Apple Music Lossless Hi-Res Audio Coming Soon

[Robert D]

I discovered something last night, and I sure hope that it was the cause of my problem! I have a nice wireworld HDMI cable, purple ribbon shaped, that connects the apple tv to my Marantz. I accidentally had it plugged in backwards, with the arrows pointing toward the Apple tv instead of the Receiver like it should have. So I reversed that and got it oriented in the correct direction. I will have to test it out the next couple of nights now. I checked all of my other wire world cables and I had them going the correct direction. I screwed up just the one.

Does anyone know if having the hdmi running the wrong way could cause my problem, sound dropping out and getting a skipping sound like noise artifacts? Maybe it reduces the capacity of the wire?

 

[barjohn]

I have never heard of a directional HDMI cable. None of the HDMI cables I have including the newest 2.1 versions are directional.

 

[ttocs]

I have some old AudioQuest Chocolate HDMI cables with arrows on them. The weird thing is that when they were manufactured, HDMI was nowhere near the capability of what the cables can pass, and they will happily pass DolbyVision 4K/60, in either direction.

 

[Robert D]

I have some old AudioQuest Chocolate HDMI cables with arrows on them. The weird thing is that when they were manufactured, HDMI was nowhere near the capability of what the cables can pass, and they will happily pass DolbyVision 4K/60, in either direction.

Dolby Vision was passing just fine, it was the Atmos that was screwed up from time to time, random. im hoping it was the combo of the two trying to pass at the same time. I will know in a few days if the problem persists even with the arrows going now in the correct direction.

 

[Robert D]

Here is one article that claims that you have to run it the correct direction or you get no picture. Not so for me.

What Are Directional HDMI Cables? Should You Use Them? (thehometheaterdiy.com)

I have the Ultraviolet HDMI cable by Wireworld.

 

[amey01]

Maybe it is the Netflix node. I'm no aware of how all of that works. I just know my home gets between 500 and 600 mbps most all day. I've seen it drop down to 450 during peak hours. I could pay for 1 gbps or more but everything else runs fine.

4K Netflix demands around 25k doesn't it? I observe around 15kbps when I am streaming, so I guess the 25k demand is for headroom. That said - if you're getting minimum 400k, then there could be absolutely no problem with your connection - unless you are getting packet loss or something going on on the internal network?

 

[Robert D]

4K Netflix demands around 25k doesn't it? I observe around 15kbps when I am streaming, so I guess the 25k demand is for headroom. That said - if you're getting minimum 400k, then there could be absolutely no problem with your connection - unless you are getting packet loss or something going on on the internal network?

I think it could be too slow bit rate coming out of Netflix to my home? I can have 500 mbps rate from my provider, but if Netflix isn't outputting enough then it wouldn't matter?

I've heard of providers throttling customers too.

Thing is, last night I heard some audio artifacts watching atmos on Apple tv + service. It was a real subtle pulsing sound. Some garbled sound that went away when I hit stop.and then play again.. So I don't think it's only problems with Netflix.

Maybe I got a bad apple tv box?

 

[Robert D]

Well, I watched the 2 hour 28 minute long movie Army of the Dead on Netflix. I didnt have one single issue of audio problems now! So unless I got very lucky, the issue was because I had my HDMI cable running the wrong direction. I will continue to monitor this, and hope that the problem doesnt happen again. I hope this may help someone that reads this, but then again Im probably the only person dumb enough to run one in reverse.

While watching that movie my daughter spotted white spots, single pixels, on the tv screen. The spots would only appear on certain shots, as if one of the cameras filming it was bad. I was worried that my brand new 72 inch LG OLED had a problem. I went on my computer monitor and thank goodness it was on this display too!

We were terrified that our new tv had dead pixels, but a dead pixel is black isnt it?

We found it on the web and apparently a lot of folks could see it. People said that the scariest thing about the film was the dead pixels! Dead pixels in The Army of The Dead.

Army Of The Dead's Dead Pixels Explained (It's Not Your TV) (screenrant.com)

Lets hope that my sound stays fixed!

 

[R1200CL]

https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/bits-and-bytes/apple-music-lossless-mess-part-2-airplay-r1026/

 

[amey01]

https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/bits-and-bytes/apple-music-lossless-mess-part-2-airplay-r1026/

None of it surprises me.

But just press that "stream" button, it it will damn well work.!!

Apple stuff is not my cuppa tea, but it has its market. Like everything, it depends on what you value. Same with Bose - I never criticise Bose because they have their market too. "Architectural audio" is actually something that is important to some people. And that's okay.

If you don't want to learn too much, don't care too much about what happens behind the scenes, and just want it to "work", then Apple is for you. For everyone else, there are much more sophisticated options!

 

[JonFo]

As a guy who's interacted with pretty much every type of computer system since the 1958-vintage IBM 1401 (actual core memory, no ICs, all discrete transistors), and who has at least one of Unix, Windows, Android, MacOS, iOS, TVOS, WatchOS devices currently, I can say that the Apple ecosystem is my favorite for usability and security.
It can be maddening in some aspects, but overall, it generally delights.

For music, it is fine, not perfect, but fine. Being able to play good quality music (including Atmos) over the AirPods Max with no wires, and full mobility is great for all those hours in which I must focus on things other than the music.
I like that Apple Music now has Atmos support, and I can play that from the AppleTV directly into my processor with just a few clicks and now have access to tons of new releases.
Is Dolby Digital+ Atmos as good as from a BluRay, of course not, but it's not some horrid thing that hurts to hear. It's perfectly fine. And if the album I heard is worth it, I'll order the BluRay (if that's even available, often time it's not).
Airplay casting works seamlessly with the gear in my home, and I just used it last evening to play a song my wife and I were recalling but had not heard for >30 years. Found it in 10 seconds, cast it to the player/speakers in the room in 4 seconds.

So for casual listening and even a few close listens (to new Atmos material) it works just fine.

For more demanding applications, like playing back ripped SACD, DVD-A or BluRay (all multichannel or Atmos), I use JRiver MC on a Windows 10 (tweaked) box dedicated to this and hooked up via HDMI to the processor. But good thing I have decades of computing experience, as maintaining that one is not the most straightforward. And sadly, it is only used for a couple of hours a week.

 

[amey01]

For music, it is fine, not perfect, but fine.

Agree it is "fine" for most things - but flippin' maddening in too many other ways for me to consider seriously. For instance - you need to change the MAC address of your iPad.......you can't.

Now, I agree it is not a scenario that many people will encounter very often.......but it is enough to make my blood boil when I come up against something like that which is so simple, but precluded by Apple.

(Playing FLACs on an iPod was another classic example). Not many people saw it as an issue - but for those that wanted to do that, it was enough to incite violence against the devices!

For modern day devices, their continued reliance on that God-awful iTunes software goes completely against any argument for "usability".

 

[Robert D]

Agree it is "fine" for most things - but flippin' maddening in too many other ways for me to consider seriously. For instance - you need to change the MAC address of your iPad.......you can't.

Now, I agree it is not a scenario that many people will encounter very often.......but it is enough to make my blood boil when I come up against something like that which is so simple, but precluded by Apple.

(Playing FLACs on an iPod was another classic example). Not many people saw it as an issue - but for those that wanted to do that, it was enough to incite violence against the devices!

For modern day devices, their continued reliance on that God-awful iTunes software goes completely against any argument for "usability".

I agree about a lot of what you say. My first Apple device, since I had an Apple IIe back in the 80s, is the new Apple tv. My girls love their I phones, but I went android.

So far the Apple tv has been great, and I've not run into many problems other than an issue streaming dolby Atmos. I think the issue was my fault because I had the hdmi running the wrong direction.

I do feel like so many Apple devices force you to do things their way. I was not a fan of how the phones didn't have removable batteries that you could replace and how you couldn't use memory cards to expand storage. Now most of the Android phones have followed Apple and done the same thing.

 

[Robert D]

Well, after switching the direction of the hdmi cable to the correct way, the atmos problem returned last night. I still think it may be a streaming problem from Netflix, maybe the bitrate drops too low. Here is an article about others having the issue early in 2020. Apparently it started when Apple updated the OS.

https://piunikaweb.com/2020/02/10/netflix-dolby-atmos-streaming-apple-tv-4k/
The problem is still there. I will probably call Apple again to report back to them about my case. If you call in with a problem they will give you a case number. Part of me wonders if I got a defective Apple tv, but I think the audio problem wouldn't be sporadic. I went 1 week with no problems.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

I had an iTV that I received as a gift from my all Apple household brother in-law and I liked the remote control, but otherwise I felt it was very slow to respond. The Roku I got to replace it was much faster even if the remote wasn't nearly as elegant looking. The main reason I got the Roku was that at the time the iTV didn't support some streaming channel that I wanted. Eventually my iTV died after a lightning storm went by. My Roku was unaffected and I haven't had an iTV since then.

That said, Apple always has the most aesthetically pleasing remotes and enclosures for their products and the simplest configuration. However the initial iTV I had and my wife's iPad could not be configured the way I wanted to configure them on my WIFI network. Years have passed and that is probably not the case any longer. I think the issue was that I had to broadcast my WIFI publicly for it to see my WIFI to configure it before I could turn off that broadcast again.

 

[Robert D]

I dont know if Netflix has added support or not yet, but last year it did not support dolby Atmos on Roku or Amazon Firestick. Its one of the main reasons I switched to Apple. Now of course I come to find that it works on the Apple, but it has issues.

 

[JonFo]

About 80% of the content I watch from streaming is Netflix on the Apple TV 4K, and I seek Atmos and DolbyVision content above other formats. And never have any issues playing these 4K DV/Atmos streams.

My network is near perfection: Gigabit Cable Internet connected to an x86 based router (IQrouter Pro) running advanced traffic management algorithms (BufferBloat score is an A+, so no lag whatsoever). This feeds a whole-home wired network with drops in every room of the home. The media room has its own 8-port switch (full now) with the ATV 4K connected via Ethernet.
Every device with an Ethernet port has an Ethernet cable connected.
So avoid streaming on WiFi, as many issues are due to the variable capacity and latency found on Wifi.

Even the wifi is as good as it gets with 3 enterprise-class access points managed by a local process (in its own dedicated box), so it can steer clients to the optimal AP.

BTW- In case anyone thinks 'well, he has Gigabit ...' this exact setup, but connected to a 10Mbps DSL line (my backup) performs the same. Low latencies, but limited capacity, which means 1080p is the max resolution. But it streams uninterrupted for hours, even if I'm concurrently surfing on the iPad. A well-managed line is more important than raw capacity (what ISPs call speed).

 

[Robert D]

About 80% of the content I watch from streaming is Netflix on the Apple TV 4K, and I seek Atmos and DolbyVision content above other formats. And never have any issues playing these 4K DV/Atmos streams.

My network is near perfection: Gigabit Cable Internet connected to an x86 based router (IQrouter Pro) running advanced traffic management algorithms (BufferBloat score is an A+, so no lag whatsoever). This feeds a whole-home wired network with drops in every room of the home. The media room has its own 8-port switch (full now) with the ATV 4K connected via Ethernet.
Every device with an Ethernet port has an Ethernet cable connected.
So avoid streaming on WiFi, as many issues are due to the variable capacity and latency found on Wifi.

Even the wifi is as good as it gets with 3 enterprise-class access points managed by a local process (in its own dedicated box), so it can steer clients to the optimal AP.

BTW- In case anyone thinks 'well, he has Gigabit ...' this exact setup, but connected to a 10Mbps DSL line (my backup) performs the same. Low latencies, but limited capacity, which means 1080p is the max resolution. But it streams uninterrupted for hours, even if I'm concurrently surfing on the iPad. A well-managed line is more important than raw capacity (what ISPs call speed).

My setup is much the same, everything wired and whole house. We get 550 mbps but service could be faster than 1gb if I paid for it. The house has fiber running to it. I too have a gigabit switch in the family room to supply each component.

I really don't think my issue is hardware because Netflix is the only service that has the problem. Apply tv service and HBO Max are fine. The HDMI cable I use was once used for my 4k player and never had an issue. It's an expensive one way flow Wire World cable too. All of my hdmi cables are.

Last night while watching Virgin River the sound would drop out once or twice in each 50 minute episode. Just pausing or stopping the show restores normal sound.

I haven't contacted Apple yet again a second time. I suppose the next step would be requesting a replacement for the Apple device. Maybe I got a bad one? Weird that it can go a day or more and not have an issue. It averages about 1 occurrence in an hour, otherwise it sounds great.

I'm wondering if my internet provider is somehow throttling my Netflix stream and that's the issue. I've read that some companies do that. I can see them doing it to Netflix and not the others because Netflix is more popular.

 

[Robert D]

Another weird thing is that you can go online and find many others having the exact same problem with their Apple tv player as me, and each time it's only Atmos on Netflix. The problem was there on the last gen too. One post made it sound like the issue started up after an OS change Apple made awhile ago.

When I talked with Apple on the phone she told me that many others were calling in with my problem. She seemed to think it was an issue with the Netflix App, and that's my feeling as well.

My Apple tv is plugged directly into my Marantz receiver by hdmi. The Marantz is their highest end atmos receiver and never has issues when playing 4k disc's, and it's only Netflix shows streamed from the Apple tv that have issues.

 

[amey01]

I'm wondering if my internet provider is somehow throttling my Netflix stream and that's the issue. I've read that some companies do that. I can see them doing it to Netflix and not the others because Netflix is more popular.

Try putting it behind a VPN then!