Apple TV 4K only fully functional with HDMI2.1?

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Apple TV 4K only fully functional with HDMI2.1?

Hi, I have a sound problem with my Apple TV 4k on a Samsung Q60 4K TV.

My devices: Apple TV 4k, Samsung Q60 4K TV, HDMI 2.0 cables.

The Apple TV is hooked up to HDMI1 on the TV. I have a Panasonic soundbar connected to HDMI2 (eARC) on the TV, but the issue is also present without soundbar.

In my actual TV app on the Apple TV to watch TV, I do not have sound when i zap through channels with very high image quality. Sound reappears if I specifically reload one of those channels, but zapping around it does not work. Channels with lower video quality have sound right away. Sometimes in the Netflix app, episodes also start without sound, reloading helps most of the times.

Workaround: I can fix the problem by changing the audio format setting in the Apple TV settings to "stereo", but sound quality gets worse and I do not want that. If I set the format to Dolby Digital 5.1, the problem reappears.

To me this seems like there is a bottleneck between the Apple TV and the 4K TV. I have high quality HDMI2.0 cables. Will I need a HDMI2.1 cable for high video and audio quality?

Thanks!

Apple TV 4K

Posted on Apr 9, 2022 4:41 AM

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Answer 1

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Urquhart1244

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142,884 points

Apr 10, 2022 4:37 AM in response to sfluck

It shouldn’t matter for audio if you use HDMI cables for 18 Gbps (HDMI 2.0) or 48 Gbps (HDMI 2.1). Both can handle all supported audio formats from the Apple TV box.

eARC has an upper limit of 36.8 Mbps throughput, thus the uncompressed audio will always be smaller than that. It is almost nothing compared to the video throughput (~8 Gbps for 4K HDR 60Hz 4:2:0).

HDMI bandwidth is not your issue.

Apple TV 4K (2017 model) has an HDMI 2.0 port, which means 48 Gbps cables wouldn’t have any benefit over 18 Gbps cables.

Apple TV 4K (2021 model} has an HDMI 2.1 port, and might benefit from 48 Gbps cables if the TV has an HDMI 2.1 port to connect to, too. There is no benefit in using 48 Gbps HDMI cables with TVs that have HDMI 2.0 ports.

It seems the Q60 has HDMI 2.0 ports, not HDMI 2.1 ports, if the online resource are correct.

The 2020 Q60 is listed as having eARC, unlike earlier models from the same series, which have regular ARC.

Some TVs may need their HDMI ports individually configured for supported features. See what is available in Settings on the TV and also see its manual.

TV HDMI ports may have different specifications within one model. HDMI-1 is most often the higher spec port on Samsungs.

It’s not about the HDMI cable, but I don’t know why you would have sound issues.

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