2021 new gen Apple tv 4k Dolby Atmos Problems

[JLasher22443]

Have you watched a lot of Atmos shows on Apple tv +?

The only time I've heard any issues with the sound was when the latest season of See came out and it had an issue in the first episode. As far as everything I've watched say in the past month is Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry, Cherry, and the entire latest season of The Servant. No issues in either. AppleTV+ does not have tons of Atmos Content that I am interested in to be honest. Only other thing I'm wanting to watch is the Beastie Boys Story.

 

[Robert D]

The only time I've heard any issues with the sound was when the latest season of See came out and it had an issue in the first episode. As far as everything I've watched say in the past month is Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry, Cherry, and the entire latest season of The Servant. No issues in either. AppleTV+ does not have tons of Atmos Content that I am interested in to be honest. Only other thing I'm wanting to watch is the Beastie Boys Story.

Ok, but you did have the 1 incident. My occurrences are much lower than in Netflix too, but happened more than that.

When I watched all of the seasons of See it happened quite a bit. I also had it happen 1 or 2 times during the seasons of For All Mankind. It happened 3 times or so during the movie Finch, with Tom Hanks.

 

[JLasher22443]

Ok, but you did have the 1 incident. My occurrences are much lower than in Netflix too, but happened more than that.

When I watched all of the seasons of See it happened quite a bit. I also had it happen 1 or 2 times during the seasons of For All Mankind. It happened 3 times or so during the movie Finch, with Tom Hanks.

So the last incident I had on AppleTV+ was with season 2 of "See" and with one episode when it came out which I believe was many months ago. Would need to read back through this thread to find a date for sure on my report but I'm pretty sure that was in NOV 2021 which was the release of tvOS 15.1. And there have been 6 updates since that point for me being on BETA. Maybe those resolved the AppleTV+ issues but not the Netflix issues since I've not experienced one since? Who knows. Guess I could go back and try "See" Season 2 all over again but man would that be a waste of time for me.

Oh and I had no issues with Finch with my system.

 

[Robert D]

So the last incident I had on AppleTV+ was with season 2 of "See" and with one episode when it came out which I believe was many months ago. Would need to read back through this thread to find a date for sure on my report but I'm pretty sure that was in NOV 2021 which was the release of tvOS 15.1. And there have been 6 updates since that point for me being on BETA. Maybe those resolved the AppleTV+ issues but not the Netflix issues since I've not experienced one since? Who knows. Guess I could go back and try "See" Season 2 all over again but man would that be a waste of time for me.

Oh and I had no issues with Finch with my system.

Well, I really don't think the actual show matters. I think it's just a matter of watching enough hours of Atmos shows for the issue to arise. It's so random too. We watched the entire first season of For All Mankind with no problems. One season is 10 episodes, so nearly 10 hours. Then around episode 5 of season 2 it happened once or twice. Then no more.

Watching Finch, the problem happened only about 30 minutes into the movie. You just never know when it will strike.

 

[IraG]

Well, I really don't think the actual show matters. I think it's just a matter of watching enough hours of Atmos shows for the issue to arise. It's so random too. We watched the entire first season of For All Mankind with no problems. One season is 10 episodes, so nearly 10 hours. Then around episode 5 of season 2 it happened once or twice. Then no more.

Watching Finch, the problem happened only about 30 minutes into the movie. You just never know when it will strike.

See how long it takes for the 1st episode of 'Drive to Survive' on Netflix for the Atmos to start dropping out. I always suspected that the stream's characteristics were a factor, and that show always starts dropping out within about a minute for me.

I believe that shows with a more active Atmos track are more prone to the Atmos dropouts. Higher bandwidth video streams may also contribute to the problem. This goes beyond just whether or not the material is in 4K and DV, but also how much detail and motion are in the video. This can also vary between different streaming providers, as they can vary the bandwidth based on network conditions and their target compression rates.

Tying that into my belief that the problem is timing or other errors in the creation of the MAT 2.0 Atmos metadata, it would make sense that a busier Atmos track should experience more frequent Atmos issues. All speculation, but my best guess why some shows seem more prone to the Atmos problem than others, at least in my experience.

 

[Robert D]

See how long it takes for the 1st episode of 'Drive to Survive' on Netflix for the Atmos to start dropping out. I always suspected that the stream's characteristics were a factor, and that show always starts dropping out within about a minute for me.

I believe that shows with a more active Atmos track are more prone to the Atmos dropouts. Higher bandwidth video streams may also contribute to the problem. This goes beyond just whether or not the material is in 4K and DV, but also how much detail and motion are in the video. This can also vary between different streaming providers, as they can vary the bandwidth based on network conditions and their target compression rates.

Tying that into my belief that the problem is timing or other errors in the creation of the MAT 2.0 Atmos metadata, it would make sense that a busier Atmos track should experience more frequent Atmos issues. All speculation, but my best guess why some shows seem more prone to the Atmos problem than others, at least in my experience.

Ok, I need to put that show on and test it out. I watched some when it first came out but don't remember any problems. I got bored with it and didn't finish the episode. That's a good test I should run.

 

[JonFo]

Possible good news just spotted this article, looks like Netflix switched to the standard player. Might improve on the drops
Netflix Apple TV App Now Uses Redesigned tvOS 15 Video Player

 

[Robert D]

Possible good news just spotted this article, looks like Netflix switched to the standard player. Might improve on the drops
Netflix Apple TV App Now Uses Redesigned tvOS 15 Video Player

Somone on this thread posted about that too. I think they tested Netlfix with it and there was no difference at all in the problem. I will try to remember tonight to test out some on the Drive to Survive since it apparently seems to have a higher frequency of issues. I recently updated my player to the latest OS and updated manually all of the Apps. To update the apps you have to go into the app store and select it there. I had trouble finding that and had to look it up on the net. You have to maually go to each app in the store and hit update on each one, one at a time.

 

[IraG]

Possible good news just spotted this article, looks like Netflix switched to the standard player. Might improve on the drops
Netflix Apple TV App Now Uses Redesigned tvOS 15 Video Player

I had seen a few posts mentioning the new Netflix player this past week. I just checked and noted that I do have Netflix v2.1.23 mentioned in the article, as well as the latest tvOS 15.5 beta. I just tested it out with 'Drive to Survive' and got an Atmos dropout within the first minute, as usual. I then did a system restart and played it again and got through 10+ minutes without issue. A few days ago I had performed a system restart and still got the dropouts right away. This is promising, though it could just be the randomness of the problem. Time and further testing will tell.

 

[JonFo]

I then did a system reboot and played it again and got through 10+ minutes without issue. A few days ago I had performed a system reboot and still got the dropouts right away. This is promising, though it could just be the randomness of the problem. Time and further testing will tell.

Thanks, with the AppleTV it seems reboots, and sometimes, cold boots, are required to really ensure it is running the latest.
Kind of like Safari, the king of browser caching optimizations, making it bloody difficult to do iterative testing.

 

[msimanyi]

I updated my ATV apps a couple days ago, and Netflix has been sucking with the dropouts for me ever since.

So I moved to some other source material. Hopefully they get this figured out soon.

 

[Robert D]

I just tried Drive to Survive season 4 episode 1. The sound dropped out at 1:30 into it! After that it was in and out often. Just miserable.

I checked and discovered that the app wasn't updated, so I did that manually and started the episode again. It made it to 8 minutes before the sound dropped. This is the 1st Atmos show I've tested on Netflix since I updated my OS and apps. I sure pray that other shows aren't this bad.

IraG, I hope you're right about Drive to Survive being worse for the problem than others!

I'm back now to watching the latest season of Billions on Showtime. It's only 5.1.

 

[msimanyi]

Yep - Drive to Survive was the problem program for me as well, though I’m still of the opinion it’s eithper the Netflix app or ATV4k that’s the problem, not the content.

 

[Robert D]

Yep - Drive to Survive was the problem program for me as well, though I’m still of the opinion it’s eithper the Netflix app or ATV4k that’s the problem, not the content.

Well, I don't think it can be said that the problem is entirely the Netflix App because the sound also screws up on the Apple tv + service as well. Netflix does seem to have it a bit worse, because it happens more often on there. I must say though that when I watched the 1st season of See on Apple it was every bit as bad as Netflix.

 

[Flood9]

I just tried Drive to Survive season 4 episode 1. The sound dropped out at 1:30 into it! After that it was in and out often. Just miserable.

I checked and discovered that the app wasn't updated, so I did that manually and started the episode again. It made it to 8 minutes before the sound dropped. This is the 1st Atmos show I've tested on Netflix since I updated my OS and apps. I sure pray that other shows aren't this bad.

IraG, I hope you're right about Drive to Survive being worse for the problem than others!

I'm back now to watching the latest season of Billions on Showtime. It's only 5.1.

It’s weird because I tested this exact episode with 0 problem.

But unfortunately I finally got a prob yesterday with Another show, can’t remember which one.

 

[Robert D]

It’s weird because I tested this exact episode with 0 problem.

But unfortunately I finally got a prob yesterday with Another show, can’t remember which one.

Yeah, I'm not convinced that the material (show) really matters much. It is probably all random, but it does seem rather curious to me that I had audio dropout after watching the show in under 2 minutes. That's the first time I've ever had that happen. So who knows.

 

[JonFo]

I just tested mine out using Se. 4 Ep. 8 of DTS, and it took 10+ minutes in before I got the drop.
I verified on the latest OS (15.4.1) and the Netflix app was in the 'Recently updated' list. The UI is the Apple player UI, so it's current.

I hit pause to do some other things for 15 minutes, and when I restarted it, it was massively dropping twice a minute for a bit. This was when the show was doing rapid quick-cuts of the start of the race, and drops seem to align with those transitions. So possible the authoring of the show has some issues that make these drops more likely, but who knows.

 

[IEnjoyOLED]

Holy smokes! Are you still expecting Apple to fix this?

I’m in my 70‘s so I don’t have that kind of time. My Shield streamer and Roku don’t have this problem. I know it stinks to be taken advantage of, but I left the ATV4K in my rear view mirror long ago.

I do checkin periodically to see if it‘s safe to reinstall it. Good luck, but you do know the saying “fool me once . . .”

 

[Robert D]

I just tested mine out using Se. 4 Ep. 8 of DTS, and it took 10+ minutes in before I got the drop.
I verified on the latest OS (15.4.1) and the Netflix app was in the 'Recently updated' list. The UI is the Apple player UI, so it's current.

I hit pause to do some other things for 15 minutes, and when I restarted it, it was massively dropping twice a minute for a bit. This was when the show was doing rapid quick-cuts of the start of the race, and drops seem to align with those transitions. So possible the authoring of the show has some issues that make these drops more likely, but who knows.

Good information there. Wonder if that would help Apple any, and would they listen?

 

[Robert D]

Holy smokes! Are you still expecting Apple to fix this?

I’m in my 70‘s so I don’t have that kind of time. My Shield streamer and Roku don’t have this problem. I know it stinks to be taken advantage of, but I left the ATV4K in my rear view mirror long ago.

I do checkin periodically to see if it‘s safe to reinstall it. Good luck, but you do know the saying “fool me once . . .”

Others say that the Shield is buggy too. Do you have any problems with the Shield? Im just afraid to get another streamer and then end up hating that as much as I do the Apple. Im thinking about " the grass is always greener on the other side".

Is the Shield the one you use on your main home theater setup? I have an Amazon 4k on my secondary setup in the basement and it never had this problem, but when I was using it, it did not have Atmos on Netlfix. Not sure if they have added Atmos support yet for Netflix. That was more than 1 year ago.