2021 new gen Apple tv 4k Dolby Atmos Problems

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Robert D

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Anyone running IOS 16.2 yet? I see it was released on December 13th. I turned off automatic updates and usually wait to install updates. Wondering if anyone here has tested it.
 

Robert D

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Has anyone installed the latest OS update? I'm holding off for now. I'm still scared of things going wrong again with Atmos. Right now it's working flawlessly. I can't think of anything its lacking.
 
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Everything else but this dolby Atmos problem is top notch on the Apple tv in my opinion. Thats another reason I keep using it. If the whole thing stunk I would just throw it in the trash.

Maybe we can get a good number of Shield users on here reporting their feelings about the Shield. Is it overall as good as the Apple, worse, or better? Sounds like the Atmos works like it should on all of the major services that offer Atmos, even Netflix?
I’ve got both an Nvidia Shield Pro (2019) and for Xmas picked up an Apple TV 4K (2022). I have noticed that on some sites, particularly Apple TV+, the full Dolby TrueHD Atmos track is pushed while on the Shield you just get the DD+ Atmos track. So that’s a big plus for the ATV. I don’t remember now if it’s the same on other streaming sites, but does anytime else know? And does anyone know
Why it is that you don’t get the full Dolby TrueHD track on the Shield? I sometimes get the TrueHD signal when streaming Atmos movies through Kodi, but it’s definitely less frequent than the DD+ track.
 

user 49813

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I’ve got both an Nvidia Shield Pro (2019) and for Xmas picked up an Apple TV 4K (2022). I have noticed that on some sites, particularly Apple TV+, the full Dolby TrueHD Atmos track is pushed while on the Shield you just get the DD+ Atmos track. So that’s a big plus for the ATV. I don’t remember now if it’s the same on other streaming sites, but does anytime else know? And does anyone know
Why it is that you don’t get the full Dolby TrueHD track on the Shield? I sometimes get the TrueHD signal when streaming Atmos movies through Kodi, but it’s definitely less frequent than the DD+ track.
Wow that’s interesting. I didn’t think anyone streamed TrueHD w/Atmos. I know the ATV won’t even let Plex do it from a local server, but wouldn’t be surprised to learn Apple enabled it for their own service. Do you happen to recall any of the titles with which you witnessed this? I’m really curious and eager to check out.
 

Robert D

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Everyone's Atmos still working well after all of the additional updates Apple has done? Ive not had any problems so far. My problem is that I still watch material thats mostly dolby 5.1. I do get some Atmos from time to time.
 

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Everyone's Atmos still working well after all of the additional updates Apple has done?
Yes, been fine since the beta's of 16, zero glitches so far. And I watch / listen to a good bit of Atmos content.
It looks like they nailed this one.
 

Robert D

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Yes, been fine since the beta's of 16, zero glitches so far. And I watch / listen to a good bit of Atmos content.
It looks like they nailed this one.
Yes, I'm really happy now with my Apple tv. They redeemed themselves big time. It works nearly flawlessly now. The only issue I have is that every once in awhile I will get logged out of a premium account, such as Showime Anytime. Logging back in isn't too bad though.
 

Robert D

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Everything good with the latest Apple IOS update? I have yet to install it. I like to wait a bit and thought Id ask if anyone on here is running the latest one with no trouble.
 

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I have auto-update enabled, and all is good for me; always on the latest.
 

Robert D

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I have auto-update enabled, and all is good for me; always on the latest.
I've been cautious ever since I got some bad updates from Microsoft for my Windows. On my PCs I set them to not update for 1 month.
Does anyone have a clue what was wrong with the old Apple IOS that caused the problem with Dolby Atmos?
 

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Does anyone have a clue what was wrong with the old Apple IOS that caused the problem with Dolby Atmos?
My educated guess is that their approach of NOT passing a pure DD+ stream to the HDMI-connected devices is the root of the problem.
They decode the stream in the ATV to pull out and generate LPCM for the base channels in the DD+, and if there are Atmos stems in the stream, they park those to the side, and when they are now sending the audio out to the HDMI, they repackage the LPCM base channels plus the Atmos stems (if any) into a TrueHD stream, so that the LPCM is uncompressed. Then they flag it all as DD+ content.

My take is there was a timing bug related to that re-assembly pipeline, and adding the stems could get out of sync with the decoded LPCM. IIRC, the spec has a timecode embedded in the stems, and if they drift or drop, the decoders get confused and go silent.

Many, many opportunities in a pipeline that complex to have a temporal bug crop up.
 

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@Robert D I had one small but frustrating glitch last weekend, that could have been related to a firmware update on my processor. I lost the center channel on one single program that I had paused, and all my standard "fixes" didn't work. I played other shows. They had no loss of the center channel. I changed the processor's mode from Auto to Reference Stereo, played a few seconds, then returned to Auto. No fix. I restarted the AppleTV (actually, AppleTVX). Still no center channel (no dialog.) I restarted the processor and televsion - fully powered off, removed the power cords for a couple minutes, fired 'em back up. No joy.

Basically, I moved on to something else, and when I returned the next night and picked up the show again, it was working fine.

But... I don't know if that was an ATV(X) issue or a processor issue, and I suspect the latter more than the former.
 

Robert D

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@Robert D I had one small but frustrating glitch last weekend, that could have been related to a firmware update on my processor. I lost the center channel on one single program that I had paused, and all my standard "fixes" didn't work. I played other shows. They had no loss of the center channel. I changed the processor's mode from Auto to Reference Stereo, played a few seconds, then returned to Auto. No fix. I restarted the AppleTV (actually, AppleTVX). Still no center channel (no dialog.) I restarted the processor and televsion - fully powered off, removed the power cords for a couple minutes, fired 'em back up. No joy.

Basically, I moved on to something else, and when I returned the next night and picked up the show again, it was working fine.

But... I don't know if that was an ATV(X) issue or a processor issue, and I suspect the latter more than the former.
Problems like that are tough to figure out. Very strange indeed. I might wait a few more weeks before installing.
 

Robert D

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Lately I've been wrestling with trying to get the pc game Red Dead Redemption 2 working right. I finally figured out a work around that works for me. I get so tired of all of the bugs!
 

Robert D

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A NEW ISSUE I AM HAVING NOW WITH THE DEVICE

The volume is really low, lower than it used to be. It was already low, but now its worse. I had the line in +4 on my Marantz. Now thats not loud enough. I dont know whats up with this device. Anyone else notice this? It seem to be on all of the apps, but Showtime seems a bit worse.

Others are having it happen to them:



"I have a 4k/atmos receiver and an OLED tv. Turned off "reduced loud sounds" and every other setting that could interfere with output levels, but I still need to crank up the volume on my receiver to hear dialogue. (yes I increased the speaker level through AVR setup). Meanwhile when I watch apps directly from TV or even XBOX the sound output is like 10 times that of apple. I even had to turn down the center channel volume, because the voices were too loud."
Anyone know how to fix it, or work around it? Is there a new setting I am missing?
 
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