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ATV4 Surround Sound Issues
- Thread starter iphonetravel
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Similar issue (if not the same) as me.
All my local blu-ray collection, ripped and encoded via makemkv and handbrake default to the stereo track when played on the aTV4. I have to swipe up, chose audio, then change the language setting from the 1st English track to the 2nd English track to playback in Dolby Digital. My aTV3 would always default to the 2nd English track (Dolby Digital) automatically.
Hopefully just a bug but a little annoying nonetheless.
I feel your pain @darknyt. I attempted the very same thing with my Yamaha rx-3040. AirPlay kicked in and I had to select the input/scene again. After 3 hours I figured out how to disable AirPlay on the Yamaha (which I have never used anyway) and then I was able to select the 3040 for audio processing. I look forward to Apple fixing this surround sound issue though.
Ahhh...so I have to change the language track. Never thought of that. I will give it a try. It wouldn't let me select the DD 5.1 (which was listed, probably because I needed to select the language track first. Thanks for the tip.
I'm having the same issues as everyone else, as is another friend. Hopefully this gets patched up and quick, as this is quite annoying.
I checked the listing in the iTunes store on my computer and it shows Dolby 5.1 for Terminator Genisys.
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For some reason, iTunes on my computer too only shows 5.1. iTunes on the ATV4 shows 7.1 and 5.1. iTunes can be a little tricky, plenty of movies are listed as full screen instead of widescreen.
I also see Terminator Genisys is in 7.1 and 5.1 on ATV4. I did not realize it displays more information if I scroll down.
Really? Why would it do that? Is there a convention that the 2nd track is the same language as a first, but better audio? What if the 2nd track is Swahili?
But yes, a global option to always pick the best audio track in the configured default language would be nice.
Both tracks are listed as "English" when I swipe up and view it during playback. I'm guessing that during the rip with MakeMKV I was taking both the 5.1 and 2.0 audio tracks. If memory serves correctly, the 2.0 track is within the 5.1 codec anyway. With this in mind - having the aTV3 set to Dolby Digital it would automatically pick the 5.1 track (in my case English track 2). The aTV4 is picking the the 2.0 track (English track 1) regardless of the Dolby Digital setting in the general menus.
Like I said. It is only doing it with my local ripped movies. Any iTunes movies I have downloaded to my Mac play back fine.
Hope that all makes sense.
It did not work with the ATV3 so I doubt anything has changed on the Amazon side to support 5.1 in this space. Airplay can support 5.1, but if the content is not encoded in that way to begin with, 5.1 won't be present.
Just to be clear, I don't believe Amazon provide iPhones with 5.1 streams.
I see. This is my first Apple tv so this is all new to me. Will this work with Netflix? The iPhone app does not show the small '5.1' symbol that is visible in some titles on the Netflix tv app. I assume that I can just use the stock app, but I am now curious about 5.1 compatibility with airplay in general.
Glad to see this thread, as I'm also experiencing audio problems. Like the OP, it's sending PCM to my receiver, even on Dolby sources. Also -- and this one is a bigger issue for me -- it plays music (my own and Apple Music) as 5-channel stereo rather than 2-channel stereo. When I'm playing music, I want to use only my mains. Any way to get it to auto-switch to 2-channel stereo for music-only sources?
Hmmm...for me, if I set it to "Auto" it'll output 7.1 PCM for surround content, but will automatically switch to 2.0 PCM for stereo content. But if I set it to "Dolby Digital," then I get DD 5.1 for everything. Try Auto mode if you're not already using it.
Auto everything except the menu of AppleTV now play in DD and the receiver can't add PLII center speaker is muted.
DD setting do the same as Auto
Stereo setting all stereo now and PLII on receiver is working.
Tested with YouTube and AirVideo app.
Same issue with AirPlay in both apps.
DD setting do the same as Auto
Stereo setting all stereo now and PLII on receiver is working.
Tested with YouTube and AirVideo app.
Same issue with AirPlay in both apps.
I only scanned this thread, so forgive me if someone else posted this already. For those experiencing issues with your own rips not doing dolby digital correctly, the issue is that you don't have a proper "fallback track" selected in your file. The ATV3 would automatically select the dolby digital file based on your dolby digital setting, even if you didn't have the fallback track selected. The ATV4 simply plays the first track, which is usually your AAC track. You'll need to get Subler to set this where it does the dolby digital stream automatically. The Handbrake team is adding some code so this configuration can be set at encode time, and Subler would not be needed after that.
Here's the thread: https://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=33430
Here's the thread: https://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=33430
I get nothing out of the rear speakers if I use the Dolby Digital setting. I really hope they fix this soon.
I use Subler to post-process all my own rips. These rips all worked correctly on the Apple TV 3, and contain both AC-3 and AAC in the way Apple prefers. The Apple TV 4 plays them all in stereo regardless of the audio settings on the Apple TV, or on my Denon amp. This is a bug in tvOS, plain and simple.
It's worth noting that Plex actually plays surround sound correctly for me on the Apple TV 4 from the same source files.
TVOS 9.0.1 is out.
It's a little improvement for me. I can set sound output in the ATV options back to "Auto" an a multi channel signal is sent to receiver. The receiver still shows it as a PCM and not a dolby digital signal, but surround is working.
For self ripped movies it's still mandatory to set the fallback track like described above.
It's a little improvement for me. I can set sound output in the ATV options back to "Auto" an a multi channel signal is sent to receiver. The receiver still shows it as a PCM and not a dolby digital signal, but surround is working.
For self ripped movies it's still mandatory to set the fallback track like described above.
For me 5.1 sources are still output as 7.1 PCM when the ATV 4 is set to Auto. The PCM levels seem to be a little improved but that could be a placebo.