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Contributor I
May 7, 2020

Arc/Atmos - TV support for passthrough from Apple 4k?

  • May 7, 2020
  • 129 replies
  • 32420 views

 I’m a little confused. I have an Apple 4K going into a TV that’s older than a few years. Will the Atmos sound from the TV be pushed through the TV via the eARC/eHDMI connection even though Atmos isn’t native to the TV itself?

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129 replies

Lyricist III
June 11, 2020

I have,

ATV → LG CX → ARC

I am getting Atmos

I am getting DD 5.1

What TV Sounds settings do you have? I’ve got HDMI input set to PCM. If HDMI input set to Bitstream it will only play DD 5.1 not Atmos. 
 

HDMI Input is set to bitstream

Digital sound out is set to Passthrough

If that doesn’t do it I would double check the settings on the Apple TV

Thanks, I have those settings on my TV but I only get sound when the ATV is set to DD 5.1. If I set it to auto I get no sound at all. 
 

what are you ATV settings?

Trending Lyricist I
June 11, 2020

 

 

Trending Lyricist I
June 11, 2020

I assume you have eArc turned on.

And just for clarity, we are talking about an Apple TV 4k box and not the app on the TV.

Lyricist III
June 11, 2020

Just copied all of the above and still no Atmos. 
 

yes AppleTV 4K

Trending Lyricist I
June 11, 2020

What content are you playing?

And are you seeing Atmos available in the audio format box?

Lyricist I
June 12, 2020

I can confirm the bad news.

HDMI ARC and apple tv 4 k . the apple tv does not recognize sonos arc aa an atmos device. Hence you will get only dd 5.1.

as mentioned before paying so much for a soundbar that is limited to hdmi ARC that the majority of 2019 and before tvs do not support passthrough atmos codec… makes it useless and futile… will return the bar shortly and recommend all the buyers to makensure either their tv support atmos passthrough or dont even think of buying Arc.

i have nu8000 tv apple

tv 4k setting needs to be bitstream imput and output will be automatically chosen to you DF 5.1 if you chose PCM you will get 2.0 stereo.

to confirm what audio signal you are getting go to sonos app settings about sustem and you will seee under arc the input signal coming from the tv… goodluck and goodbye sonos!

as

Lyricist III
June 12, 2020

Not from anything playing from AppleTV 4K. I only see Dolby Atmos when playing certain content in the LG TV Netflix app.

copied all the settings for both AppleTV and LG TV and all I get I’d Dolby 5.1

Lyricist III
June 12, 2020

 

 

Hi there, what FW is your LG running?

(also, why no Chroma 4:2:2?)

Lyricist III
June 12, 2020

 

 

Hi there, what FW is your LG running?

(also, why no Chroma 4:2:2?)

I’ve got the most up to date FW on TV (checked this out about 3 times) also had confirmation from LG that my TV is capable of LPCM passthrough. 
 

I get DD 5.1 passthrough from AppleTV when Audio Format is set to Auto with Atmos off. As soon as I enable Atmos on AppleTV it show Atmos Available but I get no sound at all. 
 

LG TV set up with eARC on and HDMI Input as Bitstream and Passthrough enabled. 
 

(Tried all different video settings in Apple TV and still no change to what happens with audio)

Lyricist III
June 12, 2020

 

 

Hi there, what FW is your LG running?

(also, why no Chroma 4:2:2?)

I’ve got the most up to date FW on TV (checked this out about 3 times) also had confirmation from LG that my TV is capable of LPCM passthrough. 
 

I get DD 5.1 passthrough from AppleTV when Audio Format is set to Auto with Atmos off. As soon as I enable Atmos on AppleTV it show Atmos Available but I get no sound at all. 
 

LG TV set up with eARC on and HDMI Input as Bitstream and Passthrough enabled. 
 

(Tried all different video settings in Apple TV and still no change to what happens with audio)

 

Odd that we’re seeing a mix of behaviour.

 

Like you, I get DD5.1 when ATV is on auto.

I also get Atmos working perfectly when that’s enabled on ATV.

However, with Atmos enabled on ATV any DD5.1 content is output via multi channel LPCM. since the latest LG update it now passes this straight through to the ARC. The ARC cannot process this yet, so I just get a left and right channel.

 

So, at the moment I have to toggle the audio setting on the ATV based on what I am about to watch!