TVOS 17 Poor Audio

[panjandrum]

Long story short (hopefully): TVOS 17 has reduced our audio quality to unacceptable levels.

We have a very simple configuration that has worked for about 10 years without issue through both older Apple TVs and Roku. It continued to work perfectly until TVOS 17 rendered the Apple TV unusable. When attempting to use the Apple TV, either to play media directly through an app, or when utilizing AirPlay, the audio quality now sounds like a massively compressed MP3 file; tinny and with massive distortion across all of the higher range. I have adjusted every audio setting on the Apple TV itself without anything improving.

Our configuration is as follows:

Apple TV 4K -> Projector (HDMI obviously) -> Analog Stereo (projector does this conversion). I have *definitively* narrowed this down to the Apple TV itself, and it definitively coincided with the update to TVOS 17.x. It is not cables, not the Projector, not the Amp, not the speakers. I can, for example, slot a ROKU right in the chain where the Apple TV currently sits and it all works perfectly.

I know others are having a smattering of audio issues with TV OS 17, which may or may not be related.

Anyone happen to know a solution to this?

EDIT: I should have mentioned that this installation is in an EDU environment, so the ability to work around an Apple bug by increasing complexity is off-the-table; it has to remain a simple installation.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

My advice: insert a good Receiver as middleman tech:

• AppleTV HDMI OUT to RECEIVER HDMI IN
• RECEIVER HDMI OUT to PROJECTOR HDMI IN.

The Receiver will then strip out the audio as good as AppleTV can deliver it instead of leaning on the Projector to then downgrade it to stereo.

My guess is that AppleTV is certainly sharing blame but it may be some audio security code in that conversion down to stereo at the projector. If you pass a "pure" HDMI audio signal to a new component like a Receiver it will then "own" the processing of the audio into something to play on whatever speakers you have.

Big Bonus: Mixing in a receiver would also facilitate adding some speakers now or over time so you can enhance the audio from stereo to surround sound. Projector is probably casting an incredible, big-screen picture... so give your ears incredible, big sound as almost all modern video intends. This would be a huge, noticeable upgrade vs. the stereo audio you've been using.

Else, you can wait & hope that Apple will eventually debug whatever is changed in 17 that is contributing or causing this problem. However, that could be a LONG wait since it's an unusual one affecting "only a small number of people."

Else #2: go Roku for now and check AppleTV from time to time when there are tvOS upgrades.

EDIT: with that additional info in OPs "edit", I suggest option "Else #2," periodically checking to see if whatever changed to cause this in tvOS 17 gets fixed in future updates. In an EDU environment, that is already a proven alternative and won't require a nickel of new spending. Pre "edit", I assumed this was a personal projector in a home theater... and thus Receiver would make great sense. With that key bit of clarity, just sub in that Roku which you already know will work fine.

 

[waw74]

have you tried a factory reset of the aTV?

do you have another TV where you could relocate the aTV temporarily to see how it works there?

As opposed to a full on receiver mentioned above, you can also get an HDMI audio extractor, there are several on amazon, I can't recommend any over the others, The should be in the $25-30 range. You may need to get an additional HDMI cable, and a 1/8" to RCA adapter, as the ones I've seen have a headphone jack for analog line out.
it's just a small box, and no real user input needed, so not adding complexity for the end users.

 

[priitv8]

I have not noticed any change in audio quality through the tvOS upgrades.
V17 has not reduced it a bit. Indeed, I have it connected directly to an AVR.

One setting still comes to my mind - is the “reduce loud sounds” active by any chance?