Help get (more) Dolby Atmos on Apple TV

james · June 4, 2018, 6:29pm

Update 2/10/20: Infuse now supports Dolby Atmos when using E-AC3 audio tracks.

Dolby Atmos support has been announced at WWDC for tvOS 12!

Unfortunately, the current implementation is only useful for VOD services like iTunes, Netflix, and Vudu. Enabling Atmos for (most) local content is a change that needs to come from Apple, and as the old saying goes “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” So...we're asking you to be as squeaky as possible...within reason of course.

Ways you can help

Request a feature or enhancement through apple.com/feedback
Submit an suggestion bug report through bugreport.apple.com (developers only, see steps below)
Sign this petition
Encourage other people you know to do one of the above

A good template of the details to include with your request can be found below.

Dolby Atmos is now supported on Apple TV, which is great! However, the options provided for Atmos are rather limited and not very useful for those who wish to play their own local Atmos content.

Please allow tvOS applications (e.g., Infuse, Plex, DS Video, etc.) to provide more flexible audio options to their users either through the use of Dolby MAT v2.0 or full bitstream audio passthrough.

Devices like NVIDIA SHIELD, Dune 4K, and many other Android-based media players support this feature, and it would be fantastic if the Apple TV would as well.

Steps for filing a Radar

Log in to: bugreport.apple.com
Choose: Report a new bug
For product, select: tvOS + SDK -> AV Playback
Title: “Atmos Support for Playback from Local Network Sources”
Classification: Suggestion

munpip214 · June 4, 2018, 6:29pm

They didn’t mention if Apple TV 4th gen would support it.

Magenof · June 4, 2018, 6:30pm

woop woop!

Bjarne.aksdal · June 4, 2018, 6:32pm

Finally ? Waiting for this for a long time ??

Bjarne.aksdal · June 4, 2018, 6:35pm

So when do Infuse get updated to support Atmos? ?

mrrobotoplus · June 4, 2018, 6:57pm

Yeah!
Does this means passthrough is coming back?

baybora · June 4, 2018, 7:34pm

Yes, it is the question…

ShaGe · June 4, 2018, 7:40pm

Hopefully! But Atmos support might not mean that it works via passthrough. It could just be Atmos metadata with the DD+ audio and could just be limited to Netflix and the iTunes Store for movies. Hopefully not, though! Fingers crossed for passthrough up to TrueHD and DTS MA.

mrrobotoplus · June 4, 2018, 7:55pm

In other forums are saying that for Atmos passtrough is mandatory.

munpip214 · June 4, 2018, 7:58pm

Atmos requires an understanding of how your sound system is set up to figure out what sounds go to which speakers. I’m sure that apps like Infuse could technically decode it, but then passing it to receiver would result in 0 benefit over traditional PCM, non-atmos output.

cesarleeds · June 4, 2018, 8:24pm

James, if you are out there, besides Atmos, what else Apple is bringing on this tvos 12 that might be interesting for Infuse users?

james · June 4, 2018, 8:30pm

We’ll be digging into the 12.0 beta in the coming days to see what sort of useful things we can find.

However, at first glance it doesn’t appear as though Atmos is included in this first build.

cesarleeds · June 4, 2018, 8:34pm

Ok, great to hear.

We´ll be keeping an eye on that.

steven_h · June 4, 2018, 9:08pm

According to the WWDC blog Atmos will be a free software update.

Can. Not. Wait.

Joe_Lighty · June 4, 2018, 10:11pm

Yes, but as other have speculated, it would not be a surprise if Apple lock the Atmos ability to certain apps (e.g. iTunes, Netflix, etc)
Will have to keep our fingers crossed that that is NOT the case!

steven_h · June 4, 2018, 11:03pm

Totally! My biggest fear is that Atmos will only apply to iTunes Movies and won’t be open to 3rd party apps (like Netflix can on Xbox).
That would be very much like Apple to do.

pommygit · June 5, 2018, 1:20am

How does Apple do Dolby Vision now? I would not be surprised if they did the same thing with Dolby Atmos… their content or blessed apps only.

OfficialHoSay · June 5, 2018, 1:39am

Currently, Dolby Vision is available for developers to implement in their video apps, it’s just that it only applies to single-layer Dolby Vision, which is a very uncommon type of video and there isn’t content available in that format currently (outside of iTunes).

It seems that Atmos will also be available to developers as the introductory text for tvOS 12 on Apple’s Dev Portal says “Your tvOS apps can deliver amazing experiences […] and immersive sound through Dolby Atmos.”

But it seems Atmos is not implemented on the first beta, according to James; so we’ll have to wait until beta 2 hopefully.

EDIT: Also, Apple is to provide more information on implementing the new tvOS 12 APIs and technologies in a Session hosted tomorrow at WWDC, so that’ll be useful.

steven_h · June 5, 2018, 2:28am

It seems that Atmos will also be available to developers as the introductory text for tvOS 12 on Apple’s Dev Portal says “Your tvOS apps can deliver amazing experiences […] and immersive sound through Dolby Atmos.”

EDIT: Also, Apple is to provide more information on implementing the new tvOS 12 APIs and technologies in a Session hosted tomorrow at WWDC, so that’ll be useful.

I will be sooooo hanging out for this confirmation tomorrow. FINGERS CROSSED

IMWhizzle · June 5, 2018, 6:02am

This news makes me so happy, the perfect player as it seems. Please keep us informed.

Now only the implementation of resolution matching so the tv can do the upscaling.