True HD Atmos as PCM Stereo instead of Multichannel after 7.4.9 update

Platforms Apple TV
1

After the latest 7.4.9 update there is an audio bug on my Apple 4K 2022.

Videos with Dolby True HD Atmos 7.1 audio are passed as Stereo PCM instead of Multichannel PCM.

A quick walk-around is to switch Atmos off/on in Apple TV settings or toggle different audio track in Infuse Player (eg. Dolby Digital 5.1).

Let me known if you experience a similar issue?

My setup is

  • Infuse Player running on Apple TV 4K (2022) with direct play from Plex Server
  • Samsung S95b TV connected via eARC to Samsung Q990b 11.1.4 surround.
2

It may help if you run one of the files that exhibits this behavior through mediainfo and post the results here.

3

Here you go:

General
Unique ID : 216876055993614740952251484147727959425 (0xA328CF1DA152F8725470F6C9CC578581)
Complete name : /Volumes/Movies/Movies/Amsterdam.2022.2160p.UHD.BluRay.DV.HDR10.TrueHD.Atmos.7.1.x265-BiTOR/Amsterdam 2022 2160p UHD BluRay DV HDR10 TrueHD Atmos 7.1 x265-BiTOR.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4
File size : 22.0 GiB
Duration : 2 h 14 min
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 23.5 Mb/s
Movie name : Amsterdam (2022) 4K DV
Encoded date : UTC 2022-12-07 20:52:08
Writing application : mkvmerge v71.1.0 (ā€˜Fortitudeā€™) 64-bit
Writing library : libebml v1.4.4 + libmatroska v1.7.1
Attachments : UHD DV HDR10 x265 [SASUKE~BiTOR]

Video
ID : 1
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile : Main 10@L5.1@High
HDR format : Dolby Vision, Version 1.0, dvhe.08.06, BL+RPU, HDR10 compatible / SMPTE ST 2086, HDR10 compatible
Codec ID : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration : 2 h 14 min
Bit rate : 18.3 Mb/s
Width : 3 840 pixels
Height : 1 608 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bit depth : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.124
Stream size : 17.2 GiB (78%)
Title : SASUKE~BiTOR
Writing library : x265 3.5+37+12-4e46995bc:[Windows][MSVC 1931][64 bit] 10bit
Encoding settings : cpuid=1111039 / frame-threads=5 / numa-pools=32 / wpp / no-pmode / no-pme / no-psnr / no-ssim / log-level=2 / input-csp=1 / input-res=3840x1608 / interlace=0 / total-frames=193129 / level-idc=51 / high-tier=1 / uhd-bd=0 / ref=4 / no-allow-non-conformance / repeat-headers / annexb / aud / no-eob / no-eos / hrd / info / hash=0 / no-temporal-layers / no-open-gop / min-keyint=23 / keyint=250 / gop-lookahead=0 / bframes=10 / b-adapt=2 / b-pyramid / bframe-bias=0 / rc-lookahead=25 / lookahead-slices=4 / scenecut=0 / hist-scenecut / traditional-scenecut / radl=0 / no-splice / no-intra-refresh / ctu=64 / min-cu-size=8 / no-rect / no-amp / max-tu-size=32 / tu-inter-depth=1 / tu-intra-depth=1 / limit-tu=0 / rdoq-level=1 / dynamic-rd=0.00 / no-ssim-rd / signhide / no-tskip / nr-intra=0 / nr-inter=0 / no-constrained-intra / strong-intra-smoothing / max-merge=3 / limit-refs=3 / no-limit-modes / me=3 / subme=3 / merange=57 / temporal-mvp / no-frame-dup / no-hme / weightp / weightb / no-analyze-src-pics / deblock=-3:-3 / no-sao / no-sao-non-deblock / rd=4 / selective-sao=0 / no-early-skip / rskip / no-fast-intra / no-tskip-fast / no-cu-lossless / no-b-intra / no-splitrd-skip / rdpenalty=0 / psy-rd=1.30 / psy-rdoq=3.00 / no-rd-refine / no-lossless / cbqpoffs=-2 / crqpoffs=-2 / rc=crf / crf=16.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpstep=4 / stats-write=0 / stats-read=0 / vbv-maxrate=19000 / vbv-bufsize=50000 / vbv-init=0.9 / min-vbv-fullness=50.0 / max-vbv-fullness=80.0 / crf-max=0.0 / crf-min=0.0 / ipratio=1.20 / pbratio=1.10 / aq-mode=3 / aq-strength=0.80 / aq-bias-strength=0.80 / no-cutree / zone-count=0 / no-strict-cbr / qg-size=16 / no-rc-grain / qpmax=69 / qpmin=0 / no-const-vbv / sar=0 / overscan=0 / videoformat=5 / range=0 / colorprim=9 / transfer=16 / colormatrix=9 / chromaloc=1 / chromaloc-top=2 / chromaloc-bottom=2 / display-window=0 / master-display=G(8500,39850)B(6550,2300)R(35400,14600)WP(15635,16450)L(10000000,50) / cll=0,0 / min-luma=0 / max-luma=1023 / log2-max-poc-lsb=8 / vui-timing-info / vui-hrd-info / slices=1 / no-opt-qp-pps / no-opt-ref-list-length-pps / no-multi-pass-opt-rps / scenecut-bias=0.00 / hist-threshold=0.03 / no-opt-cu-delta-qp / no-aq-motion / hdr10 / no-hdr10-opt / no-dhdr10-opt / no-idr-recovery-sei / analysis-reuse-level=0 / analysis-save-reuse-level=0 / analysis-load-reuse-level=0 / scale-factor=0 / refine-intra=0 / refine-inter=0 / refine-mv=1 / refine-ctu-distortion=0 / no-limit-sao / ctu-info=0 / no-lowpass-dct / refine-analysis-type=0 / copy-pic=1 / max-ausize-factor=1.0 / no-dynamic-refine / no-single-sei / no-hevc-aq / no-svt / no-field / qp-adaptation-range=1.00 / scenecut-aware-qp=0conformance-window-offsets / right=0 / bottom=0 / decoder-max-rate=0 / no-vbv-live-multi-pass
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.2020
Transfer characteristics : PQ
Matrix coefficients : BT.2020 non-constant
Mastering display color primaries : BT.2020
Mastering display luminance : min: 0.0050 cd/m2, max: 1000 cd/m2

Audio #1
ID : 2
Format : MLP FBA 16-ch
Format/Info : Meridian Lossless Packing FBA with 16-channel presentation
Commercial name : Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos
Codec ID : A_TRUEHD
Duration : 2 h 14 min
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 3 845 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 6 354 kb/s
Channel(s) : 8 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs Lb Rb
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 1 200.000 FPS (40 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 3.61 GiB (16%)
Title : TrueHD Atmos 7.1
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Number of dynamic objects : 13
Bed channel count : 1 channel
Bed channel configuration : LFE

Audio #2
ID : 3
Format : E-AC-3
Format/Info : Enhanced AC-3
Commercial name : Dolby Digital Plus
Codec ID : A_EAC3
Duration : 2 h 14 min
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 024 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 62.500 FPS (768 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 983 MiB (4%)
Title : DDP 5.1
Language : English
Service kind : Complete Main
Default : No
Forced : No

4

I havenā€™t been able to replicate this here.

Can you try restarting the Apple TV to see if this helps?

tvOS 16.2 should be out this week which could also help with device detection.

5

Thanks. The restart didnā€™t help. But will report back once TV OS is updated.

6

Unfortunately no improvement after 16.2 toOS update. Same behaviour THD drops to Stereo PCM instead Multichannel PCM. Same behaviour experienced in Plex Player for ATV4K.

7

If itā€™s happening in other apps, you may try resetting the Video settings in Settings > Video and Audio to see if that helps. Restoring the Apple TV is also an option, but would require some work to set things back up.

8

Having this same issue any fixes yet? Atmos works on Netflix and D+

9

I think this is a TV issue specific to Samsung and eARC. See here: S95B OLED sends Stereo PCM instead of Multichannel... - Samsung Community - 2465192

2 Likes
10

Itā€™s not specific to Samsung when it comes to this problem. I have posted a recent thread as Iā€™m still having the issue after a year. My TV is a Sony, and no ARC, or eARC. Direct HDMI connection.

Also, the steps in the first post also work for me to restore surround.

11

Hey all, Iā€™m reporting an issue with Infuse that still exists.

Symptoms: Dolby TrueHD w Atmos tracks are played as stereo If Atmos is enabled in Apple TV system settings video and audio.

Resolution Disable Atmos in Apple TV system settings to have TrueHD / Atmos tracks play in surround in, Infuse.

Resolution #2 Select another audio track in Infuse settings for the file playing to get surround.

Movie Tested ā€œPixelsā€ from Sony Pictures. Default track is DolbyTrueHD 7.1, have to select the standard DD 5.1 track to get surround, or disable Atmos in system settings to get the TrueHD track to play in surround.

Please look into this to see if there is a way that infuse can at least play the lossless surround without the above workarounds needed.

Thanks

Setup details

43" 2016 Sony TV with HDR10/HLG
2021 4K Apple TV
Infuse (7.4.10)
Vizio M Series Sound bar that does DTS:X and Atmos, as well as all other lossless and compressed formats including multi channel PCM.
TVOS (16.3.2)

12

There is a recent thread regarding this that may have some additional ideas that you can try.

Also, you may want to specific the version numbers for both Infuse and tvOS since both have had multiple recent releases.

13

I have updated my info as suggested, also will look at that other thread. Just wanted to add feedback that this problem was around about a year ago, and still present for me.

1 Like
14

I went ahead and combined your post with this thread so we can keep things together. Iā€™m sure @james will review this when he gets a chance.

Thanks for the additional info. :+1:

16

Youā€™re welcome. Since I paid the lifetime license for Infuse, instead of just abandoning it, I thought I would contribute anything that could make it better within Appleā€™s limitations.

2 Likes
17

Thanks for the heads-up. Finally I decided to go for a more robust solution and bought a Zidoo Z9X. I wasnā€™t happy with discarded Atmos/DTS:X metadata which is unfortunately the case on Apple TV.

18

Thanks, I posted this as well. Itā€™s a separate issue present when Apple TV is connected to S95B rather than directly to the sound bar - in short Samsungā€™s passthrough doesnā€™t work properly.

I remain flabbergasted how many issues one has to resolve to get the advertised True HD / DTS:X on a brand new 2022 hardware. :triumph: :sweat:

19

So, based on this comment, can the Apple TV do Bitstream? your comment makes it sound like it, but I havenā€™t tried. because I thought the functionality was gone.

20

No it canā€™t but some TVs canā€™t pass through multichannel PCM properly either.