topic Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos in TV

TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Reign_in_Beard — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 12:34:18 GMT

Hey all.

I’ve just moved over and have a TV Box Pro. I read that it should be capable of Dolby Atmos.

I have it set up via HDMI into my Soundbar and then into the TV. (My TV just has arc). When I use the Netflix and Amazon Prime apps, the labelling on them only shows 5.1. The info from my soundbar shows them playing in Dolby Digital rather than Atmos. The HDMI audio is set to surround.

I have temporarily swiped my Son’s Apple TV and have it set up the same way. It displays the labelling correctly as Dolby Atmos and plays in Dolby Atmos as the soundbar info displays it.

I’m stumped as to what it could be. I did wonder if my set up may mean I need a higher bandwith cable for the box, as my sons one is a 48gbps one. Do you think it might be that?

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Midnight_Voice — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 14:12:08 GMT

@Reign_in_Beard

https://community.bt.com/t5/TNT-Sports-on-TV-Online-player/BT-Box-Pro-Dolby-Atmos-issue/m-p/2412168#M39457

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Profile closed — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 14:56:10 GMT

My TV, TV Pro box, Apple TV puck, and AV amp all support Atmos, but not every service they stream does. NF I only have HD, but checking a 4k movie on Amazon Prime, the audio is only 5.1. IIRC, BBC iPlayer is even worse. Their UHD shows come in 2.0 audio.

Conversely, streaming Slow Horses from Apple TV, it comes in Atmos, and shows as such on my amp display.

I do have 48gig hdmi cables throughout, but the main issue will be what audio the streaming service supplies. My amp can process a pseudo version, not sure what capabilities your soundbar has?

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Reign_in_Beard — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 15:50:50 GMT

Yeah, it’s a Samsung Q990D so it converts the iPlayer to a pseudo surround etc, just thought I’d get native Atmos out of Netflix and Prime on there. Might have to permanently swipe the Apple TV box.

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Reign_in_Beard — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 15:56:36 GMT

I’ll check the Apple TV app later and report back. Both the Netflix and Prime subs are the Atmos/UHD tier and work fine on the Apple TV 4K with same set up. If the Apple TV app (on the box pro) isn’t working. I’ll swap out the box pro HDMI with a new 48gbps cable and try that.

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Profile closed — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 17:05:30 GMT

As I say, I couldn’t check it on NF, but further research on Prime does indicate they stream at least some stuff with Atmos, so maybe I just picked the wrong example 🤷🏼

My gut feeling - unsupported by any measurable evidence - is that I get better results from a source connected by hdmi to my amp, with the video sent in to the TV, rather the TV sending the same app back down over eARC.

I’ve found the Apple TV excellent in that regard, and also use it for my Apple Music streaming. I got the 4k Ethernet version new on a well known auction site for abt £120. It’s an aggregator too, showing other services including catch-ups, so more than just Apple TV+. Worth a ponder.

Good luck 👍

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Profile closed — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 17:06:39 GMT

*sent on to the TV 🤦🏼‍♂️

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Reign_in_Beard — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 18:50:25 GMT

I’ve tried the Apple TV+ app on the box pro, and Slow Horses played in Dolby Atmos. So it would seem it’s the Prime and Netflix apps on the Box Pro that don’t output it. So now it looks like I might have to decide either to swap the Box Pro for the Apple TV box, or keep the box pro with its aerial mode and recording function and buy an Apple TV separtley.

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Profile closed — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 19:05:27 GMT

@Reign_in_Beard Prime Video seems to have reserved Atmos for those that pay extra to skip adverts, on all devices.

The Apple TV+ app on the Pro Box doesn’t support HDR, whereas the version on an Apple TV 4K is as good as it gets (as you might expect). Atmos, Dolby Vision and the highest bit rates assuming your TV and broadband can deliver it.

Netflix is a mixed bag on the Pro Box. It needs the box itself to be set to 2160p 10 bit to output UHD HDR consistently (8 bit only gets you HD HDR), audio is flagged as “up to Atmos” if you have the Premium tier, but I remain to be convinced that the Pro Box outputs it as intended.

The Netflix app on the Apple TV 4K performs exactly as it should, all day long.

If you value quality and consistency, especially if you are paying for premium sound and vision, the Apple TV 4K is a powerhouse streamer.

If a recording box remains a necessity, I would recommend the Apple TV 4K for live and app viewing, then adding the single free multiroom box to your account and swapping the supplied mini box for a Pro Box off of eBay, CeX or similar.

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Reign_in_Beard — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 19:25:58 GMT

Yes, I have the Atmos tier subscriptions for Prime and Netflix. Netflix is labelling Atmos capable shows/movies as 5.1 on the Box Pro, and outputs as Dolby Digital. On the Prime app, Atmos content is labelled as such but still delivers Dolby digital to my soundbar. When I use my son’s Apple TV box I get Atmos labelling and Atmos sound. Not sure what to do as Atmos is working on the Apple TV+ app on the box pro. Odd.

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Profile closed — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 20:18:03 GMT

Excellent summary 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Midnight_Voice — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 21:03:39 GMT

@Profile closed

Your gut feeling is plausible, and the proof would be finding something that plays in Atmos via HDMI to the amp, but something lesser via the TV.

But that might be (a) quite tricky to find and (b) dependent on the model of TV in question.

However, the amp’s raison d’etre is getting the best audio it can off an HDMI input, and carrying out the well-understood process of passing the video out to a well-understood HDMI In on the TV.

Whereas in the other direction, the TV whose raison d’etre is video handling has to pass the audio intact over the kludge that even eARC still is, and hope it can negotiate its passage successfully, while its mind is really on its video handling.

Your gut feeling may very well be based on an appreciation of which alternative is likely the best for audio here 😛

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Profile closed — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 21:15:33 GMT

Ha! I’m old school. Source > amp - audio > 7.1 set up + video > TV (LG C3) works for me😉

Unless it’s the wife watching Corrie. Then the telly suffices on its own.

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Midnight_Voice — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 21:46:08 GMT

@Profile closed

I have a wife who notices when the surround goes off, both a blessing and a curse.

In the dear dead days of Sony Centres, she was heard to exclaim in one “Ooh yes, let’s have a subwoofer!” and I think several bystanders would have proposed to her on the spot 😛

Most of our stuff is connected via the TV, but the UHD BluRay goes direct into the single HDMI in on the GX soundbar.

LG have this so well thought out that just starting the UHD player makes the setup configure itself ‘old school’ to play BluRays, and it nearly always puts itself back TV-first afterwards 😛

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Profile closed — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 10:45:58 GMT

Well, she’s a keeper and no mistake 😉

I love that story. Used to go in the Leeds Sony Centre almost weekly. Had hifi kit, mp3 players, TVs. Last CRT was a 32” Sony which took 2 of us to lift, connected to a Sony DVD pro logic box. Happy days.

Switched to Samsung when Sony TVs became *so* expensive, then to LG last year. Been a year of change. Long time Google Home kit and Pixel user. Now jumped to Alexa kit and iPhones, and indeed BT to EE.

Not every change totally for the better😉

Happy on the kit side tho. AV is Denon, 7.1 is Cambridge Audio, sources Panasonic UB820, EE Pro box, and Apple TV.

OP, sorry for going off on a tangent. I do it a lot these days. It’s my age 🤦🏼‍♂️

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Midnight_Voice — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 21:10:21 GMT

@Profile closed

I’ll see your 32” CRT Sony, and raise you a 36” Digital Sony CRT set that was a three man lift 😛

We just wanted it simple, no AV with it, but the audio was so awful that we had first the Sony Centre dealer, and then a rep from Sony in, who said the audio was ‘within spec’, but most users of it ran it through an AV. We said we didn’t want that, thank you.

But fortunately, this was very early days of digital, and Sony had got the rules wrong, so every day when you turned it on, all the channels were swapped around. Despite a couple of goes, Sony were unable to fix this, so we were able to reject the TV and get our money back.

We hadn’t cared much about the channel swapping; but it was a fortunate excuse to get rid of it because of the audio that Sony wouldn’t agree was unacceptable 😛

The poor Sony Centre took a bit of a bath, apparently, but for us, that was between them and Sony 😢

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Profile closed — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 21:26:09 GMT

Oh dear. Always liked their stuff, and never had a problem with it. It just became too expensive for my budget .They do some lovely TV’s, amps, and earphones tho - according to What Hi Fi.

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Midnight_Voice — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 09:14:40 GMT

@Profile closed

Sony sets have the best picture in the game - they can get more out of an LG panel than LG can, but the internals of their sets rather let them down. I’m active on the Sony Community, though my Sony TV dates from 2015, when I was beta testing it, and it had to be relegated to the study in favour of a Samsung three days before Christmas, due to a family revolt. But in fairness to Sony, they did get it right in the end, and it still has a lovely picture, though it still has a number of 2015 limitations that Sony only ironed out in later years, such as how the YouView interface works.

But I’m an LG man now, though Samsung seem to be getting back on top after a few years of sets which were not quite as good as the LGs.

Re: TV Box Pro & Dolby Atmos

Profile closed — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 10:06:09 GMT

The Samsung 49KS8000 we had had an awkward 3 point stand, and annoyingly, would actually play ads for its own channels on switch on. The only way to stop it was to delete them from the guide.

Our LG55C3 looks great and has good PQ but its WebOS is clunky compared to the Samsung. Got it for a good price w 5yr warranty at JL. It’s abt the biggest we can cater for and overall we’re happy with it.