I downloaded the public beta to my Apple TV 4K however I don’t see any option to enable Dolby Atmos in the sound settings. The Apple TV 4K is connected to my LG TV which in turn outputs audio through an LG Atmos enabled soundbar/subwoofer system. Any idea as to why this is happening?
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Set up Atmos on tvOS 12 beta
- Thread starter rmoliv
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This is stupid. Only if I connect my Apple TV directly to the LG soundbar the Atmos option will appear in the settings. However, if I keep it connected that way I won't be able to watch content in 4K, not even HD, only SD. Is there any solution to this? I get Atmos content through the built-in Netflix app on my LG TV through the soundbar...
Sounds like a bug in the beta OS, something is not set correctly on the soundbar's passthrough settings, or the Apple TV is not correctly picking up the soundbar's EDID to allow passing HD or 4k video.
I have nearly the same setup, except that i connect all my devices to my receiver, and have my receiver connected to my tv. I too had the problem that i could only select sd output. I solved it by turning off my receiver while keeping the aTV and my tv on and then turn my receiver back on. ATV then switched back to DV.
I don’t have an AV receiver and my soundbar doesn’t have 4K pass through so maybe that’s why it only displays SD video when I connect the Apple TV directly to it? As the soundbar recognizes Atmos from built in LG TV apps I thought that was all I needed to get Atmos on the Apple TV. Should I buy an Atmos/4K/HDR enabled AV receiver?
So, now that I have everything set up - where do I test?
Playing back my own Atmos files from local library does still produce PCM 7.1 being output to AVR.
On iTunes store there are no Atmos movies (yet). I have the Arrival with DD+ 7.1, this one produces PCM 7.1 output.
So my first guess is, that without your own app under development, there is no joy from that new setting.
On the positive side, the explaining text alongside the Convert Audio setting is really encouraging and gives hope a bitstream passthrough can be expected.
Playing back my own Atmos files from local library does still produce PCM 7.1 being output to AVR.
On iTunes store there are no Atmos movies (yet). I have the Arrival with DD+ 7.1, this one produces PCM 7.1 output.
So my first guess is, that without your own app under development, there is no joy from that new setting.
On the positive side, the explaining text alongside the Convert Audio setting is really encouraging and gives hope a bitstream passthrough can be expected.
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It is not possible to pass through Dolby Atmos from a connected device through your TV to your soundbar over ARC yet. You'll need eARC on HDMI 2.1 to do that. There is no TV yet that has HDMI 2.1 ports. So if you want to experience Dolby Atmos through your soundbar or dedicated speaker system while simultaneously watch 4k HDR content, you'll need a soundbar or receiver that supports 4k passthrough. Sadly, there is no other way. You can of course by a (cheap )receiver that supports 4k passthrough and connect your soundbar to the receiver using the pre-out connections.
Well, it passes Atmos from the LG TV to the soundbar and I watch content on the built-in Netflix app in Atmos. It shows the Atmos logo both on the app and the soundbar display. It's only the Apple TV that is not passing it.
Are there cheap AV receivers that support Atmos and 4K HDR (HDR10+Dolby Vision, at least those two)?
There's a difference, due to copyright, between passthrough (such as AppleTV through the TV to your soundbar) and direct (from an app on the TV to your soundbar).
There is a difference between the true Dolby Atmos sound format and sound that contains Dolby Atmos 3d metadata. The Dolby Atmos sound format is a true lossless sound format based on TrueHD, combined with 3d metadata. Now it is possible to just add Dolby Atmos 3d metadata on top of a lossy sound format, but only on top of Dolby's own format DD+. This will elevate a normal compressed 5.1 or 7.1 channel soundtrack into a Dolby Atmos experience.
The LG TV's are able to OUTPUT sound with Dolby Atmos metadata over ARC, but they are not able to PASS THROUGH Dolby Atmos. Reason for this is that ARC only supports lossy compressed audio formats like DD, DD+, DTS or PCM, but not lossless formats like TrueHD, DTS-HD, Dolby Atmos or DTS-X. This is a physical limitation of HDMI 2.0. The apps on the tv can be programmed to reprocess a true Dolby Atmos bitstream into a 5.1 or 7.1 DD+ format that includes the 3d metadata. ARC passthrough, however does just what it says. It passes sound from a receiving hdmi channel to the soundbar through ARC UNPROCESSED.
For this to work the tv just sends al the supported audio formats of ARC to the Apple TV in the HDMI handshake. The TV might say to the ATV that it supports DD+ with Dolby Atmos 3d Metadata, but i guess it just says no Dolby Atmos all together. Anyway, it wouldn't make any difference because the ATV won't output DD+ with 3D metadata because it can only output DD, PCM or true Dolby Atmos anyway.
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That is simply not true.
Atmos is defined for 2 audio codecs: DD+ (aka E-AC3, lossy) and TrueHD (lossless). Atmos stream in DD+ format passes current ARC nicely. I can demonstrate.
If you want to get Atmos on lossless codec, then you’d need to wait for eARC or run HDMI directly from blu-ray player to AVR/soundbar.
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What is the difference (as long as you pass Atmos through your TV, you must be using the same channel: HDMI ARC), and where does this information originate from?
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Well I don’t care if it’s lossless or not that’s too technical for me. I just want to have Atmos on my Apple TV and know what do I need to change or purchase in order to achieve that. My current set up is:
LG Super UHD TV SK7900PLA
LG SK8 Atmos enabled soundbar
Apple TV 4K
So, getting an AVR that supports Atmos and 4K HDR (HDR10, Dolby Vision) is the best option right? I connect everything to the AVR and then the AVR to the TV?
LG Super UHD TV SK7900PLA
LG SK8 Atmos enabled soundbar
Apple TV 4K
So, getting an AVR that supports Atmos and 4K HDR (HDR10, Dolby Vision) is the best option right? I connect everything to the AVR and then the AVR to the TV?
According to LG the SK8 is suppose to support 4k passthrough. Maybe check your manuals and see how you can enable this. Then just connect everything to your soundbar (TV and ATV).
Like i said earlier, after installing tvOS 12 public beta, i had the same problem that the ATV didn't seem to recognize that my receiver and TV both support Dolby Vision, it was solved by keeping the TV and the ATV on and shutting down the receiver temporarily before turning the receiver back on. In your case, try switching off the soundbar instead.
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Good question! I thought, and would be happy to be proved wrong, that it was linked to an HDCP requirement that a signal had to be decoded and re-encoded rather than passed right through if the intermediate device was capable of decoding. Is that for video only?
I have not a slightest idea!
In general, it only makes sense to provide Atmos decoding in the end device, which has capability to drive speakers.
Then again, the core functionality of Atmos is the adaptability - your TV might be able to produce 2.0 or 2.1 downmix from the stream, but your soundbar or AVR could do 5.1.2 or 7.2.4 or whatever.
In that sense, you need to be able to re-route your stream to next more capable decoder if you wish so.
I do not see the (technical) need to de- and re-encode in all the intermediary nodes, otherwise does AVR need to do the same for video streams it is passing up to display??
PS In the context of HDCP, the notion of coding may only refer to the encryption of the channel and not the signal content.
LG's got that wrong, SK8 does not support 4K passthrough. Yes, I tried to do as you did by turning off the soundbar but it still doesn't detect Atmos unless the Apple TV is directly connected to it.
What would be better, buy an AVR that supports Atmos+4K HDR or buy an LG TV with built-in Atmos support?
No, because the AVR has no ability to display the picture. If it could, then it would have to (I believe, but I'm starting to doubt myself now).
IMHO, buying a TV with Atmos support will not give you much benefit.
It would mean, your TV can decode Atmos, which is no joy, considering the speaker layout of a flatpanel TV set.
To pass through DD+ Atmos, nothing special is needed, my Sony Bravia does it already, because it does DD+ output to HDMI ARC. This only applies to internal apps, of course.
For aTV to understand that the sink it's connected to, supports Atmos, it needs to be declared in the sink's EDID. This part is missing in my current Bravia, but all my sources (except USB drive) connect to AVR anyway.
So, I have put all my bets on a AVR (no soundbar for me, thanks) with Atmos support. I have both aTV 4K and UHD bluray player connected to it and they all recognise Atmos capability and are able to play it back.
Granted, aTV with tvOS 12 with big reservations, because I can select Atmos in Audio options, but so far have not managed to hear any playback.
Sony Bravia's built-in video player can play back DD+ Atmos from USB or DLNA server, blu-ray player can play back both Atmos flavors from disc, USB and DLNA server (need to double-check the latter).
This website clearly states that it can.
https://www.lg.com/my/home-audio-systems/lg-SK8
You bought an LG product, so if LG says it can while it can't I would most certainly unbind the purchase agreement because of false advertisement and buy a different soundbar. However, i'm most certain that LG isn't lying about their products capabilities. There must be something going wrong in setup.
Did you check all the connections, and made sure that all HDMI cables are high speed cables that are HDMI 2.0 compatible? Also did you follow the manufacturers instructions to connect everything up?
If you connect the ATV to your TV directly and pass the sound to your soundbar over ARC, you must connect the soundbar to the HDMI out (arc) port of your tv and the HDMI IN port of the soundbar. But if you connect The ATV to the soundbar and only pass the 4k video stream to the TV, you must use the HDMI OUT port on the soundbar, and the HDMI IN (arc) port to connect the soundbar to your TV! Maybe that helps?
Perhaps there are differences in features depending on the country or region? Because 4K passthrough is nowhere to be found here on the SK8 soundbar and I did read the manual.
That’s exactly how I had everything connected and it didn’t work both ways.
Anyway, call me crazy, I purchased an LG SK8500 today that has built-in Atmos. Apple TV is connected directly to the LG TV and the soundbar to the LG TV through ARC. The Atmos option is now showing on Apple TV’s audio settings.
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Update:
Bravia's AndroidTV app rejects the file as "unsupported format".
Just checked, works as beautifully as playing back from disc : both Atmos tracks (TrueHD and DD+) can be selected and heard.
Bravia's AndroidTV app rejects the file as "unsupported format".
