I’m not sure if this is an Infuse issue, and Apple TV issue, or something else, but I feel like something isn’t right here.
I have Infuse installed on my Apple TV, running the HDMI through my receiver. I am sharing my media from a MacMini in another room.
Every time I play a new episode of a tv show, I get a brief “Seeking HDMI source” on my screen, and the screen goes black for about 30-40 seconds before returning to my selected episode.
All I can guess is that Infuse is sending some kind of signal whenever it plays a media file, somehow triggering the receiver to temporarily think it’s not connected to an HDMI input, before re-gaining its bearings and then everything is fine. But I really don’t have a clue as to what’s going on behind the scenes.
I should note that for the first week or two of using Infuse, things seemed to run perfectly without any change in the HDMI status.
Has anyone run into something like this before? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
This sounds like a delay when the Apple TV switches video output modes, to accommodate different content types.
Infuse can request a certain output mode, but the actual switching is done by the system.
If you want, you can try disabling the Match Content options in Settings > Video and Audio to see if this issue goes away. Keeping these on is generally recommended though, as it allows the video output to match the content which is being played for the best possible picture.
I’m pretty sure that’s the cause.
I have tried with and without match content and i totally agree with you because after the short blackout before and after paying the content on the TV or Projector the Apple TV matches the content of the original file instead of trying to transcode it to play it in the default selected mode.
<the result is really worth waiting for the short screen blackout in my opinion.
Thanks, James. This is definitely it, and I appreciate you pointing me to where the issue lies. I guess I’ll just have to decide whether or not it’s worth it to me to disable those settings.
I just tried turning those options off, and the problem is fixed. But now I have another question: What is different? I don’t notice a huge difference between what I’m watching when the “dynamic range” is maintained or not, and not even when the frame rate is [supposedly] being changed?
I tend to have a discerning eye for this kind of thing, and I can’t stand the “soap opera” effect that happens with typical motion smoothing on newer tvs. In this case, however, every bit of media I play looks just fine.
You say you definitely notice a difference when your AppleTV automatically switches frame rate and dynamic range? May I ask what kinds of differences you’re noticing, and what kind of media you’re checking against each other?
Well you won’t notice it if your TV or Projector does not support different standards like HDR or DolbyVision and also if the media you’re watching has the same standard.
I watch many different movies and when it’s an HDR one the TV has an HDR sign for a few seconds. If it’s DolbyVision, the DolbyVision sign appear briefly as well.
So basically the AppleTV is just passing the original signal the movie or TV serie it was encoded with.
Also, if the basic setting you use is, let’s say 4K SDR, the Apple TV reverts to it and the navigation is smoother.
Thera are many tutorials on Youtube explaing how to setup an Apple TV for the best watching experience.