SONOS Beam causing Amazon Prime Video to freeze on Apple TV

  • 4 August 2018
  • 9 replies
  • 588 views

  • Contributor I
  • 3 replies
Video on Amazon Prime via Apple TV keeps freezing when I use Sonos Beam. While the video freezes, the audio continues to play (using an optical audio cable). If I unhook Sonos and play through speakers, no freezing. I have updated Apple TV, router and made sure signal strength is good (router very close to Beam). Any suggestions other than ethernet cable? Would like to use the wireless feature the Beam if at all possible.

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9 replies

I’m confused. You have the Beam connected to your TV with an optical connector. How does that have any impact on the video stream from the AppleTV to your TV set via HDMI? It sounds like there’s an issue with the Apple TV’s connection to the internet in some fashion. Which, since your Beam is hard wired with an optical connection, it shouldn’t be impacting your WiFi in any significant manner. Unless I’m not understanding your setup properly.

Are you using the Amazon Prime app on the Apple TV? Or maybe using it on an iOS device and using AirPlay 2 to send it to your Apple TV?
My suspicion is that the wireless connectivity demand of the Beam is causing my Apple TV connectivity to diminish and thereby the freezing.
If my suspicion is correct, would love to know if I can turn off the wifi of the Beam and only use it as a speaker via optical cable.
Ah, I see. No, I don’t think the WiFi of the Beam would be doing anything, unless you were streaming music to it via the Sonos app. Since the optical input is active, there’s essentially nothing going on. And frankly, the bandwidth of an audio stream would be relatively insignificant in comparison to a video stream. But it’s not completely incoceivable, either. Why don’t you do a quick test by temporarily running an Ethernet cable to the Beam? If that caused the problem to stop, you’d know that the Beam would be the issue.

I’d probably want to wire the Ethernet to the AppleTV....since that’s where I think the issue is. But some simple testing could tell you, either way
Oh, one other thing. You probably don’t want your router closer than 3 feet to either the Beam or the Apple TV, due to potential interference possibilities.
Thank you.
Keep us posted, if you’d be so kind. There’s no guaranty that my suggestion are correct, there are just too many variables.
I got the same issue here. Beam connected to LG TV via Optical adapter (ARC doesn't work). Apple TV started by responding very slow on Iphone remote commands. Now it is completely frozen. Have rebooted phone and Apple TV twice. No joy so far.
That's odd. The optical connection is a one way signal, unlike the HDMI-ARC, so there's effectively no way that any signal can move from the Beam to the Apple TV.

The indication of slow response to iPhone commands indicates an issue with your local wifi environment. At the very least, I'd recommend a reboot of your router.

If that doesn't work, I'd recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of replicating this issue, and either post the number here, or contact Sonos to discuss it. There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.