BUG: Infuse messes up audio in the Twitch app

I think I’ve found a weird bug. If I open up the Twitch app on the Apple TV after having used Infuse, the audio on Twitch is messed up: the volume is very low and sounds hollow, like it’s being played in a bucket. If I “clear” the Twitch app by swiping it off the screen or by restarting the Apple TV, normal audio quality is restored.

To be clear, this audio issue only occurs after using Infuse. If I use Plex or VLC first, Twitch’s audio playback remains normal. Also, the bug only occurs if I play 5-channel AC3 audio in Infuse; if I play stereo AAC, the bug doesn’t occur, as far as I can tell.

I have an ATV4 HD running the final version of tvOS 15 and the latest version of Infuse and Twitch.

Any reason not to be current on the tvOS? There have been many changes in tvOS regarding audio.

Yes, bugs. From what I’ve read, there are multiple irritating bugs with tvOS 16 including the remote disconnecting and interface annoyances. I tend to be conservative when it comes to upgrading operating systems from Apple. They tend to be bug-ridden until around version x.3 or so.

Also, this doesn’t appear to be an tvOS bug since it’s only triggered by Infuse and not other video players, unless Infuse leverages tvOS APIs that VLC and Plex don’t.

Infuse most likely uses APIs that VLC and Plex do not, so it’s very hard to make an Apples-to-Apples comparison.

Are you seeing audio issues with Infuse or any other apps besides Twitch? I would guess this is likely a bug the Twitch developers will need to address in their app.

Updating to tvOS 16 could also help, since that is what developers are spending the most time testing with (this probably includes Twitch).

No other apps are affected. It’s only Twitch. Interestingly though, if I launch YouTube after using Infuse and then switch to Twitch, the audio bug doesn’t occur. Likewise, if I first open Twitch after Infuse, the bug occurs, but then opening YouTube after Twitch seems to reset the audio and Twitch is fine.

So the issue only occurs with Twitch after using Infuse. And somehow, the YouTube app resets or fixes the audio issue with Twitch.

Are you sure this couldn’t be an Infuse bug or an Infuse bug AND a Twitch bug? Infuse appears to be doing something with audio that Twitch doesn’t like. And no other video player triggers this behaviour in Twitch.

The Twitch app on the tvOS is version 9.x, last updated in 2021. In comparison, the iOS version is up to version 14.x. I wonder if the Twitch app on tvOS has been abandoned.

Problem still exists after updating to tvOS 16.

And I tried a bunch of other apps (e.g., Tubi, Netflix, MrMC, Amazon Prime). It’s only Infuse that triggers this audio bug in Twitch. So I don’t know what Infuse is doing differently from all the other apps that it is able to affect Twitch like this.

Since this problem only appeared recently (last couple of months) and because Twitch hasn’t been updated since Aug 2021, I suspect that it is either an Infuse bug or behaviour that is responsible. It could be a tvOS bug that is present in both tvOS 15 and 16, but given that no other apps cause this behaviour, I still think that Infuse is most likely responsible.

@James I’m almost certain that the problem is Infuse. If I “clear” Infuse from memory (by swiping up on it) before launching and playing Twitch, the audio bug does not occur.

It seems as if Infuse is failing to “release” the audio or do some housekeeping when quitting. I don’t know what the correct term is.

On tvOS, are apps supposed to do some sort of housekeeping when they are quit? Something to do with clearing/resetting/releasing the audio? Maybe clearing a cache?

Because it seems as if something like that is happening with Infuse and its interaction with Twitch. Maybe Twitch is also supposed to do some housekeeping when it first launches and plays, but whatever the case, Infuse is leaving the audio in a state that causes problems for Twitch. No other app does this.

Also, as I mentioned, if I launch YouTube and briefly play a clip, it “clears” the audio for Twitch. But if I just launch and then quit YouTube without playing anything, the audio stays messed up for Twitch.

Does the problem still happen if you wait say 10 minutes between leaving Infuse and starting Twitch?

No, if I walk away from the ATV for 10 minutes or so and return, the audio bug does not occur.

After more testing, I found that if I wait more than 30 seconds–but definitely not less–the audio bug does not seem to occur.

The 30+ second gap suggests something is happening in the background. So is tvOS, after a delay, doing some housekeeping that Infuse should be doing, but isn’t, when it quits?

Just an FYI update: the Twitch app was recently updated with a major rewrite.

The audio bug triggered by Infuse is still happening, annoyingly. So I think this is still an Infuse issue and not a Twitch one. Launching YouTube or another app resets the audio to normal levels.

This is still happening and it’s gotten worse. After using Infuse, the audio in both Twitch and now YouTube is messed up. The audio in other apps is also affected.

The audio is no longer fixed after waiting a period of time or restarting or launching another app like Plex or Infuse. The only fix is to go into the System Settings and toggle the audio from Off/Auto to Stereo or AC5.1 and then back again.

Infuse is clearly doing something to the audio in my system that is breaking the audio in other apps. Maybe there is a conflict between Infuse and my Sony soundbar/receiver, if that’s even possible. Or perhaps it’s some sort of tvOS bug that Infuse is triggering.

Any other suggestions for troubleshooting this and narrowing it down?

Yeah this is a really annoying bug. After using Infuse audio output stays on 5.1 so that Twitch/Youtube Stereo will be upmixed which is odd. I need to start another app which resets the audio correctly to Stereo output.

So this only happens after using Infuse I guess Infuse is missing resetting the audio interface and I bet Apple demands this on its guidelines.

This bug is over a year old. Would be great if it could be fixed!!!

Which Apple TV model do you have?

Apple TV 4K 1. gen