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4th gen Apple TV does it have better support for AV Receivers

Marty80

Marty80

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 17, 2015
863
987
Melbourne
Hey Guys

I am currently using a third gen Apple TV which is connected to my AV Receiver, and i got the say there is absolutely no settings that will benefit my av receiver setup. I am wondering if anyone here has seen the 4th Apple TV audio settings menu, have they added better support for home theatre systems in this iteration.
 
Marty80 said:
Hey Guys

I am currently using a third gen Apple TV which is connected to my AV Receiver, and i got the say there is absolutely no settings that will benefit my av receiver setup. I am wondering if anyone here has seen the 4th Apple TV audio settings menu, have they added better support for home theatre systems in this iteration.
Click to expand...

Please elaborate on this one. In what way would you want better support for the home theater?
 
I agree with the other responses of "In what regard?", but I was surprised to see the ATV4 without an optical connector for sound. Isn't this still the primary connection for a device to AV Receiver? I'm fortunate in that my AV receiver accepts HDMI and passes along surround sound, but the lack of an optical may be an issue for many folks.

Rob
 
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Menel said:
In what regard?
Click to expand...

My interpretation of his question is can the aTV4 control attached AV equipment such as video and audio input sources, outputs, volume, mute, surround sound, picture size, effects, etc.
 
I just home that the HDMI CEC works like advertised and I can control the receiver and TV with the Apple remote. Ive had bad luck with CEC in the past with the Xbox One and so on.
 
I think he is hoping for better audio support and more advanced features, like Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos, DTS HD MA and higher sample rate/bit rate support, etc.

Unfortunately, I don't think it is going to happen. Here is what is listed for for audio support on Apple.com:

HE-AAC (V1), AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV; Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital Plus 7.1


No DTS support at all is surprising in this day and age but, then again, not many streaming apps use DTS or offer more advanced audio support anyway.
 
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On my tv Cec works only when it feels like it. The volume control works great but having the receiver turn on and off with the tv works about 50% of the time.
 
RollTide1017 said:
I think he is hoping for better audio support and more advanced features, like Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos, DTS HD MA and higher sample rate/bit rate support, etc.

Unfortunately, I don't think it is going to happen. Here is what is listed for for audio support on Apple.com:

HE-AAC (V1), AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV; Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital Plus 7.1


No DTS support at all is surprising in this day and age but, then again, not many streaming apps use DTS or offer more advanced audio support anyway.
Click to expand...

Yes you were spot on, I guess I will have to live with 5ch sound with no DTS.
 
now what happens if you have two tavs in the same room and two receivers. control both? Ill stick to my harmony
 
rtrueman said:
I agree with the other responses of "In what regard?", but I was surprised to see the ATV4 without an optical connector for sound. Isn't this still the primary connection for a device to AV Receiver? I'm fortunate in that my AV receiver accepts HDMI and passes along surround sound, but the lack of an optical may be an issue for many folks.

Rob
Click to expand...

Personally.. As HDMI keeps getting improved/updated, and Optical Audio stays the same, I think that technology is becoming obsolete. My Samsung receiver is about 5 years old (& far from being "State of the art") and it processes 5.1 Surround through HDMI just fine. In short, I really don't think that Optical is "The Standard" any more.
 
CaptTCS said:
Personally.. As HDMI keeps getting improved/updated, and Optical Audio stays the same, I think that technology is becoming obsolete. My Samsung receiver is about 5 years old (& far from being "State of the art") and it processes 5.1 Surround through HDMI just fine. In short, I really don't think that Optical is "The Standard" any more.
Click to expand...

Then why doesn't the ATV4 have two HDMI ports?
 
satinsilverem2 said:
I just home that the HDMI CEC works like advertised and I can control the receiver and TV with the Apple remote. Ive had bad luck with CEC in the past with the Xbox One and so on.
Click to expand...

HDMI CEC still should be dragged out into the street and shot.

It should be turned off on all your devices, barring the option to shoot it thing.
 
x-evil-x said:
what set type box has two hdmi's?
Click to expand...

None that I know of. I was just responding to the point about HDMI being a better audio. In that case, there should be two HDMI outputs.

or anything besides a tv and receivers?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what question you are asking, but, the Nvidia Shield TV covers more ground, and, has more ports, than the ATV4. Not to mention 4K, HDMI 2.0, and more video and audio codecs. But, I'm not sure if that is what you are asking.

i use my matrix splitter to use my Apple TV in two rooms.
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That makes sense. But, why should I have to get an extra, powered device to listen to audio in the same room? More generally, it makes absolutely no sense to produce a presumably sleeker-looking, fewer-port device, knowing that other stuff will have to be plugged in. Same issue as with a MB or MBP where you have to carry around one or two dongles all the time because of missing ports.
 
Irishman said:
HDMI CEC still should be dragged out into the street and shot.

It should be turned off on all your devices, barring the option to shoot it thing.
Click to expand...

HDMI CEC can be useful for a basic TV setup. But it can be buggy and doesn't always work.

If your home theater has more devices like a receiver, HDMI CEC causes more troubles than it helps.
If you want something that works consistently and reliably, get universal remote with RF.
 
jnpy!$4g3cwk said:
None that I know of. I was just responding to the point about HDMI being a better audio. In that case, there should be two HDMI outputs.



I'm not sure what question you are asking, but, the Nvidia Shield TV covers more ground, and, has more ports, than the ATV4. Not to mention 4K, HDMI 2.0, and more video and audio codecs. But, I'm not sure if that is what you are asking.



That makes sense. But, why should I have to get an extra, powered device to listen to audio in the same room? More generally, it makes absolutely no sense to produce a presumably sleeker-looking, fewer-port device, knowing that other stuff will have to be plugged in. Same issue as with a MB or MBP where you have to carry around one or two dongles all the time because of missing ports.
Click to expand...

You got to understand that Apple is targeting majority of consumers who have no need second HDMI port. adding this and that features for minority will force higher price for everyone. Even Nvidia Shield TV has only one HDMI.

I agree with Apple removing optical port. This is called forward thinking and not let legacy slow down the future, for example flash, blue ray. Legacy technologies can add cost and complexity with bugs, for example Internet Explorer.
 
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normanfox said:
You got to understand that Apple is targeting majority of consumers who have no need second HDMI port. adding this and that features for minority will force higher price for everyone.

Even Nvidia Shield TV has only one HDMI.
Click to expand...

But, it does have USB audio out.

More generally, lots and lots of people have additional audio besides what is in the TV.
 
If you guys just run the Apple TV to your tv, and then send the sound to receiver over hdmi/toslink it should sound good.
 
normanfox said:
You got to understand that Apple is targeting majority of consumers who have no need second HDMI port. adding this and that features for minority will force higher price for everyone. Even Nvidia Shield TV has only one HDMI.

I agree with Apple removing optical port. This is called forward thinking and not let legacy slow down the future, for example flash, blue ray. Legacy technologies can add cost and complexity with bugs, for example Internet Explorer.
Click to expand...


For the most simplistic (yes... the majority) of setups, this is fine. HOWEVER, even the very best Receivers can only take the HDMI audio feed and convert it to one (1) audio stream. I and many others use 5.1/7.1 surround in my living room then pipe the audio in STEREO FORMAT into other rooms. The only way to do that is to have a secondary audio feed... which the ATV3 optical out provided quite nicely. What happens to that secondary audio feed when I convert to the ATV4?

I am perfectly happy to explore alternate approaches and would be perfectly happy for someone to tell me "hey dummy... connect XYZ and it will work like a champ", but for now I don't see another other sustainable approach.
 
JRobinsonJr said:
For the most simplistic (yes... the majority) of setups, this is fine. HOWEVER, even the very best Receivers can only take the HDMI audio feed and convert it to one (1) audio stream. I and many others use 5.1/7.1 surround in my living room then pipe the audio in STEREO FORMAT into other rooms. The only way to do that is to have a secondary audio feed... which the ATV3 optical out provided quite nicely. What happens to that secondary audio feed when I convert to the ATV4?

I am perfectly happy to explore alternate approaches and would be perfectly happy for someone to tell me "hey dummy... connect XYZ and it will work like a champ", but for now I don't see another other sustainable approach.
Click to expand...

This can be easily done by using HDMI switch/split. I currently use one ATV 3 for two TVs using HDMI matrix split 2x4. if you expect apple to build this in, everyone would have to pay for it and not everyone would use it.
 
Will there be any relief for those of us who use multi-room AV receivers? My current ATV3 set-up is HDMI to my receiver and TOSLINK to a digital to audio converter to the receiver. The reason for that is that copy protection allows digital sources to be played on the main zone only.

So, I can listen to music from my ATV3 in my living room, but if I use the second zone output and try to listen to it on my patio, the only way I can do that is if I have analog input coming into my receiver.

With the elimination of the TOSLINK it looks like even this workaround will no longer cut it.
 
rtrueman said:
I agree with the other responses of "In what regard?", but I was surprised to see the ATV4 without an optical connector for sound. Isn't this still the primary connection for a device to AV Receiver? I'm fortunate in that my AV receiver accepts HDMI and passes along surround sound, but the lack of an optical may be an issue for many folks.

Rob
Click to expand...

Not with any half-decent models made in at least the past five years. HDMI was made to create a single cable for audio and video. Hell, some even do Ethernet. I use HDMI for my main TV. The only reason I have my optical hooked up in my bedroom is so I can sometimes still get audio with the tv off. But this doesn't work with videos purchased from iTunes, so I barely use it.

What I don't know is whether any ATV would control the AV receiver volume when its volume gets changed. I don't think there is any volume control now.
 
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