AppleTV HD and Atmos Content

[yalej]

I couldn’t quite find a thread exactly on point but seemingly my AppleTV HD (15.2) will not properly convert Atmos content so that it will play through my receiver (Marantz 1508). Content is stuff like Netflix and Amazon Prime as two common examples where I’ve verified it not working.

Background noise is audible, but dialogue isn’t. Forcing Dolby 5.1 on ATV does not solve problem. Forcing stereo does return dialog but obviously that’s less than ideal.

So basically no component in my system supports Atmos, but I was under the impression that the extra content would just be ignored if played.

I’m thinking of getting the latest 4K ATV as a short term stop gap before I upgrade things like the AVR. Thoughts? Would it work?

 

[w5jck]

Probably best to give a bit more information as it isn' clear how your home theater system is set up.

Does your TV act as the hub with all the streaming devices/players connected to it and then it pushes the audio out to your Marantz 1508 receiver?

Does your Marantz 1508 receiver act as the hub with all the streaming devices/players connected to it and then it pushes the video out to your TV?

The more we know about your setup, the easier it will be to get a good answer. For example, if your TV is the hub, then the ATV HD has to push audio through the TV to your Marantz 1508 receiver. So any of those three devices could be an issue.

 

[yalej]

Marantz is the hub. Everything is connected through that. It’s a 5.1 speaker set up.

 

[mhmercer]

I couldn’t quite find a thread exactly on point but seemingly my AppleTV HD (15.2) will not properly convert Atmos content so that it will play through my receiver (Marantz 1508). Content is stuff like Netflix and Amazon Prime as two common examples where I’ve verified it not working.

Background noise is audible, but dialogue isn’t. Forcing Dolby 5.1 on ATV does not solve problem. Forcing stereo does return dialog but obviously that’s less than ideal.

So basically no component in my system supports Atmos, but I was under the impression that the extra content would just be ignored if played.

I’m thinking of getting the latest 4K ATV as a short term stop gap before I upgrade things like the AVR. Thoughts? Would it work?

I don't believe that your 1508 can decode Dolby Atmos. It should be able to ignore those channels, playing them as TrueHD.
Be sure to set all speakers in the Speaker Configuration setting, to "Small", and the Subwoofer to "LFE".
Select the MOVIE sound mode with your remote control wand, for TV or movie watching. Select Dolby PL II Cinema.

 

[yalej]

No, it sure doesn’t support Atmos. I tried those things, but no luck. A real bummer. It’s an old receiver. I guess time for an upgrade.

 

[JeffPerrin]

The Apple TV HD does not support Atmos. You should be getting Dolby Digital 5.1 playback, however.

Select the MOVIE sound mode with your remote control wand, for TV or movie watching. Select Dolby PL II Cinema.

No. This is AVR setting is for up-mixing stereo content to your surround speakers. If your receiver is 5.1 capable, you should set the mode to Direct or Pure (or the equivalent setting) in order to output true 5.1.

 

[yalej]

The Apple TV HD does not support Atmos. You should be getting Dolby Digital 5.1 playback, however.



No. This is AVR setting is for up-mixing stereo content to your surround speakers. If your receiver is 5.1 capable, you should set the mode to Direct or Pure (or the equivalent setting) in order to output true 5.1.

That's how it's configured. There is no non-stereo sound mode that plays audio correctly (i.e. audible dialog). This is also a recent issue, as I've had no problems in the past.

 

[JeffPerrin]

What version of tvOS are you on? FYI, There have been issues with tvOS and optical connections over the last year or so. If it's a new issue, try and figure out what changed. If nothing hardware-wise has changed, I'm guessing it's another tvOS bug.

 

[yalej]

tvOS 15.2. Everything is connected via HDMI to receiver. It’s just bizarre that forcing 5.1 with ATV doesn’t help in the least. I can’t believe that people who don’t have Atmos anything but that don’t use AppleTV are having these kinds of problems. I’m inclined to agree it’s a tvOS issue.

 

[RachelleK]

I don’t have a problem with an AppleTV 4K and a pre Atmos Denon AVR. It sends DD+ fine (7.1).

 

[yalej]

I'm using ATV HD, not 4K. I did some more investigating and I can reproduce this problem on a PS4 as well. Using Witcher S2 as the source on Netflix, I can get the low dialog volume problem to appear on the PS4 if I choose the English [5.1] soundtrack; if I switch it to English [Original], everything works fine.

This option is unavailable on the ATV Netflix App. None of the sound modes on the Marantz are able to fix this problem regardless of whether I pass the original audio format or the 5.1 format. So it's a ATV/tvOS problem that recently appeared I think.

What's happening is that the dialog is getting mixed into the rear surround speakers and is super faint.

Anyway, I can use PS4 to watch for now.