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I was having trouble with only getting stereo from my Apple TV into Sonos Beam (sub and 2 Symfonic bookshelf speakers for surround), connected to a Samsung frame (from Dec. 2023). I thought it was a problem with EARC, so I swapped out the Beam for Sonos Arc, connected the sub & surround speakers, and connected through optical.

after switching around with the settings within the appleTV and the Samsung, I was still getting only stereo sound on everything I played into the TV through the apple TV.

Then I tried playing Disney+ directly through the Samsung. Behold! Dolby 5.1 surround!

Then I realized that the only thing playing Dolby Atmos through the AppleTV was AppleTV+ content. Everything else was only playing in Stereo. Shame on you Apple! They better fix this soon.

​@RRrocket 
I have a Samsung TV with Apple TV and Sonos soundbar (with Symfonisk surrounds) and have no such sound issues. 

Ensure your Samsung’s audio output is set to Passthrough and not PCM.

If you still have issues, post your Samsung sound settings, and your Apple TV sound settings and I’ll take a look.

(Also, do you subscribe to the tier on each TV streaming service that entities you to receive Atmos? There is only one tier with Apple TV+, hence the Atmos. But Netflix and Disney+ have lower tiers with lower audio quality.)

the issue is not the subscription level. when I play Disney+ direct from TV into Ray through optical, I get 5.1, when I go through Apple TV4k it’s only stereo. everything else is the same.

 

​@RRrocket 

What about the rest of my post?

sorry for the slow response. I cannot locate a pass-through option on my TV - Sonos Frame 55”

apple tv info

apple tv connection info

Samsung tv info

 

switched from Ray to Beam so I could connect by EARC. same problems remain.

​@RRrocket 

On the TV, ‘Passthrough’ (which is crucial) should be found under:

Settings - Sound - Expert Settings - Digital Output Audio Format.

(Make sure you are connected to the soundbar by HDMI eARC with the ‘HDMI-eARC’ in the TV’s sound expert settings set to Auto.)

found that setting. don’t know why I had not seen it before. 

still having problems with some sites and not others … might be some strange connection issue. 

trying swapping out HDMI cables ...

You absolutely need high speed HDMI cables from Apple TV to the TV, and from eARC to the soundbar. Ideally HDMI 2.0, not 1.4.

found that setting. don’t know why I had not seen it before. 

still having problems with some sites and not others … might be some strange connection issue. 

trying swapping out HDMI cables ...

You stated you were getting Dolby Atmos from AppleTV with AppleTV+ so the HDMI cables are not the issue.

Good spot. Wasn’t going to read it all over again!

found the passthrough setting! still having some problems but that seemed to help!

Not all ‘shows’ are in Dolby Digital, or Atmos. Some are, at best, in stereo. Some might even be mono, if they’re old enough. 

found the passthrough setting! still having some problems but that seemed to help!

Turn it all off at the wall (TV, Sonos, ATV) and then turn it back on again and see if things help. Otherwise, state what problems (beyond ​@Airgetlam‘s point) and maybe we can assist.. 

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