Plex audio output on Apple TV 4K

Plex Players Streaming Devices
1

Hi all,
I am running Plex server on my Synology DS918+ and I am using Plex on my ATV4K for watching my ripped blu-rays and for listening to ripped (FLAC) music. My Apple TV is setup so that it adjust the audio signal output automatically - e.g. Dolby 5.1 for movies and stereo for the FLAC audio. My surround receiver displays the input signal - e.g. Dolby 5.1 signal or a stereo signal.

That is all good but I don’t understand the following:

My stereo receiver will show “stereo” when I start the Plex app on my ATV and “ask” it to play music. This will of course change to Dolby 5.1 if I play a movie ripped in that format. However, the ATV will continue to send out a 5.1 signal after I stop the movie and play a ripped stereo flac file/music again.

My receiver will only show “stereo” again if I open another app on the ATV sending out audio in stereo.

I would of course prefer that Plex always send out “stereo” when using it for music. Am I doing something wrong?

2

Anyone??

3

Just to clarify:

  • your point is about how the audio format is displayed on the receiver
  • if you play a video with surround sound after playing stereo music, the receiver properly switches the audio format displayed to Dolby 5.1
  • if you play stereo music after playing a video with surround sound, the receiver audio format display remains stuck displaying Dolby 5.1

I take it your receiver is not actually playing the stereo music in 5.1?!

4

Thank you for getting back to me.
You have understood my message completely.

I am not sure what format the receiver plays the stereo music in.
I have just tried it again and music was only coming from front left- and center channel +sub. (not the front right channel)

However the receiver will display and play stereo perfectly fine after I close Plex and play a song from e…g Apple Music on the ATV

Therefore, it is in my mind isolated to Plex and not a problem on the ATV or my surround receiver.

5

Do you directly feed the media through the receiver (HDMI passthrough) or is your Apple TV directly connected to the TV and the TV is using the receiver for audio output (e.g. using ARC)?

6

ATV is connected to TV and I am using optical out from TV to my surround receiver.

7

I forgot to mention that ATV is connected to the TV via HDMI.

8

I have experimented with it again. Switching back to Apple Music ensures the signal switches back to stereo. Plex will only play stereo if it has not played a 5.1 file in advance.
Can it be a software bug?

Thanks again for your support.

9

are you using the standard or experimental player?

10

That´s it. I was using the experimental player and forgot that was a beta for users who paid for the plex pass.
Disabling the enhanced player fixed the issue. I hope this can get resolved by a software update as I really like the features of the enhanced player.
Will Plex get notified about this issue from this forum?

Your support is very much appreciated !

11

Yeah, we see them :slight_smile: Thanks for the report :plexheart:

12

Great thanks

1 Like
13

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.