AppleTV won't start playing when connected to HomePods

Server Version#: 1.42.2.10156
Player Version#: 8.45
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With homepods are connected (stereo pair, updated to 26.0.1), playback will never start or resume (from pausing) without having to skip forward or backwards one click.

Switching the output to anything else in the AppleTV menu, and playback starts/resumes right away without any issues.

What type of audio is in the files? I know we have an open issue for this but it mentions the issue was with flac files but AC3 played fine.

Just want to add any additional detail to the issue report.

I’ve tried a few different files, stereo AAC, EAC3 5.1, 5.1 DTS, 5.1 AAC, 7.1 AAC they all fail to start playing without skipping forward first.

Lately I’ve had issues where the audio just stops playing all together. The only fix for this is to force close the app and then play again, it never resolves itself on its own.