AppleTV 4 + Netflix: no 5.1 with Yamaha RX-V479

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AppleSuxP00 Author

Level 1

10 points

AppleTV 4 + Netflix: no 5.1 with Yamaha RX-V479

Hello,

I'm unable to get my Apple TV 4 to pass 5.1 sound to my Yamaha RX-V479 while using Netflix.

It's wired as follows:

Apple TV 4 HDMI out -> RX-V479's HDMI 1 in
RX-V479's HDMI out -> LG 42LA690V smart TV HDMI 2

Other info:

HDMI 2 on the LG is not ARC enabled
ARC is set to OFF on the RX-V479 receiver
Apple TV 4 surround sound is set to 'Best Available'
Apple TV is up to date (tvos 11.2 latest)
Receiver firmware is up to date

I'm not trying to pass the signal through my TV and back to my AV receiver - I simply want the receiver to deal with the audio (5.1 for Netflix content that is clearly labelled as 5.1) and then pass the video to the TV.

Regardless of what I try, the receiver reports 2.0 PCM as audio input when playing said content, and it's audibly in stereo.

AC-3 content works flawlessly when streamed with the PLEX Apple TV app, with the same set-up. The receiver reports 5.1 PCM and it's audibly in surround-sound.

Troubleshooting so far:

Suspecting it might be an issue with the TV, I've tried every possible combination of ARC on/off on the receiver, SIMPLINK on/off on the TV, audio output on TV set to TV Speaker/External speaker with Auto/PCM...etc

In order to eliminate the TV from the equation I connected the receiver to my old Optoma DLP projector (which has no ARC or HDMI control capabilities) and same issue.

Disconnected display device completely, I still get 2.0 PCM into the receiver while playing Netflix content.

Also tried setting Apple TV 4 surround sound to Dolby Digital 5.1, but no change.

Also tried using HDMI 6 on my receiver since that is HDCP 2.2 compliant, not that it should make a difference, and it doesn't)

I've read lots of threads about it, and most say "connect you Apple TV 4 to your receiver via HDMI, set the Apple TV 4 to 'Best Available' and connect your receiver's HDMI-out to the TV". But there seems to be a lot of similar-but-different issues and solutions depending on the hardware set-up.

Result:

For now I've reconciled myself using prologic DSP modes to watch content which is advertised as 5.1 surround. Not ideal.

Anyone have experience of a similar problem with a similar set-up?

PS: apologies for my username - apparently I made that once, but you can't change it 🙂 Seems quite apt though.

Posted on Feb 21, 2018 12:04 PM

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Answer 1

AppleSuxP00 Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 27, 2018 2:37 PM in response to 1shaunp1

Minor update: I get surround sound if I airplay to the appleTV with Netflix app on my iPad (first gen iPad mini - does not update iOS anymore since it’s so old).

So for now, my appleTV is a rather expensive Chromecast.

Also (maybe) worth noting, on the appleTV Netflix app, the dashboard trailers are in surround, but it switches to stereo when I play the content.

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Answer 2

Feb 27, 2018 12:01 PM in response to AppleSuxP00

Since the tvOS 11.2.6 update (February 19) I've had the same issue with surround sound on my Apple TV 4K.

My setup is different however. I have the sound pass through my 4K LG OLED 55 B7V TV via ARC as I don't yet have a 4K capable receiver.

Up until last week this worked flawlessly, playback of Netflix, Plex, Prime Video and iTunes Movies was perfect. Everything from old DVD rips to 4K stuff on Netflix as well as 4K Dolby Vision HDR content was playing back with 5.1 audio.

As of now my receiver just starts intermittently attempting to display audio codec information on the display as it doesn't seem to be able to synchronise the audio stream... The only way to get sound is to turn the sound output to stereo. Not even stereo sources get sound if I don't do this.

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Answer 3

Mar 4, 2018 3:16 PM in response to AppleSuxP00

Uncanny! I had to manually set my Apple TV to "stereo" to get sound outside the menus, but I tried putting it back to "best available" after I saw your message earlier, and suddenly everything was back to normal.

I'm not sure if I should be worried or happy that this was fixed without what seems like a software update.

Thanks for letting me know! 🙂

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Answer 4

1shaunp1

Level 1

37 points

Feb 26, 2018 5:42 PM in response to AppleSuxP00

I'm having the same issue. Almost everything comes through as 2.0.

I don't know when this started, but noticed last week when I grabbed the Starz app. I was watching a show, an episode ended, the next started & I noticed it sounded a lot different. What was happening is I'd watch an episode, get it in 5.1. It would end & autoplay the next episode and that episode would be in 2.0. If I exited the episode and restarted it, it would be in 5.1

Now it seems everything is just 2.0

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