Apple Broke Dolby Digital 5.1 Output on Apple TV 4K

Question

Level 2

371 points

Apple Broke Dolby Digital 5.1 Output on Apple TV 4K

Not sure why nobody else is mentioning this, but figured I'd post to help others. One of these last few tvOS updates has completely broken Dolby Digital output (on Apple TV 4K, it seems).

I have a 2nd gen 4K model that had been fine until a recent update. I change the audio output in Settings to force Dolby Digital 5.1 for my speakers (Logitech Z906), but this suddenly no longer works! My speakers do not light the proper "Decode" light to indicate a true 5.1 signal, and the voices clearly come from left and right channels instead of just the center.

This was easy to confirm. I purchased a brand new 3rd gen Apple TV 4K (128GB) and it shipped with tvOS 17.1. I configured the audio output to force DD 5.1 and tested a movie... and everything worked perfectly. The "Decode" light indicated a 5.1 signal and voices, etc, clearly only came through the center channel. Then I upgraded to tvOS 17.4 and immediately tested the same movie, and it's broken! Nothing else changed.

Strangely enough, I have an old 1080p Apple TV running tvOS 17.4 (latest) and it still outputs Dolby Digital just fine.

I have provided this information to AppleCare as well as Apple.com/feedback. Kind of a ridiculous bug to go unpatched still. Hopefully someone will notice while we all sit here with broken audio.

Posted on May 7, 2024 10:30 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Mcshoes

Level 1

38 points

Sep 16, 2024 10:59 PM in response to Payton Garner

updated to TvOS 18 and 5.1 is broken. Apple TV connected to TV Samsung KS8000. HDMI ARC to Yamaha receiver. Only detects stereo. Please fix asap.

Reply

Answer 2

Sep 17, 2024 12:06 AM in response to Payton Garner

5.1 does not work anymore, if I put automatic and dolby atmos in audio settings and dolby atoms is available is showing 5.1, but if movie has only 5.1 the audio show only Stereo PCM.

My setup is ATV 4k 1st gen TVOS 18 LG 55 Evo, SONOS system. This is really annoying. Please Apple fix it.

Reply

Answer 3

Sep 20, 2024 2:43 PM in response to Payton Garner

Sept 20th, 2024,

I spoke to a Apple Senior Tech who advised me they were not aware of this situation. I gave as much detailed info as possible based on the conversations left on here. The AST said he would touch base with me in 24hrs with any follow up. Please standby.

Sadly that is all I can say for now.

Reply

Answer 4

Sep 18, 2024 12:31 PM in response to Payton Garner

I have spoke with an Apple Rep last night (Sept17/24) and will be formally contacted by a Tech on Friday to help resolve this matter. Will update once I know more.

Reply

Answer 5

Sep 18, 2024 1:08 AM in response to Payton Garner

Just chiming in to say I've just updated my ATV 4k 1st Gen to 18.0 and like others, I've lost 5.1 DD. Connection HDMI (eARC) to LG c1 to LG soundbar. Atmos is fine but everything else seems to be in 2.0 I've tried different settings combinations on the ATV and the TV but nothing changes. All other connected devices, Sky Stream box, 4k player, Human Aura PVR are fine. Not had chance to check onboard apps yet.

Fingers crossed Apple get their act together. Although I'm not holding my breath.

Reply

Answer 6

Sep 19, 2024 6:04 AM in response to Payton Garner

I urge everyone to submit a bug report to Apple so that this problem gets more visibility using this link: Feedback - Apple TV - Apple

Thanks!

Reply

Answer 7

Windh

Level 1

104 points

Sep 29, 2024 7:28 AM in response to Payton Garner

Update:

Just got off the phone with Apple TV Support. The guy confirmed the issue and said he had around a dozen calls on the issue just today.

According to him the engineers are working on it (although not on weekends.... ) and he was thanking me (us!) for our patience...

If nothing happens this week then we all just need to be on them like leeches until they fix it..

Reply

Answer 8

Edwy7580

Level 1

38 points

Sep 27, 2024 5:09 PM in response to IUserGlobal

I think i found a work around. I have apple tv hd (not 4k) but maybe works for others. I have my apple tv hooked to the tv via hdmi and from the tv to the home theater receiver via spdif optical cable. I also have a homepod mini. So i click on the apple remote top corner to get the audio options and temporarily switch output to the homepod mini, then switch to multispeakers both homepod and tv speakers (spdif) and finally switch back to ONLY tv speakers spdif. This seems to cause apple tv to “reset” the audio signal and my theater receiver then gets dolby 5.1 normal as it used to. Tried it yesterday and today and seems to work everytime i cycle outputs as described above.

Reply

Answer 9

Payton Garner Author

Level 2

371 points

Sep 19, 2024 9:18 AM in response to IUserGlobal

Keep us posted.

Apple will likely never see anything here, but the comments and activity on this forum can’t hurt. My email notifications tell me this thread has been viewed like 2,000 times, so obviously we’re not alone (by a lot).

The problem for me originated around tvOS 17.2 or 17.3. I purchased a brand new Apple TV 4K with 17.1 to and it output 5.1 as expected. I think a lot of people are just now noticing with tvOS 18.

Call AppleCare and give feedback here:

Feedback - Apple TV - Apple

Reply

Answer 10

Payton Garner Author

Level 2

371 points

May 22, 2024 11:22 PM in response to Karan0033uc

Yep, all other sources connected to the my LG CX 4K output Dolby 5.1 just fine. Even the apps installed directly on the LG WebOS TV output 5.1 fine, including Apple's own TV app! Apple just broke this with some tvOS update.

tvOS 17.5.1 is out. Still NO FIX.

Reply

Answer 11

Sep 17, 2024 8:05 AM in response to Payton Garner

Hi all, I just noticed that Dolby Digital 5.1 output has been broken in one of the latest tvOS updates. I used to be able to output DD5.1 without a problem (my AVR displayed Dolby Digital on the LCD screen and I was able to hear multichannel from all the apps). Now it doesn't work anymore no matter what I do (and I've tried everything). Interestingly, when I use this video https://youtu.be/21bPE0BJdOA my AVR displays Dolby Digital and I can hear all the channels fine. But every other app I tried doesn't work anymore which is VERY annoying. Hoping Apple will be able to fix this issue (not resolved in tvOS 18.0 which I installed yesterday).

Reply

Answer 12

Sep 20, 2024 1:29 AM in response to ricardoalejandrodawson

I just spoke to an Apple Rep and submitted a bug report to the above link. Now waiting for their reply.

Reply

Answer 13

Sep 19, 2024 11:04 PM in response to Payton Garner

@Payton Garner, I've just tried that video. Playing it from the You Tube app on my Apple TV and it's in 5.1, and the soundbar reports Dolby Audio. Switch to an iTunes movie labelled with DD5.1 and it reverts to PCM2.0. No change to settings on either TV, Apple TV or Soundbar. This is so frustrating but to a layman like me, it all points to a software / ATV bug on Apple's side, especially as everything else, 4K blu, TV on board apps are all working. The only change has been the tvOS update so in my case at least, it's got to be that.

Reply

Answer 14

goto206

Level 1

32 points

Sep 20, 2024 10:50 AM in response to MesserGalileo

The first post in this thread is about Apple TV 4K 2nd gen. There is also a post about third gen which is also affected.

Reply

Answer 15

Aug 31, 2024 5:42 PM in response to Payton Garner

Mine stopped switching yesterday. It only output 2 ch PCM. Doesn’t matter whether the ATV 4k is attached directly to the TV with eARC or attached to my receiver. Other devices work just fine. TV is sending full digital signal back to the receiver.

Only Apple TV is stuck in stereo.

Reply