Level Apple tech and he was confounded as well. On the other hand when I select “Best Available” I ALWAYS get PCM 5.1. On most good preamps or receivers you can choose to deploy a type of “simulated“ multi-channel but it sounds lousy. My situation is odd in that when I select “Dolby 5.1“ that’s precisely what I get.UNLESS of course I’m watching an older HBO show like Curb Your Enthusiasm that was created in 2.0 Stereo.
#Pcm vs dolby digital sound bar tv#
Virtually ALL Netflix and Amazon Prime TV shows are fully supported in Dolby Digital. First, it’s imperative that you establish the the content was produced in Dolby Digital.
In either case, it seems that with the right source it does give me surround sound.
#Pcm vs dolby digital sound bar movie#
In contrast, if I set the ATV4 surround sound setting to "Dolby 5.1" my Pioneer then says "Dolby Digital" on the front panel once the movie starts. If I play a source like a iTunes movie, or a Netflix movie, my Pioneer will switch from "stereo" to "PCM" once the movie starts and it indicates surround sound (also verified by sound from all speakers) and the Pioneer will say "PCM" *IF* I set the ATV4 surround sound settings to "best quality available". As soon as the movie starts on the ATV4, I hear a "click" on my Pioneer AVR, the front panel switches to "Dolby Digital", or "PCM" (see explanation below) and lo and behold I get surround sound. I rented an iTunes movie that I know is digital Dolby. For some reason either the app was written to use stereo audio only or the ATV4 doesn't work right with it. I get over 100 channels on DirecTV NOW including HBO. NONE of the channels on DirecTV NOW output anything but stereo. For example, I have the DirecTV NOW app loaded on my ATV4. Duhh! I assumed that everything that normally I used previously on ATV3 as well as my Amazon FireStick would also be Dolby on ATV4. It does indeed output digital *if* the program source is in Dolby. I have discovered some things about my ATV4. Surround sound settings on your Apple TV 4K or Apple TV (4th generation) - Apple Support Have you tried the best quality available audio setting? It might just work if the Pioneer can understand linear PCM (assuming this is not just for iTunes purchases/rentals). I don't know your Pioneer model, but it may have an input setting for HDMI audio - this might need to be configured.Īudio on AppleTV is a moving goalpost and things have changed a lot since ATV 4 came out, they are clearly taking it a bit more seriously but I suspect few of us really like the DD re-encoding which is used to merge in system sounds etc. Many if not all itunes movie previews are stereo and don't give DD.ĭon't suppose you have an iTunes purchased movie with DD to test - maybe consider a cheap rental to test it - don't have HBO app in UK so don't know if you may be able to choose stereo vs surround in that app, but iTunes movies will have a drop down to choose subtitles/audio track. Streaming services won't always provide DD with a stream even if other devices do offer the stream with DD.
When you say you know the HBO movie has Dolby, is that because it worked ok on previous ATV?