Question

5.1 Surround sound from Apple TV with Netflix and iTunes

  • 1 April 2017
  • 5 replies
  • 8418 views

Hi all, I'm hoping someone can provide some clarity on settings and surround sound.

I've just set up a Sonos home theatre system as follows: Playbar connected to TV, a Samsung UA55ES7100M, with optical cable and TV settings to external speakers; Sub and 2 x Play 3's as surrounds.

I have an Apple TV (4th gen) connected to the TV via HDMI but only seem to be able to get stereo. When I set the Apple TV to Dolby Digital 5.1, under Audio and Video/Surround Sound, I get no sound when playing from iTunes movies or Netflix. Both play fine if Apple TV is set to Best Available Quality, but only in stereo.

With the above settings active, in the TV output settings I can select PCM when playing Netflix, and both PCM and Dolby Digital with iTunes movies, however no sound from the Sonos speakers regardless of the setting. With any other apps on the Apple TV I do get sound, but only the PCM option on the TV.

Is anyone able to confirm if this is an issue at the Apple TV end, or the TV not passing through the signal?

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5 replies

Never mind, looks like it's the TV.
Try using a different HDMI port, I've seen at least 1 TV (although I don't recall which) that would pass everything through on one HDMI port, but not on the other.

And no, for the life of me, I can't make any sense of that. Seems like it would be harder to have two different HDMI processing paths in a TV than just one.
Userlevel 5
Badge +11
Your TV is a SMART one. Why not use the Netflix app on your TV
Hi,

I have exactly same problem with my samsung tv. Were you able to resolve it?
Badge +3
Hi,

I have exactly same problem with my samsung tv. Were you able to resolve it?


I also have a Samsung TV and it will not passthrough DD5.1 via optical when it was received by HDMI.
With a Apple TV 3 you can use a Optical Switcher, so all your devices are connected to the switcher and one cable to the Playbar. If you have a Apple TV 4 (it dont have optical out) you need a HDMI switch with optical or a splitter with a optical output.