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


 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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Hi everyone.  I also bought the new LG 75NANO90UNA and Atmos does not work through Apple TV with Sonos Arc. I tried everything and then decided to check the forums..thought I had a bad TV.   Whew., I normally don’t use the apps that come with the tv but I read that Netflix app on LG TV supports ATMOS if you have the Ultra HD plan….I set it up and it works with the ARC.   So I am just going to disconnect the Apple TV 4K until Apple and Sonos fix this.   I have been an Apple and Sonos user for a long time and it is really getting old when they say it supports „this“ and it doesn’t.  Anyway I hope they correct soon.

The amazon app on it also works but the appletv+ does not support atmos yet but lg said they will update it on a future update but I suspect that’s going to be more like November rather than tomorrow. It’s all very frustrating especially when we have x all spent a lot of money to get something that should have been available immediately on all set top box and apps either on lg tv or ATV

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Does anyone know anything about how a Vizio 2018 P series TV (P55-F1) can play with Apple TV 4k and the Arc? I see lots of discussion about LG, but no one talking Vizio…

The Vizio supposedly supports Atmos via its built-in apps (Vudu, Netflix, etc), which I have not tested yet since I have never bothered with them before. But something is preventing compatibility with Apple TV 4k.

Despite best efforts, I cannot seem to get my new Arc to register as an Atmos compatible device with Apple TV... Apple TV does not show the “immersive audio” menu option at all. When playing what should be Atmos compatible 4K content from iTunes on Apple TV 4k, the Arc system settings shows the audio output it’s getting as Dolby Digital 5.1. Not sure if that’s DD+ or not.

As I understand it, ATV4k will only output LPCM, which Sonos can’t handle right now, so the Vizio TV must be recompressing the LPCM to Dolby? (Not sure if Vizio would passthrough LPCM anyway even if it was supported by Sonos?)

I see on this site https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/vizio/p-series-2018 that my TV should support “DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1 PASSTHROUGH VIA HDMI ARC” but I’m not sure if that’s DD+ or just plain old DD.

How do I know if the TV will support LPCM passthru from the Apple TV to the Arc, once that feature gets enabled?

Overall, backreading this thread is pretty depressing, because I realize how complex getting all this stuff to work together is, and how few people will actually have a supported scenario for Atmos, which is the whole reason I bought this soundbar. Tempted to return it and go back to my Beam.

Vizio, based on my discussion with them, will not pass anything other than Dolby Digital from an HDMI input, although some TVs can generate Dolby Digital Plus from internal apps. 

I won’t be purchasing another Vizio TV. I am thinking strongly about the device mentioned here until I can afford to replace the TV I purchased 12 months ago. 

I’m glad that i found this thread as I thought I was the only one having this issue. I have a nano90 and the Apple TV 4K. I also have all brand new 2.1 HDMI cables and whenever anything with atmos tries to play i get no sound at all. If it doesnt have atmos then it plays fine. I currently have atmos just turned off on the Apple TV. Are we sure though that once the ARC supports LPCM then we will have atmos support? My tv also supports atmos on the internal speakers and I tried playing things from the Apple TV with atmos and again got no audio. Meanwhile i played a blu ray and got atmos on the internal speakers. Has any one else tried this?

Same experience here with Apple TV via LG TV. Atmos content results in no sound on Arc or on the internal TV speakers.

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Vizio, based on my discussion with them, will not pass anything other than Dolby Digital from an HDMI input, although some TVs can generate Dolby Digital Plus from internal apps. 

I won’t be purchasing another Vizio TV. I am thinking strongly about the device mentioned here until I can afford to replace the TV I purchased 12 months ago. 

 

Tested the Vizio Smartcast built-in apps on my 2018 Vizio P55-F1 last night, and was able to get Atmos on the Arc by using the Vizio apps (e.g. Vudu, Netflix) to play Atmos content instead of the Apple TV.


Of course, these apps suck compared to the Apple TV interface…. but it’s hard to blame Sonos for the problem when multiple other companies (Apple, Vizio) are clearly being obstinate with their software and how it outputs to other devices. At the end of the day, it’s just software standing in the way. The hardware is capable. Ugh.

Many varying experiences here indeed. Reading through this thread while I was waiting for my preordered Sonos Arc to arrive made me really nervous that things just wouldn’t work at all. Luckily I’m happy to report otherwise for my particular setup. I have a LG C8 and ATV 4K (connected using ARC mind you, the C8 doesn’t have eARC) and I’m getting Atmos from Netflix and movies purchased from iTunes — which is what I care about. 

 

I thought I had to upgrade to the C9 that has eARC for things to work properly, and ordered it before the weekend since I found it at a sale for a great price. However, I’m unsure if I actually need it since things seems to be working fine with the C8 and ARC.

 

What’s weird though, and what I’m having a hard time understanding is that Apple undeniably states that atmos isn’t supported over arc in this article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204069

(“Apple TV 4K uses a high bandwidth form of Dolby Atmos that doesn’t work over ARC connections.”)

 

I mean, I’m definitely not complaining that it works for me! I just don’t completely understands the workings here and what’s really going on. As I see it there are 3 possible options:

  1. The article from Apple is outdated and they now support Atmos over ARC.
  2. The Sonos app is being tricked somehow into thinking that it's getting an Atmos signal, when it in fact isn’t.
  3. The LG C8 is doing some sort of voodoo magic to make it all just work.

No idea if any of the these are true, or if something else is going on. But for now I’ll just enjoy the content I guess :)

 

@batsabode

Are you able to get the Apple TV 4K to play Dolby Atmos through the internal LG 75NANO90UNA TV speaker?   I disconnected my Sonos Arc to see and all I can get is Dolby Digital on the internal speaker.     I could get Dolby Atmos with the Xbox One X on the internal speaker.

 

When I plug the same Apple TV 4K into my LG OLED55B7D I get Atmos On the internal speaker and also when I connected the Sonos Arc.

 

I am just wondering if this is a problem with the 75NANO or if it is related to the firmware.  I would expect we at least get Atmos on the internal speaker with the Apple TV 4K.    This is so frustrating.

 

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I tried getting atmos on the lg internal speakers and its exactly the same as going to the ARC Zero sound for any Atmos movie. I do keep hearing that some of the LG tv’s (generally OLED) seem to play Atmos both on the tv and relaying to ARC ,so it might also be a passthru software problem on the LG along with Sonos not accepting LPCM and coupled with the fact that Apple sends out a MAT signal. All in all too frustrating, I know it will get fixed but how will we all have to wait with our brand new over 3K systems

 

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If your TV does not have/support eARC passthrough there is a new solution! 

New Arcana device from HDFury solves the problem. https://hdfury.com/product/4k-arcana-18gbps/

Device separates out full audio up to Dolby Atmos over Dolby TrueHD from any external HDMI source and sends it to the Sonos Arc and passthrough full 4k video up to 18gbps!  They are accepting pre orders now.

Userlevel 4
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Apple says the Apple TV will not pass Atmos (even compressed to DD+) over HDMI Arc.  Apple requires eARC.  “Apple TV 4K uses a high bandwidth form of Dolby Atmos that doesn’t work over ARC connections.”  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204069


That’s a limitation Apple has imposed.

Userlevel 6
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Apple says the Apple TV will not pass Atmos (even compressed to DD+) over HDMI Arc.  Apple requires eARC.  “Apple TV 4K uses a high bandwidth form of Dolby Atmos that doesn’t work over ARC connections.”  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204069


That’s a limitation Apple has imposed.

Yep, which is why so many of us are eagerly awaiting the HD Fury Arcana to ship. It’s going to be the only real way for most of us TV users to get Dolby Atmos short of buying a new TV.  

Userlevel 4
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If your TV does not have/support eARC passthrough there is a new solution! 

New Arcana device from HDFury solves the problem. https://hdfury.com/product/4k-arcana-18gbps/

Device separates out full audio up to Dolby Atmos over Dolby TrueHD from any external HDMI source and sends it to the Sonos Arc and passthrough full 4k video up to 18gbps!  They are accepting pre orders now.

This seems like a product that will become a prerequisite for anyone who owns a TV without eARC and the Sonos Arc.  Ordered one!  Hope they are able to get it working and shipped!  if we can get Apple TV to take this, it would be a huge win.

Userlevel 4
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Apple says the Apple TV will not pass Atmos (even compressed to DD+) over HDMI Arc.  Apple requires eARC.  “Apple TV 4K uses a high bandwidth form of Dolby Atmos that doesn’t work over ARC connections.”  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204069


That’s a limitation Apple has imposed.

Yep, which is why so many of us are eagerly awaiting the HD Fury Arcana to ship. It’s going to be the only real way for most of us TV users to get Dolby Atmos short of buying a new TV.  

Agreed.  I already bought 1 new TV to get my Sonos Arc fully working (great excuse to get a new LG OLED!)...  Really don’t want to replace the other one, which is less than a year old...

I keep seeing people saying that Apple TV 4K only supports Dolby Atmos over eARC.  That is not completely correct.  

I and several others like me have a brand new 2020 model TVs with eARC.  Apple TV 4K doesn’t play sound over Sonos Arc, that means No Sound is coming because Apple TV 4K is transmitting it in LPCM, which Sonos Arc doesn’t support.  

Run a search on these forums and you will see the Moderator Ryan has confirmed Sonos is working on adding LPCM but have no ETA to share.   I have a new 2020 LG 75 Nano and the Sonos Arc bought together and the only way I get ATMOS is playing over the built in LG apps of Apple TV+, Netflix, Prime and Disney.  

You can still use Apple TV 4K but only in Dolby Digital 5.1, which means you need to turn off Atmos in the Apple TV 4K settings.    

Now I say at the beginning the you don’t necessarily need eARC.   I also have a 2017 LG OLED that supports Atmos.    I can take that same above Sonos ARC and same Apple TV 4K and I get Atmos over the Sonos Arc (no eARC on this TV).   You might ask what gives?    LG issued an update to their LPCM in newer models i.e., 2019, 2020 which I guess is the root of the LPCM issue, because the LG is, I guess again, no longer decoding the Apple TV and passing LPCM straight through to Sonos Arc, which does not support LPCM until a software fix becomes available (if).  

As to whether the Fury dongle which many are posting about works, I have no clue about and I don’t like adding another element in the mix.  For me I will abandon the Apple TV 4K and use the internal apps as mentioned which support Atmos.   Not my preference, but at least I get what I paid for in a new TV and new soundbar….Dolby Atmos.    I truly hope Sonos does the update as moderator Ryan states.

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I keep seeing people saying that Apple TV 4K only supports Dolby Atmos over eARC.  That is not completely correct.  

I and several others like me have a brand new 2020 model TVs with eARC.  Apple TV 4K doesn’t play sound over Sonos Arc, that means No Sound is coming because Apple TV 4K is transmitting it in LPCM, which Sonos Arc doesn’t support.  

Run a search on these forums and you will see the Moderator Ryan has confirmed Sonos is working on adding LPCM but have no ETA to share.   I have a new 2020 LG 75 Nano and the Sonos Arc bought together and the only way I get ATMOS is playing over the built in LG apps of Apple TV+, Netflix, Prime and Disney.  

You can still use Apple TV 4K but only in Dolby Digital 5.1, which means you need to turn off Atmos in the Apple TV 4K settings.    

Now I say at the beginning the you don’t necessarily need eARC.   I also have a 2017 LG OLED that supports Atmos.    I can take that same above Sonos ARC and same Apple TV 4K and I get Atmos over the Sonos Arc (no eARC on this TV).   You might ask what gives?    LG issued an update to their LPCM in newer models i.e., 2019, 2020 which I guess is the root of the LPCM issue, because the LG is, I guess again, no longer decoding the Apple TV and passing LPCM straight through to Sonos Arc, which does not support LPCM until a software fix becomes available (if).  

As to whether the Fury dongle which many are posting about works, I have no clue about and I don’t like adding another element in the mix.  For me I will abandon the Apple TV 4K and use the internal apps as mentioned which support Atmos.   Not my preference, but at least I get what I paid for in a new TV and new soundbar….Dolby Atmos.    I truly hope Sonos does the update as moderator Ryan states.

Do you get Atmos through Netflix on your OLED?  I understood Netflix Atmos was an Apple TV exclusive.  Not true?

Hi.  Yes I get Atmos with Netflix on my OLED via Apple TV 4K and on my LG Nano I get it on the built in Netflix app.

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I’ve read some rumors about it being dependent on the TV set too, some TVs will pass the Apple TV’s data, some won’t. I’m anxious to see if my Vizio’s will. And keeping my eye open on potential HDMI switches that will generate an eARC signal, so I can get TrueHD signals to the Arc.

 Take a peek at this….

https://hdfury.com/product/4k-arcana-18gbps/

I’ve read some rumors about it being dependent on the TV set too, some TVs will pass the Apple TV’s data, some won’t. I’m anxious to see if my Vizio’s will. And keeping my eye open on potential HDMI switches that will generate an eARC signal, so I can get TrueHD signals to the Arc.

 Take a peek at this….

https://hdfury.com/product/4k-arcana-18gbps/

I have pre-ordered one 👍

Userlevel 2
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Hi everyone.  I also bought the new LG 75NANO90UNA and Atmos does not work through Apple TV with Sonos Arc. I tried everything and then decided to check the forums..thought I had a bad TV.   Whew., I normally don’t use the apps that come with the tv but I read that Netflix app on LG TV supports ATMOS if you have the Ultra HD plan….I set it up and it works with the ARC.   So I am just going to disconnect the Apple TV 4K until Apple and Sonos fix this.   I have been an Apple and Sonos user for a long time and it is really getting old when they say it supports „this“ and it doesn’t.  Anyway I hope they correct soon.

From a network security standpoint, I would not. Connected TVs are just crap piece of software!!! 
i would rather watch movies in stereo mode with the ATV rather than compromising my whole network security by connecting the TV...

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Thanks!  I’d love to upgrade to the the Arc but was unsure of my potential benefits. My Beam is underpowered for the room and my Playbar is under-featured. 
 

Yes, my TV has HDMI-ARC but not eARC. 
 

With the Apple 4K, this will be an excellent addition then. Thanks for the reply. 

Personally I would settle for less features and stick with the Playbar. That’s what I’m doing. Having auditioned the Arc I think it’s disproportionately large and I’m less than convinced with the sound output. It sounds harsh and lacks the richness of the Playbar. 

Userlevel 2
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I love Sonos but this issue really annoys me and means there is no point me upgrading to the ARC. 

I wouldn't mind if,

1. They hadn't had the same issue with pass through from devices to TV to Beam and could have learned a lesson,

And

2. It is soooooo easy to fix, put an HDMI input on your sound bars! Did this never get discussed around the design table? It would solve so many issues in the sound delivery chain.

Userlevel 5
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Hello

I wish to connect my apple tv 4k to my LG CX that supports eARC 

 

I have not been following the audio issues people have had with apple tv 4k and Sonos ARC, as I generally just use the internal apps on the TV but would like to use apple app on the box to get the apple extras.

Will I have issues with audio?

What audio settings should i use, my TV is set to passthrough but on the apple box i’m not sure what to alter if need be. just need to be able to get atmos and 5.1

 

Thanks

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AUDIO and VIDEO...Change Format...Change Format set to on

@batsabode 

the update came last night for 2020 LG nanocells in Europe.  :-). version 03.11.10.  i have a 2020 75nano906 so my apple tv4k and dolby atmos works now with sonos arc...3 months after purchase.  i had been checking lg updates everyday since khaz22 reported the fix release in the US, which is 03.10.60 from 28 Aug.

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Thank someone told me to change the pass through to auto and everything started working after the last update guess they stagger updated between Europe and USA. Glad it’s all working finally