Apple Broke Dolby Digital 5.1 Output on Apple TV 4K

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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..

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.

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).

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

@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.

I got back my 2017's 4k version, so here is the final verdict for the current situation. All devices are plugged on the exactly same cables (same HDMI, LAN and power cable), and I been checked it sequentially one by one with the exactly same contents. All of the Apple TV's audio settings was configured to "Change Format" enable with the "Dolby Digital 5.1" option.

Apple TV HD (2015; A1625/32GB, 18.0/22J357)

- netflix: 5.1 OK (tested with couple of movies where the Netflix displays the "5.1" logo)

- youtube: 5.1 OK

- vlc: 5.1 OK

Apple TV 4k (2017; A1842/64 GB, 18.0/22J357):

- netflix: stereo (some of the previously tested movies have a "spatial" logo instead of the previusly visible "5.1" (the others still displays "5.1"), but all plays back with stereo only)

- youtube: 5.1 OK

- vlc: 5.1 OK

Apple TV 4k (2022; A2843/128GB, 18.0/22J357):

- netflix: stereo (none of the previously tested movies had any "spatial" or "5.1" logo)

- youtube: stereo

- vlc: stereo

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.