Apple TV 4 with tvOS 14.3 no longer able to passthrough AC3 Audio

Its not just homemade files. Movies purchased from the iTunes store also no longer play DD5.1 over Home Sharing in tvOS 14.

But yes, you’re right - technically the files should play ok even when they contain just the AC3 audio.

> At the moment Feedback Assistant shows to me that there are no other bug reports about this issue except mine.

Don't think that's true - I submitted that bug as well (FB8956457).

Please submit feedback using any means - the more the merrier!

It might be time to assume Apple either aren’t interested, or aren’t capable, of fixing this because they gain nothing from it:

• Similar to how they never fixed the issue where Apple Watch (since watchOS 6.1) can’t navigate and play your own saved music stored on your iPhone music by Artist or Album anymore and instead get “Cannot play this item”... but it works fine if you subscribe to Apple Music or purchase from Apple instead via the iTunes Store.

• Similar to how they never fixed an issue introduced in macOS Catalina where you couldn’t sync your own saved podcasts and some music with a two-year-old iPod Nano without losing artwork and sorting... but it works fine if you purchase an Apple iPod Touch.

• And now you can’t play surround sound from your own saved movies and shows on the latest Apple TV... but works fine if you subscribe to TV+ or purchase from Apple iTunes Store version of what you want to watch.

Hmm.. can we see a pattern here? 🤔

I tested this again. Netflix and Prime play DD5.1.

Computer App and the Surround Speaker Check App go down to stereo PCM. Probably other apps, too.

Unfortunately tvOS 14.4 Beta 2 still shows the same behaviour: no DD 5.1 for Home Sharing movies.

I’m pretty sure this was introduced in 14.3. Before I still had 5.1 via my TV and optical connected home stereo.

The bug is still present in tvOS 14.4 RC1 that was just released. 😞

May I ask, is Audio set to Dolby Digital 5.1? When confirming surround works?

Settings --> Video & Audio --> Audio Format --> Change Format --> On --> Dolby Digital 5.1

I wonder if Netflix and other streaming apps output 5.1 surround; it's very difficult to tell without a video like the one I posted in which each speaker is played individually.

Have you noticed that, while playing the Fraunhofer video in Home Sharing, there's a two to three second delay before audio begins?

There's also a two to three second sound delay when playing a Netflix movie and when using the Surround Speaker Check App.

Could this delay indicate that surround is being output as stereo?

I think so.

I don't think the Apple TV 4K is outputting any surround sound, from any app.

This might relate to the issue I’m having and posted separately on. I’m ripping some Blu-rays I own using makemkv and handbrake using a modified 1080p preset. Then streaming them via home sharing/computer app to Apple TV 4K. When I switch audio tracks to this stream everything freezes/crashes. I also can’t search through the video without it locking. I’ve tried to encode the 5.1 stream using AAC, 5.1, AC3 5.1 and DTS Passthrough. None work and in fact sometimes tracks don’t even show. I will submit feedback and wait fir it to be resolved, but in the meantime as I’m encoding stuff, can someone advise how I’m supposed to encode these 5.1 tracks. I think AAC Multichannel, 5.1 should work?

Or am I doing something wrong and I have a different issue?

thanks

Exactly what I'm experiencing.

Based on what you wrote, you seem to be doing nothing wrong.

Movies freeze. Crash.

No surround sound as demonstrated in this video.

The language menu disappears when trying to play movies with surround sound.

I encode in AC3.

Movies do not play surround sound when encoded in AAC.

I spent an hour or so with an Apple TV Specialist yesterday.

He had me submit diagnostic logs to help them solve the problem.

All the while the Specialist tapped into my iPhone's camera so he could see what problems I was experiencing.

Oh is that the developers feedback / bug reports? Yeah I don’t have access to that - only the public feedback. (I was enrolled in the beta programme though and reported it for every beta)

Maybe Apple just simply aren’t interested in fixing it as a priority since it’s a feature they don’t make any money from ;)

That’s a good point. although I’m not interested in any of the tvOS 14 features (and apart from supposedly getting 4K YouTube and the Fitness app, I’m not even sure what the other features are?) it’s only a matter of time before some Apps start requiring minimum v14 I guess.