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Not getting Dolby Digital sound from ATV and iTunes

M

mjays

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 6, 2004
4
3
I just got a new plasma tv with hdmi inputs and bought an ATV. In connecting it to my av receiver I am running into a problem that I am baffled with. I have the ATV to rec with hdmi (input 2) and my direct tv via hdmi 1 to my av rec. I only have one hdmi output from av rec and it goes to my tv hdmi 1 input.

I get Dolby sound from the direct tv and but only stereo from apple tv. This is true from all my iTunes media and any movies in iTunes. I have not tried a rental to see if I get 5.1 sound.

I have tried an toslink cable from ATV to av rec and have DD set on ATV but still only stereo sound.

I assume the ATV will send DD sound out and it should go to the receiver(marantz sr5001). I want all the sound to go to receiver and video can go to tv.

What am I missing? I figured I would get dd sound from av like the direct tv connection is and wonder if it's music in my iTunes are just stereo and movies copies are stereo too.

Any advice is appreciated
 
K

Ksh

macrumors member
Jul 9, 2012
50
0
Uhm I'm pretty sure tha you should perfectly be able to listen Dolby Digital 5.1 from Apple Tv like I'm doing now :)

My configuration is similar, where Onkyo A/V receives signals from Xbox,Ps3 and Apple Tv.Have you tried setting manually Dolby Digital from audio settings in Apple Tv insteado of automatic? That's how i got it at least :p

Also make sure that your content contain 5.1 formats and forget toslink cable,hdmi brings more formats than optical indeed.
fe:toslinks are not able to transport True HD/DTS HD signal afaik hehe

Hope this helps and have a nice day.
 
Last edited:
wywern209

wywern209

macrumors 65832
Sep 7, 2008
1,503
0
do you rly want to know?
Does anything currently in your itunes contain a 5.1 channel dolby digital soundtrack? if not it cant send to the atv what isnt there. another problem could be that for the input from the atv, your receiver is set to downmix to stereo or only request stereo as opposed to surround. set your receiver to direct or afd(auto format decode). whatever it has.
 
donrsd

donrsd

macrumors 6502
Dec 16, 2011
269
1
South Florida
mjays said:
I just got a new plasma tv with hdmi inputs and bought an ATV. In connecting it to my av receiver I am running into a problem that I am baffled with. I have the ATV to rec with hdmi (input 2) and my direct tv via hdmi 1 to my av rec. I only have one hdmi output from av rec and it goes to my tv hdmi 1 input.

I get Dolby sound from the direct tv and but only stereo from apple tv. This is true from all my iTunes media and any movies in iTunes. I have not tried a rental to see if I get 5.1 sound.

I have tried an toslink cable from ATV to av rec and have DD set on ATV but still only stereo sound.

I assume the ATV will send DD sound out and it should go to the receiver(marantz sr5001). I want all the sound to go to receiver and video can go to tv.

What am I missing? I figured I would get dd sound from av like the direct tv connection is and wonder if it's music in my iTunes are just stereo and movies copies are stereo too.

Any advice is appreciated
Click to expand...

apple tv - settings, audio.....make sure dolby digital is turned ON
 
M

mic j

macrumors 68030
Mar 15, 2012
2,663
156
GarrettL1979 said:
So why doesn't "auto" work??
Click to expand...
It depends on the file source. It may work fine for iTunes downloads. Most personal files are encoded with 2 audio tracks, the first one being stereo (and set to default), the second DD 5.1. "Auto" detects the first track as the default track to play and therefore you only get stereo. Setting to "On" tells the aTV to look for a DD 5.1 track and use it.

Although for all of this, you should be able to go to the subtitles button, go to audio, and select whichever audio track you want, stereo or DD.
 
G

GarrettL1979

macrumors 6502
Feb 15, 2012
330
0
mic j said:
It depends on the file source. It may work fine for iTunes downloads. Most personal files are encoded with 2 audio tracks, the first one being stereo (and set to default), the second DD 5.1. "Auto" detects the first track as the default track to play and therefore you only get stereo. Setting to "On" tells the aTV to look for a DD 5.1 track and use it.

Although for all of this, you should be able to go to the subtitles button, go to audio, and select whichever audio track you want, stereo or DD.
Click to expand...

I see. I wonder if "auto" works with iTunes downloads. I will have to try it out.

If so, would that mean iTunes files have the 5.1 track first? And if that's the case, wouldn't it make sense to do that with HB encodes too? Or would that cause complications when trying to play the file on stereo only devices or TVs??
 
M

mic j

macrumors 68030
Mar 15, 2012
2,663
156
GarrettL1979 said:
I see. I wonder if "auto" works with iTunes downloads. I will have to try it out.

If so, would that mean iTunes files have the 5.1 track first? And if that's the case, wouldn't it make sense to do that with HB encodes too? Or would that cause complications when trying to play the file on stereo only devices or TVs??
Click to expand...

I think, the stereo track is not required, but because it takes up very little space and provides compatibility across platforms, it is done as best practice.

Could be wrong about it but I think that's right.
 
G

GarrettL1979

macrumors 6502
Feb 15, 2012
330
0
mic j said:
I think, the stereo track is not required, but because it takes up very little space and provides compatibility across platforms, it is done as best practice.

Could be wrong about it but I think that's right.
Click to expand...

Is there any reason not to have AC3 as the first track when encoding in HB?
 
M

mic j

macrumors 68030
Mar 15, 2012
2,663
156
GarrettL1979 said:
Is there any reason not to have AC3 as the first track when encoding in HB?
Click to expand...

Not sure how it is now, but a long long time ago, an iPod needed to have the stereo track in the first position because there was no way to select audio tracks in movies. It was a default setting. Not sure what the modern world is like as I have never replaced the old iPod. Anyway, I'm dating myself here. :D
 
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