No surround sound on Apple TV 4 gen?

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Level 1

0 points

No surround sound on Apple TV 4 gen?

I have recently upgraded to Apple TV fourth generation and thereby lost my surround sound.

My old Apple TV (3rd gen) was connected via optic toslink to my Onkyo Receiver and everything was working fine. Great 5.1 surround sound.

I have now installed the newest Apple TV 4, which sadly does not support Optic output. Instead I have connected th HDMI output to my Onkyo receiver. When doing this I do get sound, but only 3.1 (Front left , right and center) But no sound on my surround speakers. If I unplug the Apple TV and connect my DVD player the same HDMI input on the receiver I get great 5.1 surround sound. So Im guessing all settings in the receiver is fine. It's just the apple TV that wont work.

Why is this ? Doesn't Apple TV support 5.1 sound any more? Is this a know issue and how can it be resolved.

Apple TV (4th generation)

Posted on Jan 4, 2016 12:40 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 5, 2016 12:11 AM in response to Andldt

Try setting the audio settings to Dolby on the ATV4. Since my reciever does not have HDMI inputs, I went with a HDMI optical splitter and have 5.1.

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Answer 2

meegwell

Level 1

30 points

Jan 5, 2016 12:11 AM in response to Andldt

Apple really botched the surround sound on the ATV4. You can read various lengthy surround/Dolby threads here or at audio sites like the appleTV owners thread at avsforum. Bottom line is the ATV3 allowed you to choose a passthrough mode which just sent the bitstream audio data to your AV reciever, allowing it to decode and send teh info to the proper speakers. ATV4 doesnt have this option, so in one way or another, it monkeys with the audio signal then sends it to your av receiver. A lot of folks are upset about this, including me.

First, send an email or log a complaint to Apple. The more folks that do this the better.

Next, confirm the source info you are using is actually surround incoded (for example, not all netflix shows are DD 5.1, many are stereo). Best bet would be an iTunes HD movie. Then switch the audio settings on the ATV4 between "auto" and "Dolby Surround". See what the difference is for your speaker output. Not everyone's experience has been the same.

Good luck.

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Answer 3

Andldt Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 5, 2016 12:21 AM in response to Andldt

Thanks guys.

I have read some threads in other forums and this seems to be a big and complicated issue. I'm puzzled and disappointed that Apple has made such a crappy solution!

However, it seems i got it to work in a few cases. First i downloaded an app called something like "surround test" to make sure I had reliable content that actually gives me 5.1 output. With that I could play around with the settings on the Apple TV and my receiver until I found a combination that worked. In my case "Auto" settings on the APTV and THX on the receiver.

I also tried with "Dolby" on both units, strangely enough that did not work?

After reading about it there doesn't seems to be any logic in the settings from case, to case. Simply trial and error seems to be what resolves this issue for most people..

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