped 🙂

Thank you very much Hobermikersmith!

Forcing "Dolby Digital Out (under Audio & Video) to On" seems to work. In my system, when I turned off the TV it seemed to momentarily pause, but it resumed playback by itself.

Even after forcing "dolby digital out" to on I still have to have the TV on to listen to music through the optical cable to my receiver. I also have to turn my tv on to get the music to even start playing. My ATV2 is hooked to the TV by HDMI and the receiver via optical. I bought it as much for the music as I did to stream video. The Ipad recognizes the ATV and lets me choose it as speakers but I get no sound until I turn the TV on and then it's instant. If I change the input on my TV away from the ATV I get music for 15-20 sec then it stops, probably what was already buffered in memory. Also my ATV is running through an HDMI switcher and still no luck.

What is the point of the optical audio cable if the ATV2 has to have a signal from the HDMI to enable it? Maybe time to go back to the airport express, ridiculous that apple can't fix this.

I'm having the exact same problem as jakehaz. I used to be able to play music from my MacBook or iPad directly to my Apple TV and have it play through my stereo with the TV turned off. But in the last couple of months this has stopped working. If I turn my TV on it does work and I am able to turn my TV off to continue listening, but it is inconvenient to say the least.

I have the latest iTunes and latest software update for Apple TV. Any further ideas for fixing this would be appreciated!

If you are using an AV reciever with the HDMI thru feature make sure it is turned off. The problem is probably the way HDMI works. Every HDMI send (source) device checks to see what the HDMI output device is capable of to make sure it sends the correct signal. For instance, if you have a Multichannel 5.1 system the AV receiver will identify itself as capable of receiving 5.1 and the source device will send 5.1 (assuming the format you are playing supports that) If your output device is a TV (stereo) the source will recognise this and only send stereo. This all happens in the background. I think the problem is... when the TV is switched off the source device can't see what audio format it should be sending and stops sending audio.

For me the answer is, I make sure the HDMI thru is off. Then if the TV is on at the start, and I turn the TV off (the sound will stop), I need to press play on the ATV remote again to get it to revise it's HDMI send settings.

Have a similar problem (recently the audio does not come at all, needs to send any video source first or switch to different speakers several times to get it working), plus when using the remote app from my iPad2 or iPhone the track "time clock" don't sync sometimes, also several audio flicks when the TV is off or on, once I don't feel like I need the receiver audio when watching TV Shows and related, the HDMi goes straight to the TV, the optical stay on the receiver.

Before I had an Airport express in the same place, but I never had any audio problem with it, for some reason I feel like the audio quality of the ATV is poor when compared with the Airport express when playing CD's encoded in Apple lossless format.

Stuffs in this setup:

-time Capsule (main router)100/1000T 32 ports Netgear splitter on it.

-airport express (in the kitchen working well also connected via optical audio on a very old Onkyo receiver used for audio and stereo only).

-Airport Express first generation (In bath roon, analogue connected working well, wireless off)

-apple Tv 1 in the bed room (working well also via optical audio on a old Yamaha's receiver)

-First generation MacMini (no monitor connected)just used as Home Music server, controlled most of time via remote app, & remote desktop from the other macs in the house using home sharing to transfer the files.

-Apple Tv 2 in the living room, connected on a Denon's AVC-A1HD receiver via optical cable, and via HDMI straight to a Sony Bravia TV. No HDMI pass tru supported for the ATV due to the BD recorder set up and Japanese copy laws.

All the devices in this list is wired with CAT 6 Lan cables, also all checked recently.

Got the ATV2 6 months ago the software is up to date, but the problems is getting worst over the time, (too much audio Flicks) should I send it to repair? Any suggestion are welcone, Thanks.

Better yet, don't even turn the TV on to begin with. Turn on your receiver, set the input to ATV, and use the iPad remote app to start your music playing. Of course it requires an iPad/iOS device. And don't forget to enable Home Sharing.

Bla-Bla

Sounds like the TV is at fault - try streaming music without the HDMI plugged in.

Thanks! This is the solution folks -

Running ATV2 via HDMI to my receiver then via HDMI to my TV. On ATV, I set Dolby Digital Out (under Audio & Video) to On. Previously it was set to Auto and didn't play with the TV off. After setting it to On, it is playing the audio only through the stereo when the TV is turned off. So far I have only tested with streaming movies from my Mac Mini server and Netflix. On my system, turning off the TV seems to pause playback, but pressing Play/Pause resumes playback.

this is the setup I use also. when I turn off the TV, my receiver also shuts off. If I turn it on again, the music comes on without the TV.

Or even better, use AirPlay

This worked for me (but only if I had the Dolby Digital setting to "on")! Thanks!