Apple TV 4K Random HDMI Signal Loss

This isssue is all over the interwebs, not just here. Apple TV + OLED = no signal static drop outs. Take the Apple TV out of the chain, issue is gone. Something is up with tvOS and how it handshakes with the OLED.

I have a B7 and ATV 4K, same issues.

I have an LGB7 that was running a Roku Ultra and was getting signal losses with it. I'd turn the TV on and there would be no input from the device so I'd have to reset it. I switched to the Apple 4k TV and it's happened three times now where I'll lose signal and the screen will flash from black to static then lose signal completely needing a A4KTV restart to regain signal.

Have you tried changing the refresh rate to Dolby Vision 4K at 30Hz or 24Hz? The default is 60Hz, which your TV may not support, or you may need to engage motion interpolation on the TV to increase the frame rate, which creates the soap opera effect on many TVs. Some of you having no signal drop outs may not be experiencing the drop outs due to your TVs handling of high frame rates or the motion settings or TV picture mode you have chosen.

To get to the lower frame rate options, you will have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the video options menu on the Apple TV; there are many. Setting it to the lower refresh rates means the menu navigation won't be as smooth, but it may fix the signal drop outs. Personally, I turn off the TruMotion settings on my LG B7 OLED and I use the 30Hz option on my Apple TV 4K. Films are mastered at 24Hz, so with the match frame content option engaged on the ATV 4K, it will switch to 24Hz in streaming sources that support it automatically.

Hi,

I'm having the exact same issues a lot of others are having on this forum. I have an LG65C7P. I'm using standard HDMI 2.0 cables and after reading that a lot of folks that have replaced their cables with Belkin 2.1 have helped or even resolved the video dropouts. What throws me off is the 65C7P HDMI ports are only rated at 2.0a, which means installing a 48Gbps cable should make no difference. Is there anyone out there who might have more knowledge than i do on the HDMI spec that can elaborate how a 48Gbps cable can help when connecting to a port that only supports 18Gbps?

sparky8971 wrote: What throws me off is …

You are absolutely right. The speed rating itself won’t make the difference, as there is no HDMI 2.1 consumer equipment yet, other than the ‘ultra high speed’ 48 Gbps cables. Good ‘premium high speed’ 18 Gbps cables can handle anything that comes out of a HDMI 2.0 port. Belkin makes some fine cables, surprisingly thin and flexible, that may still improve over the cables that they replaced, but it won’t be because of the ‘ultra’ speed rating itself.

Okay, I’ve scoured the internets looking for folks with similar issues with their Apple TV 4k, Dolby vision, HDR10, LGOLED b7/c7 and this super weird flickering and resetting Apple TV 4k.

Ive resorted to using the LG in built Netflix app, slingtv but I still want to watch my iTunes movies. It’s taken me forever to ‘solve’ the issue. This thread was helpful but only one thing seems to have worked.

I’ve replaced all of my HDMI cables, even through I know my old ones were supported just to get that over with and rule it out. I’ve restored my Apple TV, opted in for beta , everything!

For me, the solution was

1. Drop the Dolby vision hZ from 60 to 50.

2. I turned on the match dynamic range

3. Turner on Match frame rate

Two days so far and a wide range of content with no flickering loops or resets.

I hope some of you find this to solve your issues as well. (Now watch my issues return after I post this ) cX

Did you replace your HDMI cable with Belkin? The solution for me was the Belkin HDMI cable. I wasn't using cheap HDMI cables to begin with, and i really don't understand the difference, but it's working now. Oh, and i also upgraded to iOS 12 (developer) and it has some really cool features, including Dolby Atmos which i've been wanting for some time now.

I can confirm that the loss of signal is not solely due to Dolby Vision. The issue persisted even while using HDR10 4:4:4 on my LG OLED65C7P going through my Onkyo TX-NR676 using Belkin 48Gbps cables for both. I suppose the next step would be to just use SDR. I still am not really sure which of the 3 devices is causing the issue.

I’m currently having the issue as well for about 5 months. I just stumbled upon this discussion. It’s maddening. I usually have to reboot the Apple TV. Sometimes it flickers for a while before the signal finally goes out, and I’m worried it’s damaging my television. I decided to swap out the amazon basics hdmi (which was working fine for months) for a Rocketfish today. The image is slightly better, and no issues so far, but it’s only been hours.

I actually believe that this is an LG issue, and that the latest LG software update made the issue worse. Note that LG is the one common denominator of pretty much all posts in this thread. I have an LG 55” B7A, which had this issue in December (not just with AppleTV but with my xfinity box outputting good ol’ 1080p as well). It suddenly went away with software version 4.70.36 which was rolled out in late Dec.. Everything was fine for 6 months until the beginning of July when they rolled out 4.71.0. Now it’s worse than ever. Can’t watch anything for more than 10 minutes before signal loss. And LG “tech support” is worthless. I‘ve switched sources, cables, ive taken my AVR out of the equation - so far all troubleshoposting points to the LG.

Same issue with Samsung TV, shudders, goes blank then returns after about 15 seconds, does this 1 to 5 times during a movie. My setup does require a 20’ cable. I will try passing it through my AV unit which only needs a 2 ft cable.

I have the same problem and have seen it at least with 10 other friends. It’s from 4K projectors to 1080P TVs. No matter what cable and no matter what specs, this occurs and I can almost time it on a few systems.

For me I’m using an Epson 1080P projector, high end custom installation cabling (I’ve been in the industry for 10 years), and with zero issues on other devices. The only device that has this problem is Apple TV and it’s not just the 4K version.

It normally happens within the first 5 minutes of any show.

The key here is it’s related to some sort of syncing issue when moving from app to app or from show to show. It has to be around this.

Unless, Apple has deflated certain specs and actually isn’t fully compatible with industry standard cabling, and may be ahead on some things. I don’t believe this to be the case, but it could be. They were last with 4K and still don’t support year old surround sound formats.

I think it happens on more demanding apps, videos (higher resolution) and higher fidelity audio. Even though Apple TV hardly supports any current audio decoding.

It’s like when a movie moves from the intro to the actual movie. This is where movies move from even wider formats for theaters to 16:9. This is definitely a trigger of some sort and requires a sync.

I see this flickering at least 5 times and day and it’s normally within the first 5 mins of watching. At times it can happen during the middle, but it always seems like it’s a peak part of the movie.

Not sure but maybe this steers the Apple folks the right direction.

This issue has caused an insane amount of disruption in the custom installation and smart home industry, because Apple doesn’t take any responsibility.

This is an Apple problem, not a cabling or TV issue. I’ve seen it too much and in too many different scenarios. The only common denominator is Apple TV.

This is not an LG issue. Maybe recent posts have focused on LG, but this is a lo-o-o-ong thread and includes other brands. My equipment is Sony and Marantz. I got some relief by upgrading to 4K cables, but only surefire fix for me so far is to reboot ATV at the beginning of each viewing session (I've programmed my Logitech remote sequence to do this).

After having to pay a fortune to get this cable sent from the US (**** you amazon.com.au) it made no difference at all. I have tried taking my ATV 4K back to the store but they have refused to replace it!

I had the same problem for months. I cannot tell you why this works but I found that if you set the Apple TV 4K to Dolby Vision and set frame rate and dynamic range to match the problem seems to rear its ugly head for less often. I almost never have that problem anymore... and I used to have it almost daily.