HomePod tvOS 18.2 and HomePods Stereo Pair

[garethjs]

So with tvos 18 and 18.1 had absolutely no issues with the HomePods and connecting the both of them to appletv 4K as output speakers.

Updated the appletv to 18.2 and had no issues (perhaps…)

Then updated the HomePods to 18.2 and they stalled and got stuck on updating.

Had to disconnect them from the appletv as output speakers and then they updated fine

Ok now the drama begins

With them as a stereo pair they connect to my router no issue. Reports temp and humidity and I can AirPlay no problem

But the minute I repair them to the appletv 4K as output speakerS they disconnect from the router

and whilst it cab output sound the volume is mismatched and jumps around constantly.

So I disconnected them again and separated the two thinking one was misbehaving.

I proceed to pair one with the tv and it would immediately disconnect from the router and have the same issue

In the past they would remain connected to the router even though it was paired to the tv

my network setup hasn’t changed at all as well

 

[srl7741]

I have a feeling your WiFi connection to those speakers in that area is weak. Have you looked into that possibility yet?

I have the original HP's stereo paired and the newest ones paired to a TV as sound out and they work great and had no issues during the updates.

 

[andrie.mayer]

Are you using apple tv 4k 1st gen?

 

[garethjs]

Nope. Gen 2.

So I separated them again and tried to isolate the issue

1. When paired together (2 x HomePods), they maintain wifi connection

2. When separated, both maintain wifi connection

3. When HomePod A is connected to the Apple TV, it works fine and maintains wifi connection

4. When HomePod B is connected to Apple TV, it disconnects from router

HomePod B also had problems updating to iOS 18.2 but but finally did.

Both HomePods are within 2 metres of each other and show up as strong signal within router stats.

Will be getting HomePod B swapped at the Apple Store

Funny how there was no issue with 18/18.1

 

[andrie.mayer]

Actually this exact problem already happening since os 17.x (forgot which version), but got fixed on both os 18 and 18.1…

However it is happening again on os 18.2, when this happens the apple tv connected to the homepod also often changing its ip address even though it is assigned a fixed ip address, so its like hoping back and forth thus the instability of the sound output…

Also since os 18 if you play songs on multiple selected homepods it will not sync the sound output properly after few songs…

So yeah dunno whats going on with apple lately, its like they’re having multiple firmware versions that are different from each other for their 18.x releases…

Any chance that you are also using unifi for you network?

 

[andrie.mayer]

Nope. Gen 2.

So I separated them again and tried to isolate the issue

1. When paired together (2 x HomePods), they maintain wifi connection

2. When separated, both maintain wifi connection

3. When HomePod A is connected to the Apple TV, it works fine and maintains wifi connection

4. When HomePod B is connected to Apple TV, it disconnects from router

HomePod B also had problems updating to iOS 18.2 but but finally did.

Both HomePods are within 2 metres of each other and show up as strong signal within router stats.

Will be getting HomePod B swapped at the Apple Store

Funny how there was no issue with 18/18.1

Oh and already tried mixing/changing other homepods too as i’ve got several homepods laying around to no avail..

Once i read before, the apple tv is creating its own ad hoc network hence the homepods connected through it not showing on the router client list, but yet still does not explain the instability/dropping out of sound output

 

[papbot]

So with tvos 18 and 18.1 had absolutely no issues with the HomePods and connecting the both of them to appletv 4K as output speakers.

Updated the appletv to 18.2 and had no issues (perhaps…)

Then updated the HomePods to 18.2 and they stalled and got stuck on updating.

Had to disconnect them from the appletv as output speakers and then they updated fine

Ok now the drama begins

With them as a stereo pair they connect to my router no issue. Reports temp and humidity and I can AirPlay no problem

But the minute I repair them to the appletv 4K as output speakerS they disconnect from the router

and whilst it cab output sound the volume is mismatched and jumps around constantly.

So I disconnected them again and separated the two thinking one was misbehaving.

I proceed to pair one with the tv and it would immediately disconnect from the router and have the same issue

In the past they would remain connected to the router even though it was paired to the tv

my network setup hasn’t changed at all as well

I just posted a thread about a similar issue. The one thing that jumps out at me is what you mentioned about volume being mismatched and jumping around. I have seen exactly that. I’m using my HomePods and Apple TV as the sound system for my tv. I set this up back in June when I replaced a soundbar. My main issue, which is very recent, is that the audio drops out intermittently in a stuttering or motorboating manner. By that I mean that the audio drops for a second, connects, drops, connects, over and over creating that stuttering effect. I initially thought it might be due to the feed that Verizon Fios, my cable service, gets from specific channels. But this occurs on multiple channels, and switching the sound output to my tv speakers doesn’t produce any such issue. Also playing content from the Apple TV, movies, Netflix, Disney+, etc. doesn’t have this issue.

And, as I believe you noted, the app for my router which has one screen showing all connected devices no longer shows the HomePods when it previously did. Occasionally I see one of them in the list but usually neither one is listed. This all is quite recent, as I said I first set this up back in June and had no such issues since that time until now. All devices are on 18.2, I don’t install betas on those devices. The link to my thread is below.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/anyone-using-homepods-as-tv-sound-system.2445575/

 

[Bazooka-joe]

I’m having the exact same problem. As soon as I pair up the HomePods and connect them to Apple TV, both HomePods lose the network connection and I get a message saying that the HomePods are on a different network to my phone. If I switch from using the HomePod as Apple speakers back to the TV speakers, the network connection comes back on both HomePods.
I’ve tried everything. I reset Apple TV reset the HomePods, did the network reset on my phone and iPad and reconnected them ensuring that the 5 GHz network was switched off on my router and they connect absolutely fine. It’s only when I connect them to Apple TV that I lose the network connection and the home app says that they’re on a different network to my phone which just isn’t the case. The other two HomePods in the house are absolutely fine.

 

[garethjs]

Bazooka I had the same issue with the not the on the same wifi network.

Since resetting the one HomePod with issues and returning it to apple... I'm not getting any more errors.

The replacement HomePod is meant to be arriving on Thursday.

Can u split them up and connect them individually to the Apple TV (as in not airplay but permanent output speaker) and see if the same behaviour happens to both HomePods.

As I mentioned, only 1 would disconnect from the router when it's connected to the Apple TV. The other one didn't.

This might not be a hardware issue. Could be a corrupted iOS 18.2 install but since they give us no way to restore them like we can with the minis, it needs to be physically replaced

 

[Bazooka-joe]

E

 

[Bazooka-joe]

Bazooka I had the same issue with the not the on the same wifi network.

Since resetting the one HomePod with issues and returning it to apple... I'm not getting any more errors.

The replacement HomePod is meant to be arriving on Thursday.

Can u split them up and connect them individually to the Apple TV (as in not airplay but permanent output speaker) and see if the same behaviour happens to both HomePods.

As I mentioned, only 1 would disconnect from the router when it's connected to the Apple TV. The other one didn't.

This might not be a hardware issue. Could be a corrupted iOS 18.2 install but since they give us no way to restore them like we can with the minis, it needs to be physically replaced

Hi, if I split them, there is not a problem. I also had problems installing 18.2 on those two HomePods so I’m wondering if it might be a corrupt install.
This issue has only been noticeable since installing 18.2

 

[Bazooka-joe]

So I think I’ve solved the problem with losing HomePods Wi-Fi connections and mismatches when linking to Apple TV. I changed the default hub from Apple TV to one of theHomePods and then switched it back and since then I’ve had no problems

 

[papbot]

So I think I’ve solved the problem with losing HomePods Wi-Fi connections and mismatches when linking to Apple TV. I changed the default hub from Apple TV to one of theHomePods and then switched it back and since then I’ve had no problems

Reading your post, I thought I’d give it a try since I was having the momentary repeating audio dropouts as well as the occasional sound jumping back and forth between the 2 HomePods. So I went into the Home app and unpaired the two, and like you, switched the hub to one of them. Then I paired the two again and changed the hub back to the ATV. I had to go into all settings, Home app, and on the ATV itself to re-establish the tv’s output to the ATV system. Once that was working again, I began watching a broadcast, and the problem was much worse - audio jumped back and forth, and those momentary drops which seem like stuttering.

Fortunately, after power cycling the ATV and pods, everything seems back to normal, but I’m waiting to hear the stuttering again. This really seems to have coincided with a recent software release; although the audio jumping between pods, I had not had for a while till this last maneuver in unpairing and hub switching.

I have noticed that the HomePods do not show up in my router’s app as connected devices although the ATV does. As mentioned above I assume that’s because the ATV is set as a network.

 

[papbot]

Not relevant to the audio drops/stuttering, but I was reading through a couple of forum posts from others that use the pods as a home theater system. I saw a number of people mention they’d extended the distance between pods greater than the 4 feet recommended by Apple for tv use. So out of curiosity, I placed mine about 7-8 feet to either side of the tv putting our couch essentially centered between them. I have to say that this creates a pretty good faux-surround sound effect. For a system that was about half the price of my old soundbar, that’s not bad. Haven’t had the stuttering occur in a while, but can’t imagine it won’t return at some point.

 

[papbot]

Well, 18.4, general release yesterday, brought all this back. Using the HomePod pair and the ATV device to play tv audio, the sound now drops out of one pod or the other, switching back and forth. The audio does not drop out, come back, drop out again, as it did with 18.2, creating a motorboat sound as it did back then. But the audio, while constant, will switch to one pod or the other. If I look at one pod, the light up top will be off, while it’s lit on the other one, then this switches back and forth. I have restarted all devices, and the issue continues. I noticed it immediately after 18.4 was installed and hoped a restart would clear it up. I’m quite frustrated as when this works, it makes for a very good home theater system, but every software release screws something up. I am completely fed up with them and will either just use the tv speakers or look at a reliable soundbar. This setup is not reliable in the least.

Previously, the motorboating issue did not seem to occur when just feeding ATV audio to the pods, or playing Music playlists. However now there is a serious issue when playing music, the sound again switches from one pod to the other. It doesn’t completely drop but the volume level significantly diminishes on one while elevated on the other. This will rotate back and forth. Are any of you now noticing an issue with the sound?