2021 new gen Apple tv 4k Dolby Atmos Problems

[JLasher22443]

I got mine when it first came out, on day 1. March I think. I pre-ordered direct from Apple on their site.

I'm hoping my replacement fixed the issue. So far so good. Replaced it back in June.

Apple is aware of the issue because I at least informed them of all the details and the tech on the phone had heard other reports. The guy at the store knew nothing about it. He went to a higher up there in the store and they approved the replacement.

So you would think that since I purchased mine from Apple just two months ago I would have gotten a fixed unit? Very weird. I'll go ahead and purchase another unit and see what happens. I've got 4 Apple TV's in my house and every time I get a new unit for the theater I just swap out an older unit within the house. And as in that post whathappenedtomymoney posted it does not get heard on my Sonos Beams in other rooms and on other TV's.

 

[JLasher22443]

Also what HDMI Cables are you guys using? Just out of curiosity.

 

[user 49813]

Also what HDMI Cables are you guys using? Just out of curiosity.

I'm using a 3ft 8k Monoprice cable. I even switched it out with another 8ft 4k cable after watching a video about the possibility of cables being too short introducing problems (which sounds counterintuitive to me, but willing to try anything at this point).

Edit: after typing this, I just realized I should have a 6ft 8k cable I'm going to try, because why not I guess lol

 

[Robert D]

So you would think that since I purchased mine from Apple just two months ago I would have gotten a fixed unit? Very weird. I'll go ahead and purchase another unit and see what happens. I've got 4 Apple TV's in my house and every time I get a new unit for the theater I just swap out an older unit within the house. And as in that post whathappenedtomymoney posted it does not get heard on my Sonos Beams in other rooms and on other TV's.

I agree. It seems like if it is indeed hardware, they haven't figured out what's wrong yet and still producing some bad units.

 

[Robert D]

Also what HDMI Cables are you guys using? Just out of curiosity.

I'm using a nice wireworld hdmi cable. Think it's the ultraviolet

 

[user 49813]

I'm using a 3ft 8k Monoprice cable. I even switched it out with another 8ft 4k cable after watching a video about the possibility of cables being too short introducing problems (which sounds counterintuitive to me, but willing to try anything at this point).

Edit: after typing this, I just realized I should have a 6ft 8k cable I'm going to try, because why not I guess lol

No dice with the longer cable, as expected. I did notice my volume control issue (3+dB jumps, vs .5dB increments) is also present during these popping hiccups. I can only assume at this point it's a batch of bad components, and Apple is remaining tight-lipped, or has yet to identify which lots of faulty components made it into which finished products. The overall percentage of users using Atmos and Vision are probably a small fraction, and then only a fraction of those users probably have "bad" units; I imagine recalling those gets everyone in the door looking for a replacement. Nonetheless, it's annoying they are not publicly confirming this. As the users of AppleTV's eventually upgrade their TV's/AVR's/soundbars, I imagine there will be a surge of complaints. The Reddit user theorizing about Dolby MAT 2.0 is also interesting, but I would think it would be affecting everyone equally if it were indeed software. But, could be something in the components losing timing that affects MAT, and probably my volume issue, as it tries to resync. Also, why is it only affecting content with HDR/DV? So much for "it just works".

 

[Robert D]

No dice with the longer cable, as expected. I did notice my volume control issue (3+dB jumps, vs .5dB increments) is also present during these popping hiccups. I can only assume at this point it's a batch of bad components, and Apple is remaining tight-lipped, or has yet to identify which lots of faulty components made it into which finished products. The overall percentage of users using Atmos and Vision are probably a small fraction, and then only a fraction of those users probably have "bad" units; I imagine recalling those gets everyone in the door looking for a replacement. Nonetheless, it's annoying they are not publicly confirming this. As the users of AppleTV's eventually upgrade their TV's/AVR's/soundbars, I imagine there will be a surge of complaints. The Reddit user theorizing about Dolby MAT 2.0 is also interesting, but I would think it would be affecting everyone equally if it were indeed software. But, could be something in the components losing timing that affects MAT, and probably my volume issue, as it tries to resync. Also, why is it only affecting content with HDR/DV? So much for "it just works".

I feel lucky mine works now. I hope your replacement does too. You're swapping your's at the store like I did, right?

When mine came in, since it was the ATV only, it came in a special box by itself. I wonder if they made it pass several tests before they passed it on to me? Could be if there is a hardware issue, they checked mine out extra before giving it to me?

They didn't just open up a retail box and give me an apple tv 4k from that. It had to be shipped in special from Apple.

 

[user 49813]

I feel lucky mine works now. I hope your replacement does too. You're swapping your's at the store like I did, right?

When mine came in, since it was the ATV only, it came in a special box by itself. I wonder if they made it pass several tests before they passed it on to me? Could be if there is a hardware issue, they checked mine out extra before giving it to me?

They didn't just open up a retail box and give me an apple tv 4k from that. It had to be shipped in special from Apple.

Yes, in fact they have it ready, I just need to run up and swap it. I've been looking at the Google "popular times" to gauge how busy it is; kind of reluctant to go to the mall this weekend. But, it's only about 2 miles away, so might head up like 30 min before closing tonight to avoid the crazies. It's been "as busy as it gets" most of the day according to Google.

I'm hoping it is indeed tested, like you said, and not just winning a lottery for good units, if it indeed is a h/w issue. I'll be pretty bummed to jump through all these hoops only to end up in the same boat.

 

[user 49813]

Okay, so I picked up my replacement gen2 2021 ATV 4k today. It came with tvOS 14.7 installed. Also, just to make a note, this one also had the mildew smell. In fact I had the packaging wrapper the new unit came in sitting on the coffee table, and could smell it from the couch. The rep at the Apple Store said he noticed it with a bunch of these, too, but didn't really know anything about; just said something about how they come FedEx or something. Anyway, probably unrelated to anything, but mentioning it because it is odd how potent the smell is.

So, I played a bunch of content, mostly stuff that was previously giving me issues consistently. So far, I can't get it to happen, with the exception of one instance of some very, very faint and short-lived popping, that was also accompanied by some visual artifacts. But, it was not nearly as bad or long lived as what I was experiencing before, so not ready to classify it as the same bug. For now, I am going to just attribute that to a streaming glitch as I haven't seen it again. I've watched various content, mostly Netflix, but some Plex and AppleTV+, probably about 45-60 min in total and so far no issues, except as noted above. I am somewhat reluctant to upgrade tvOS to 15.1.1 in case that is the issue, as there is no rolling back. Looking at the change log for tvOS, version 15 brings a bunch of changes to audio functions, so it very well may be an OS issue. I don't think there is anything in tvOS 15 that I was using, so might stick it out on 14.7 for a bit just to make sure the issue doesn't resurface.

edit: to add, my volume control issue has not returned, either; it's now pretty snappy like my other remotes, and no 3dB jumps like before...yet.

 

[user 49813]

I feel lucky mine works now. I hope your replacement does too. You're swapping your's at the store like I did, right?

When mine came in, since it was the ATV only, it came in a special box by itself. I wonder if they made it pass several tests before they passed it on to me? Could be if there is a hardware issue, they checked mine out extra before giving it to me?

They didn't just open up a retail box and give me an apple tv 4k from that. It had to be shipped in special from Apple.

Robert D can you confirm what tvOS version your unit is running?

 

[Robert D]

Okay, so I picked up my replacement gen2 2021 ATV 4k today. It came with tvOS 14.7 installed. Also, just to make a note, this one also had the mildew smell. In fact I had the packaging wrapper the new unit came in sitting on the coffee table, and could smell it from the couch. The rep at the Apple Store said he noticed it with a bunch of these, too, but didn't really know anything about; just said something about how they come FedEx or something. Anyway, probably unrelated to anything, but mentioning it because it is odd how potent the smell is.

So, I played a bunch of content, mostly stuff that was previously giving me issues consistently. So far, I can't get it to happen, with the exception of one instance of some very, very faint and short-lived popping, that was also accompanied by some visual artifacts. But, it was not nearly as bad or long lived as what I was experiencing before, so not ready to classify it as the same bug. For now, I am going to just attribute that to a streaming glitch as I haven't seen it again. I've watched various content, mostly Netflix, but some Plex and AppleTV+, probably about 45-60 min in total and so far no issues, except as noted above. I am somewhat reluctant to upgrade tvOS to 15.1.1 in case that is the issue, as there is no rolling back. Looking at the change log for tvOS, version 15 brings a bunch of changes to audio functions, so it very well may be an OS issue. I don't think there is anything in tvOS 15 that I was using, so might stick it out on 14.7 for a bit just to make sure the issue doesn't resurface.

edit: to add, my volume control issue has not returned, either; it's now pretty snappy like my other remotes, and no 3dB jumps like before...yet.

Just as a note here, I'm using the latest OS on mine and no issues.

 

[Robert D]

Robert D can you confirm what tvOS version your unit is running?

I can look later, but last night I tried to update and it said there is no update available. I'm not sure what the # is.

 

[user 49813]

Well, bad news. I watched about an hour of a movie on 14.7 with no issues. Got impatient and decided to update to 15.1.1 while I made something to eat. Came back and resumed movie, and in the next 55 minutes had a total of 9 issues; 5 skipping/popping events, and 4 of the ~5 sec muting/popping. Whatever the issue, tvOS 15 certainly makes it worse.

 

[msimanyi]

That seems to reasonably directly corroborate TVOS 15 is the problem, though it might have been good to test 14 for a few days.

Edited to add: Downgrade tvOS 15 to tvOS 14 on Apple TV HD [Tutorial] Edited again to note this only applies to the HD unit, not the AppleTV 4k units.

 

[Robert D]

Mine is 15.1.1

(19j581)

No problems whatsoever for me yet.

 

[user 49813]

That seems to reasonably directly corroborate TVOS 15 is the problem, though it might have been good to test 14 for a few days.

Edited to add: Downgrade tvOS 15 to tvOS 14 on Apple TV HD [Tutorial]

100% agree; I'm kicking myself a bit. My new unit actually crashed last night while watching a show on Plex. At least it was during the credits after I had watched it, but I never had that happen before; full restart on its own. Probably just the Plex client doing something funky, but interesting nonetheless. Didn't notice any more skipping/popping on Atmos content after that, but I can only imagine it is still there.

Did your Emotiva upgrade help with this issue at all?

 

[user 49813]

Mine is 15.1.1

(19j581)

No problems whatsoever for me yet.

Interesting your problems are gone. Are you running in Dolby Vision/HDR?

 

[msimanyi]

Did your Emotiva upgrade help with this issue at all?

For a technical reason, I couldn't set it up. I ordered the adapters I need to let me connect all three subwoofers, so now it's a race: either the adapters or the new amps (with XLR inputs) arrive first, and either development leaves me with enough XLR to RCA adapters to connect everything.

I'm guessing it'll happen this coming weekend.

 

[JLasher22443]

I'm also under the belief that the tvOS 15.1 update screwed up mine because I hadn't heard any issues until that last update. My theory is they are making changes to the OS that some brands just can't handle or adapt to yet with a software update. Also I experienced issues last night in my bedroom with a Sonos Beam. Audio during movie just disappeared all together for a few seconds multiple times. And that is on last Gen ATV4K with the update. So I now know its not a Marantz issue for sure and an Apple OS since on two separate Generations. I love Apple but, out of all of my Apple devices in my house; the TV is the most disappointing one for me.

Also I made some changes to my Marantz AV7703 within the Audio/Audyssey settings and so far I haven't heard the issue in my theater. I basically turned off all Audyssey items such as MultiEQ XT32 and Dynamic EQ. Anything that I thought would alter the signal coming in. Going to watch a few more things to confirm this resolved my issue and will reply here.

 

[Robert D]

Interesting your problems are gone. Are you running in Dolby Vision/HDR?

Yes. Running dolby vision and dolby atmos.

Ive watched quite a few shows in that, but it has been awhile since I did. Not 100% sure that I watched any after the last patch for the new OS build. The fact is though that the Atmos audio problem was there way back in April when I started using mine and was there for me all the way up to June when I replaced the unit. So for me it had nothing to do with the new 15.1.1 version.