Apple TV 4K bluetooth range diminished

Ok - an update...

I swapped the first unit for a new one today at the Apple Store. That did not fix the issue. Following some of the feedback in this thread I determined this is definitely some sort of BT interference issue related to my television.

My Apple TV sits on a shelf in a cabinet (technically in the other room) behind my TV. When I'm in front of the TV I have a range of <10 feet for my AirPods, the Siri remote, and any other bluetooth headphones. If I move into an adjacent room (so the TV is not directly between me and the Apple TV) I can get a range of 20-40 feet, with walls and doors in-between. I also tested the issue by moving my AppleTV to a shelf much lower in the cabinet, so that it would physically be lower than the height of my TV. This also solved the problem. It definitely seems to be some sort of issue with interference from the TV. I don't have the ability to discretely disable the BT or WiFi radios on the TV, so I can't test that specifically.

I did call Apple Support and logged a ticket with a senior tech. I gave him all the details and he acknowledged there were other similar reports. So it certainly seems to be something Apple is aware of and working on.

I'm curious if those of you still having this issue are in a similar situation. If you have any other devices with BT or WiFi right next to, or in-between, you and your AppleTV you might want to try moving things around to see if that will fix it. Even if it's not something that is going to work for you long term it would be interesting to know if this is the issue.

I'm not gonna disagree that a software fix helped this issue, but the team I spoke to was pretty clear that they didn't think this was the whole issue and obviously the HDMI cables made a difference for me. The truth is probably that there were multiple things going wrong, which would explain why not all of us are experiencing exactly the same issues.

My point, for those people having issues in general, is that it does matter for AppleTV that your HDMI cables need to be high-speed and certified to work with 4K HDR. I've had no issues with other 4K devices using these cables, but apparently the AppleTV is sensitive to the cable quality. The sensitivity appears to manifest itself by causing bluetooth interference. I don't know how or why this is the case, but it seems to be the case.

This doesn't mean there isn't a software issue, and for some people the latest beta will resolve all of your issues, that just means that your HDMI cables are probably good to go already.

In my specific case the beta update was better, but not perfect. The cable I was using was just fine for 1080p (and thus no problem for the older AppleTV), but it was not good enough for the 4K AppleTV.

As far as I'm concerned this issue is resolved pending the official release of the fix in the latest tvOS beta.

Whoa! So I just spent 20 minutes scrolling through all the options. HDR/SDR did not make a difference for me, but with 4K turned off it worked perfectly. In fact it was better than the 4th gen ATV (which is what it should be with BT 5.0 upgrade). Right now I have the video set to "1080p HDR 60hz" and everything is good to go. Any of the 4K settings is garbage, all the 1080p settings seem to work fine.

I will definitely be making a phone call to Apple about this. Thanks for the tip.

@Roth91 - See if this works for you.

Resolved (maybe?)... looking for someone else to test and verify on their end.

So the last beta did not resolve my issue and in my discussion with Apple today I'm not sure there was any expectation that it would (but it seems for some people it did). After several more tests today I was asked to verify all of the HDMI cables and the wiring setup. I have a lot of HDMI cables, some big brands and some no-names, but all of them always pass the test for 4K, 3D, etc using my Xbox, TV, and projector.

Anyway, I swapped out the cable on my AppleTV for a branded cable that I knew was high speed and certified. Well that seems to fix it. I tried the new remote, the old remote, my AirPods, and flipped between several different video settings from 4K HDR to 1080p SDR. Everything worked great and the range on my AirPods was similar or better than the 4th gen AppleTV.

I'm still waiting to talk to Apple again later today, but I think this was it for me. Maybe there was a software fix, maybe it was just bad cables, or most likely it was some combination of the two.

It would be awesome if someone still having issues would double check their HDMI cable and ensure that they are using a certified high-speed cable. Would be great to know if this is really an issue or just a weird quirk for me.