2021 new gen Apple tv 4k Dolby Atmos Problems

[JLasher22443]

It seems to be App dependent somewhat, at least for me. Netflix does it the worst, with big dropouts of sound. Then there is Apple tv+ which has mostly just crackling/popping sounds. HBO Max and Disney + has yet to do it.

I watch Paramount + now but I haven't watched any Atmos content on there yet. I've only watched 1883 series, and it's 5.1

I agree 100%. The last time I got it on ATV+ was in the new season of "See" but I think only in one episode and it was mild crackling. One thing I know for certain is it hasn't happened in rented or purchased movies for me.

 

[Robert D]

I agree 100%. The last time I got it on ATV+ was in the new season of "See" but I think only in one episode and it was mild crackling. One thing I know for certain is it hasn't happened in rented or purchased movies for me.

When I was watching See over the summer I had big dropouts like on Netflix. That's not happened in awhile. I'm not sure what changes happened, but it's better on Apple. I did have one small dropout during For All Mankind. Then the crackling last week on Finch.

 

[user 49813]

A bit of news I saw about the upcoming tvOS 15.4 release; it's supposed to make some changes to Spatial Audio. Holding out hope this includes fixes for our issue, but I haven't read (or, looked for) any reports of beta users still experiencing (or not) the problem.

sauce: tvOS 15.4 and HomePod 15.4 beta 4 now available, here's what's new

Still been really problematic; have had Atmos disabled in ATV settings...sigh

 

[user 49813]

I just got off the phone with Natasha at Apple support. She said that there is an official case started now with engineering because they have enough cases. Im not sure if that is something new for us or not, not sure if a case has been open long. Maybe having an official case will help. She said they are well aware of the problem now because of the number of people calling in.

I told her how some of you are reporting even more problems with 15.3 now, and it didnt clear up the issue. They want me to update my APTV4k to 15.3 but I said no. I told her how rare the problem is for me now and that I dont want to make it worse. They wanted me to update and then send them another report like I did before. I told her to tell them I dont want to make my device problem worse by updating . She is going to email them and tell them what I said and let them know that, from what I can tell, 15.3 has possibly made the problem happen more frequently. 15.3 definitely didnt fix the issue.

So my case is still open and she is going to call me back in 2 weeks to let me know what has happened. I hope all of you can find time to call in too and report what has happened. If youre running the new 15.3 it would be great to send them the diagnostic file. I would do it myself but I dont want to update to that since it seems even worse.

Any word back from Apple support? I haven't heard a word from my rep in like...months? Going to go ping my ticket again right now.

 

[Robert D]

A bit of news I saw about the upcoming tvOS 15.4 release; it's supposed to make some changes to Spatial Audio. Holding out hope this includes fixes for our issue, but I haven't read (or, looked for) any reports of beta users still experiencing (or not) the problem.

sauce: tvOS 15.4 and HomePod 15.4 beta 4 now available, here's what's new

Still been really problematic; have had Atmos disabled in ATV settings...sigh

Mine has only rare problems with Atmos, but I've not been watching Netflix recently. Apple had a hiccup on the movie Finch. I think the older OS I'm running is a little better.

Hopefully this new one will work! The Apple rep is going to contact me once she hears back from engineering.

 

[Robert D]

Any word back from Apple support? I haven't heard a word from my rep in like...months? Going to go ping my ticket again right now.

She called me once, and then last week sent me an email that said she would email me once she heard from engineering. Sounds like each case they get is assigned to an associate, and then they handle you exclusively.

Seems for now that engineering isn't telling the associates anything new. She said they are looking at it.

 

[msimanyi]

Sorta kinda unrelated, but it's about AppleTV so I thought I'd post here.

Possibly free upgrade: carefully listen to something from your AppleTV. Unplug it and flip the polarity on the power cable, restart and listen again. Keep it whichever way sounds better to you.

I will admit this works stunningly well if you're foolish enough (I am) to buy an aftermarket power cable. The difference was night and day, and I have to think the effect of "correct polarity" should be similar with the standard power cable.

 

[Robert D]

Sorta kinda unrelated, but it's about AppleTV so I thought I'd post here.

Possibly free upgrade: carefully listen to something from your AppleTV. Unplug it and flip the polarity on the power cable, restart and listen again. Keep it whichever way sounds better to you.

I will admit this works stunningly well if you're foolish enough (I am) to buy an aftermarket power cable. The difference was night and day, and I have to think the effect of "correct polarity" should be similar with the standard power cable.

I thought most power cables are just basically two identical copper wires running parallel. What's on there that would impart polarity on the wires? I don't know.

 

[msimanyi]

That's what I thought too, but I was provided instructions with the new power cable to check it both ways, and it would be obvious which one was best.

I probably should've checked that with the standard power cord too, before shoving the rack back in wiring closet, but if someone with easy access can test it, they might be in for a treat.

 

[Robert D]

That's what I thought too, but I was provided instructions with the new power cable to check it both ways, and it would be obvious which one was best.

I probably should've checked that with the standard power cord too, before shoving the rack back in wiring closet, but if someone with easy access can test it, they might be in for a treat.

Strange. I do remember that some cords are shaped differently, so its like fitting a key into a lock where it plugs into the device. Only fits one way. I guess our Apple tv has it so that each side is identical. I may just play around with that.

 

[Robert D]

So what is there to report about the latest Apple OS and the audio problem? Assuming that all apps are updated too.

I've frozen all of my updates for months now.

 

[user 49813]

So what is there to report about the latest Apple OS and the audio problem? Assuming that all apps are updated too.

I've frozen all of my updates for months now.

I installed the 15.4 beta last night and re-enabled Atmos, but haven't watched too much Atmos content (and just subscribed to HBOMax to watch a few things). I'll try to test out some Netflix content over the next few days to see if the problem remains. But, I did read there is supposed to be substantial changes to spatial audio, which I am hoping implies Atmos as well.

 

[Robert D]

I installed the 15.4 beta last night and re-enabled Atmos, but haven't watched too much Atmos content (and just subscribed to HBOMax to watch a few things). I'll try to test out some Netflix content over the next few days to see if the problem remains. But, I did read there is supposed to be substantial changes to spatial audio, which I am hoping implies Atmos as well.

I watched an atmos show last night on Netflix and the problem got really bad. It's strange how you can watch a series for a week with very little trouble but then one night it becomes really bad. Same series. I checked the speed going to the Apple tv during the problem at it was getting around 600 mbps. Buffer bloat ranking was good too.

The first 30 minutes of the show was fine, but then it started in. I had to stop the show several times and then rewind. That went on for a few minutes and then was gone.

 

[msimanyi]

That's quite disappointing...

 

[Robert D]

That's quite disappointing...

Well, if you're talking about my experience above, that's running an OS two or more releases back. I froze mine around January I think. From reports of guys on here, the later releases seemed to have worse issues than mine. So I turned off all updates of OS and apps.

I plan on resuming them if I get good reports from you guys.

 

[msimanyi]

Ah - reading comprehension fail on my part. I thought you experienced those problems under the new beta.

 

[Robert D]

Ah - reading comprehension fail on my part. I thought you experienced those problems under the new beta.

No, I'm not brave enough to even install the later operating systems that Apple has released. I'm several behind now. I stopped updates because you guys seemed to have even worse troubles with the newer ones.

I'm letting others be my guinea pig. Eventually I'll have to give the updates a go.

 

[user 49813]

No, I'm not brave enough to even install the later operating systems that Apple has released. I'm several behind now. I stopped updates because you guys seemed to have even worse troubles with the newer ones.

I'm letting others be my guinea pig. Eventually I'll have to give the updates a go.

FWIW I suspect everything 15 and above are equally bad; I don't think there was anything definitive correlating newer versions with an increase in occurrences.

 

[Robert D]

FWIW I suspect everything 15 and above are equally bad; I don't think there was anything definitive correlating newer versions with an increase in occurrences.

I'm using 15.1.1

I remember not having hardly any problems over the summer before I had this version. Maybe that was 14?

So you guys don't think the occurrences got worse after the version I have?

What version are you running? I also froze my app updates. Not sure if it shows what version of those I have. Maybe somewhere inside each app ot shows version #?

 

[Robert D]

Whatever OS version I had when the Apple tv new gen was first released had the problem. It was there and then went away when I traded it in for a new one. I assumed it was hardware, but then the problem came back around November. Maybe because of the newer os?