Apple TV 4K and Harmony Volume Control Issues

Question

Level 1

26 points

Apple TV 4K and Harmony Volume Control Issues

I am having serious issues with my Harmony One and the new Apple TV 4K. Previously worked great with Apple TV 4th Gen, with 'Control TV & Receiver' set to OFF, and 'Volume Control' set to AUTO VIA HDMI (Receiver). CEC is disabled on my Samsung TV.

Set up my new Apple TV 4k with the same settings, and the Harmony can no longer control the volume of the receiver. In fact, pressing the Volume controls causes the TV screen to go black for 5 seconds until I stop pressing Volume.

Tried various troubleshooting, including re-adding new Apple TV as a new device, creating a new Activity, power cycling hub, receiver, Apple TV. Also plugged old Apple TV 4th Gen back in and volume control with Harmony works without issue (and without the black screen issue).

Please help!

Apple TV 4K, tvOS 11

Posted on Sep 26, 2017 9:52 PM

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Answer 1

Ayla

Level 1

4 points

Nov 1, 2017 3:10 AM in response to Hawk00eyed

The same thing is happening for me, and it makes my Apple TV setup unusable right now when I can't change the volume.

I'm using a Sony STR-DN1080 receiver and the Apple TV 4K (tvOS 11.2 beta) with my Logitech Harmony hub.

My resolution/refresh is 4K SDR at 50 Hz.

I have set the Apple TV CEC settings set to OFF as I just want the Harmony to directly change the volume on my receiver with IR.

I can't even change the volume on the receiver with the Sony remote or app (I can use the rotary volume dial physically on the receiver only).

This is a major bug and I think everyone should report it here: Feedback - Apple TV - Apple

I'm not sure Apple employees sees the posts here.

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Answer 2

Hawk00eyed Author

Level 1

26 points

Oct 4, 2017 8:28 PM in response to Jp40806

Interesting, yea looks like this is the case for me too, although I was on 4K HDR 60hz. I tried switching to 4k HDR 50hz and still had the issue. Switched to 4K HDR 30hz and hitting the volume button no longer blanked the screen. I did also have to change 'Volume Control' to Custom via IR in order for the Harmony volume control to work.

Also I noticed that when I tried to change the volume with the actual receiver's remote, it also caused the screen to blank. Will have to see if that's also the case when I change the volume knob on the receiver.

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Answer 3

Peteee12

Level 1

9 points

Oct 19, 2017 9:16 PM in response to Hawk00eyed

Hi, I'm also having this issue, and can provide some additional information:

I have a Sony STR-DH550 AV amp and a Sony KD-55x8309 4K, non-HDR TV.

I'm using the Logitech Elite with Hub.

I was previously using an Apple TV 3rd gen in the same setup and it worked fine.

Now I have changed to the Apple TV 4K and the above problem happens. Whenever I adjust the volume on the remote the screen goes blank as its input settings change from 4k to 480p and back again. After about 5 seconds it comes back to the correct display, with the volume adjusted.

The thing that makes me think this is an Apple TV issue rather than a Logitech/Apple issue, is that it seems to also happen when I manually turn the rotary knob on the amp to adjust the volume.

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Answer 4

Hawk00eyed Author

Level 1

26 points

Oct 19, 2017 10:02 PM in response to Peteee12

Definitely related to the video format selected:

Affected:

- 4K HDR 60Hz

- 4K HDR 50Hz

- 4K SDR 60Hz

- 4K SDR 50Hz

Unaffected:

- 4K HDR 30Hz

- 4K SDR 30Hz

- 1080P SDR 60Hz

- 1080P HDR 60Hz

Interestingly, with the 1080P, volume controls behaves exactly like it used to, ie the receiver's volume change prompt shows up on the tv. With the 4K 30Hz options, volume control works but that prompt does not appear.

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Answer 5

Peteee12

Level 1

9 points

Oct 23, 2017 5:34 AM in response to Hawk00eyed

I too can confirm that this is refresh rate related.

When I change to 30Hz, the issue goes away. This would definitely seem to be a bug in the firmware.

Anybody know how we go about drawing this to the attention of the support enigneers? Are these threads monitored?

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Answer 6

Hawk00eyed Author

Level 1

26 points

Dec 12, 2017 7:47 PM in response to BHannahphd

Anyone have any new experiences with this issue since the latest update?

I've found that switching on the new Match Frame Rate/Dynamic Range settings causes the problem again when you view certain videos, as it seemingly switches to formats that don't work. Turning Match off and keeping it at 4K 30Hz or lower eliminates the problem still.

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Answer 7

Jp40806

Level 1

4 points

Oct 4, 2017 4:14 PM in response to Hawk00eyed

I’m having the same exact issue. I’m on 4K SDR 50hz. If I go down to 30hz, it doesn’t happen but not sure what that’s dojng to my picture.

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Answer 8

Ayla

Level 1

4 points

Nov 1, 2017 9:11 AM in response to Ayla

Did some more testing, and for me it doesn't work with 4K 50Hz SDR or 1080p 50Hz SDR, but it does work with 4K 50Hz HDR (seems to be the only one working for me).

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Answer 9

Nov 9, 2017 4:13 PM in response to Hawk00eyed

I’m in the same boat. I’m working through a denon AVR-X2300W. 4K 30Hz works, 50Hz and 60Hz do not. Thanks for the fix folks.

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