I’m the kind of person who needs the noise and light of tv to fall asleep but so I’m not wanting to watch the show I put on something I’ve watched before tons. My go to is “what we do in the shadows” and I’ve prolly had it on my tv every night for a year, but today I went to put it on and it tells me “no content available” I checked and im also unable to watch it on my phone app. Did they just take it off??? I bought it on apple tv so I didnt think that was a thing. And if they did take it off is a refund possible? I mean its not like I rented it or something. Just kind of curious and slightly peeved lol

After having surgery yesterday, I'm couch- and bedridden for the next few weeks. I'm not a big gamer but do have Apple Arcade, and an Apple TV. I'm looking for suggestions on the best, cheap gaming controller that i can use with my Apple TV to play some games, mainly Madden. 25 years ago I owned a PS2 that literally only played Madden...it was my Madden machine.

I don't see myself having the time to play much once I'm on my feet again so I'm not looking for a fancy XBox or PlayStation controller. I see a ton of no-name brands on Amazon. Any suggestions appreciated.

In a Sonos arc, rears, sub setup with AppleTV running Plex through Infuse; is DD5.1 “Atmos” audio (Atmos logo showing on Sonos app) preferable to other higher bitrate PCM 7.1 TrueHD audios without the Atmos logo when streaming locally?

Anyway to get AppleTV to output Spatial Audio from Spotify to Sonos atmos setup? Currently seems locked behind AppleMusic

Hi everyone,

there are plenty of video players for Apple TV, but we felt there was still room for something different: a simple player that can handle high-quality Blu-ray remuxes without giving up the native tvOS playback experience.

Most third-party players build their own playback pipeline to support as many formats as possible. We took a different approach.

Native Player always uses Apple’s built-in playback engine for video playback, combined with real-time remuxing and our own audio rendering engine that we originally developed for our other app, Sound Test for Dolby Atmos.

This means you keep the things that make the native Apple TV player nice to use:

• Hardware video decoding
• Match Content / Match Dynamic Range
• Native tvOS playback UI
• Native seeking and scrubbing
• Reduce Loud Sounds
• Native subtitle rendering
• And other playback features Apple adds to tvOS in the future

But at the same time, we can support formats that Apple’s player cannot normally handle directly. And this is probably the most important part:

To our knowledge, Native Player is the first Apple TV player that supports both TrueHD Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision Profile 7 Blu-ray remuxes as Dolby Vision.

That includes two things other popular tvOS players currently cannot do:

TrueHD Atmos — instead of decoding TrueHD to 7.1 PCM and losing the Atmos information, Native Player uses our custom audio rendering engine to preserve the Atmos mix.

Dolby Vision Profile 7 — instead of falling back to HDR10, Native Player converts the Dolby Vision RPU metadata to Profile 8.1 on the fly, allowing Apple’s native video pipeline to output Dolby Vision with dynamic metadata.

There are some Apple TV hardware limitations involved in both cases, which I explain below.

If you encounter a file that doesn't play correctly, you can report it directly from the app so we can investigate it.

Native Player is free to download on Apple TV: APP STORE

I’d really like to hear feedback, especially from people with large Blu-ray remux libraries, Dolby Vision TVs, and Atmos setups.

LOADING MOVIES

To load a video, you just open the URL shown by the app in a browser on your Mac, iPhone, iPad, or any PC, and select or simply drag and drop your movies and subtitles. We took some inspiration for this workflow from VLC, but the playback architecture itself is very different. 

This is our first public version, so our priority right now is finding edge cases and fixing bugs. Cloud storage and media server support are planned, but before adding more features we want to make local playback as reliable as possible.

FEATURES

• Simple drag-and-drop movie transfer through a web browser
• Wide container, codec and profile support
• Native tvOS playback UI
• Apple Match Content support
• Native subtitles with adjustable timing
• Comprehensive Dolby Vision support
• Comprehensive Dolby Atmos support
• DTS-HD and DTS:X support
• Built-in Dolby Atmos audio diagnostics

DOLBY ATMOS / TRUEHD

Native Player supports Atmos from both Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3).

TrueHD Atmos is the interesting part. Apple TV does not bitstream TrueHD Atmos to an AVR. Instead, tvOS decodes and processes audio internally, and Dolby Atmos is delivered to the audio system using Dolby MAT.

This is also how Atmos from streaming services is ultimately output by Apple TV — the original E-AC-3 stream itself is not simply passed through untouched.

Most Apple TV players handle TrueHD by decoding it to lossless 7.1 PCM. This preserves the lossless channel audio, but the Atmos information is lost.

We do something different.

Native Player uses our custom audio rendering engine to preserve and render the TrueHD Atmos mix according to your speaker layout, and then hands the resulting Atmos audio back to the tvOS audio pipeline for output through Dolby MAT.

Because Apple TV does not expose TrueHD Atmos bitstream passthrough, the resulting audio is not lossless TrueHD, and we want to be transparent about that. However, it is encoded at a very high bitrate of around 4 Mbps.

For comparison, Netflix Dolby Atmos is typically delivered at around 0.448–0.768 Mbps. So while our TrueHD Atmos path is technically lossy, it operates at a substantially higher bitrate than the Atmos audio people are accustomed to hearing from major streaming services.

If you prefer, you can still choose the traditional approach and decode TrueHD to lossless 7.1 PCM, as other popular Apple TV players do — but in that mode the Atmos information is lost.

DTS

DTS, DTS-HD Master Audio, and DTS-HD High Resolution are fully supported.

DTS:X is currently downmixed to lossless 7.1, which means the immersive DTS:X information is lost.

We are currently working on converting DTS:X to Dolby Atmos, so the immersive mix can be preserved and delivered by tvOS through Dolby MAT.

DOLBY VISION / HDR

Native Player supports:

• HDR10
• HDR10+
• HLG
• Dolby Vision Profile 5
• Dolby Vision Profile 7
• Dolby Vision Profile 8

All video playback goes through Apple’s native playback engine and works with Match Content / Match Dynamic Range.

Profile 7, commonly found on UHD Blu-ray discs and remuxes, is dual-layer: a base layer, an enhancement layer, and RPU dynamic metadata. Apple TV’s decoder simply cannot decode the enhancement layer — no tvOS app can.

Instead of falling back to plain HDR10 like most players, Native Player converts the Profile 7 RPU metadata to Profile 8.1 on the fly and preserves it, so you still get genuine Dolby Vision with per-scene dynamic metadata.

For MEL discs (the majority), this conversion is lossless — there is no additional residual image data in the enhancement layer, and the Dolby Vision adjustments live in the RPU metadata.

For FEL discs, Apple TV cannot use the additional 12-bit residual data stored in the enhancement layer. That part is lost because of a platform limitation, but the Dolby Vision RPU is still preserved — effectively giving you the same Dolby Vision information that a Profile 8.1 version of the title can carry.

AV1 / DOLBY VISION PROFILE 10

Dolby Vision Profile 10 uses AV1.

Native Player already detects AV1 hardware-decoding capabilities, but current Apple TV hardware does not provide the AV1 hardware decoder we need.

Full AV1 / Dolby Vision Profile 10 support is therefore planned for whenever Apple ships new Apple TV device.

CONTAINERS

• MKV
• MP4
• MOV
• TS
• M2TS
• MTS
• M4V

VIDEO CODECS

• H.265 / HEVC
• H.264 / AVC
• MPEG-4 Part 2
• AV1*

*AV1 playback depends on hardware decoding support.

AUDIO CODECS

• Dolby TrueHD Atmos
• Dolby TrueHD
• Dolby Digital Plus / E-AC-3
• Dolby Digital / AC-3
• DTS
• DTS-HD Master Audio
• DTS-HD High Resolution
• DTS:X
• AAC
• FLAC
• ALAC
• APAC
• PCM
• MP3

SUBTITLES

• TX3G
• SRT — internal and external
• ASS

This is version 1.0.0, so right now I’m actually very interested in hearing about the files that don’t work. If you have a weird MKV, M2TS, UHD Blu-ray remux, TrueHD Atmos track, or Dolby Vision file that causes problems, please report it through the app.

I’ll be happy to answer any questions as well.

Thanks!

How do I turn that off? I don’t want to blow my eardrums every single time I put my headphones on this is insane.

Guys,
I have appletv 4k 3rd gen running tvOS 27 latest beta and iPhone 17 pro running iOS 27 latest beta.
I connect appletv to internet via hotspot.
I have truly unlimited 5G plan. Appletv network settings shows connection as low data mode. I can’t find any setting to disable this.
iPhone has more data allow mode switched on in cellular.
Any pointers?

This may be a bit esoteric, but here goes.

Recently ESPN updated their ATV app to be able to show 4K HDR feeds. However, to get that feed I need to set the ATV video settings to 4k HDR (DV/HDR10+).

So, should I turn off Match Frame Rate and Dynamic Range? I'm not a fan of the TV flashing to black every time it changes DR, and flipping around between DV and the various HDR settings.

EDIT: FYI, if anyone is interested. After futzing about with the settings a bit more I settled on 4K DV with Match Frame Rate on and Range off. Yep, the video in the ESPN app played in 4k HDR, looked great. I didn't like how it made non HDR content look, though. For now, I'll go back my original settings.

Thanks for the discussion!

This landscape aerial is already available in current tvOS versions.

Apple included the aerial file in a new SetupBackground.app that only shipped in tvOS 27 beta 3, and was removed in beta 4.

My Apple TV 4K 3rd Gen frequently will back up some or all the way when I pause a show I’m streaming. This isn’t on a specific app or show. It happens whether I press the pause/play button or the clickpad (mine is set to click only). Has anyone resolved this annoying problem?

I've finally gotten around to troubleshooting some audio issues I've had in my home theater setup since earlier in this year. The main one was an intermittent low end thump on the back channels of my L95TR system. Turns out CAC in AppleTV was the culprit or, well, Dolby MAT to be more specific (was having the same problem on the PS5 until I discovered the Dolby Atmos audio priority function in settings does what CAC does, ie, wraps audio in a Dolby MAT container).

Seems like it was kinda screwing up the sound in general. Everything was much louder with CAC on, but compressed/muddy. After turning it off everything sounds so much better. My wife noticed it too, and she's much less picky than me (the back channel noise didn't even bother her, but she did notice an improvement to sound without being prompted to weigh in).

I think in general if you notice sound problems like this on any streaming device you have, try to figure out if it has its own feature that uses Dolby MAT wrapper, then turn that off. This will cause audio drops when your next piece of media has a audio format different from the last (stereo to Atmos, let's say) but I have been able to get the delay to basically zero by going through my TV and disabling features that post process audio (pretty much anything with AI in the name, or things that claim to help sync HDMI audio and video are actually adding latency and you only want them on if you notice a problem that requires automated intervention at the panel level).

I'm wandering around fora Johnny Appleseeding this information because it's been driving me crazy on the AppleTV since March, and longer on my Playstation. Hope it saves people some headaches.

I'm using a shared album with my photography and displaying pre-cropped 16:9 photos full screen on the tv. Now that AppleOS27 allows for full size images in a shared album, I'm trying to figure out what the Apple TV on 27 displays on a 4k screen so I know my best export size. Is there any way we can figure this out?

Remote doesn't do anything and stays stuck on this screen. Current bug?

My AppleTV often briefly shows the error message “no network”, and sometimes completely loses the WiFi network. Other devices (phones etc) don’t seem to have any problem with the WiFi.
This happens with 2 ATVs, often in the early evening. (Especially between 6&7pm.

I want to know if it’s a fault on both ATVs or on my WiFi network. Any suggestions on how I might diagnose the fault?

Kit in question: Two Apple TV 4Ks (both the newest version I think) both running the latest OS update.
WiFi router is an Amplifi Alien, which has always been solid as a rock.

Apple TV 4K first gen (A1842).

Every other day or so. Remote stops working, message on tv is pair your remote, bring your remote closer to your Apple TV.

Apple TV and remote updated, remote charged, nothing in our household and tv setup has changed in years. No new electronics or moving anything.

Sometimes setting the remote right on top of the Apple TV and holding volume down and the tv button for a while a couple times fixes it. Sometimes it’s the back button and volume up that does it, sometimes it’s the play/pause button with the volume up. Sometimes it’s an unplug re-plug maybe combined with one of the previous. Sometimes it’s a full 15 minutes of trying things. Sometimes it’s give up and use the phone as a remote. Occasionally it’s give up until tomorrow.

Sometimes it’s give up and read a book for a couple hours and it fixes itself.

Sometimes the remote connects, but swipe doesn’t work so I have to start over.

It knows I’m pressing buttons on the remote, because the message only comes up when I’m pressing buttons..

I need a solid solution to this. Do I need to scrap it for a new one?

I've been hard at work the past year developing a native game engine for Apple platforms.

No RealityKit, SceneKit, or GameplayKit. This is pure metal with everything built from the ground up, using zero 3rd party libraries or frameworks. Custom ECS, Physics, and Animation systems.

Getting the engine (I'm calling it Mercury) running on 4gb of ram and an A15 chip took significant optimizations. In the end the engine will probably require 8gb of ram, and will target the upcoming Apple TV.

Currently running on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and AppleTV, with iCloud saves fully working.

Oh, I added a snippet of the Editor running on an iPad Mini 7 at the end. Just cause. Yes, iCloud saving works for the Editor too.

Apple TV 4K first gen (A1842).

Every other day or so. Remote stops working, message on tv is pair your remote, bring your remote closer to your Apple TV.

Apple TV and remote updated, remote charged, nothing in our household and tv setup has changed in years. No new electronics or moving anything.

Sometimes setting the remote right on top of the Apple TV and holding volume down and the tv button for a while a couple times fixes it. Sometimes it’s the back button and volume up that does it, sometimes it’s the play/pause button with the volume up. Sometimes it’s an unplug re-plug maybe combined with one of the previous. Sometimes it’s a full 15 minutes of trying things. Sometimes it’s give up and use the phone as a remote. Occasionally it’s give up until tomorrow.

Sometimes it’s give up and read a book for a couple hours and it fixes itself.

Sometimes the remote connects, but swipe doesn’t work so I have to start over.

It knows I’m pressing buttons on the remote, because the message only comes up when I’m pressing buttons..

I need a solid solution to this. Do I need to scrap it for a new one?

Was working fine via WiFi prior to our vacation—using with LG C5.

Came back 2-3 weeks later and it is on just fine and says strong connection to router but no apps connect to internet, nothing so it just sits there.

I’ve restarted the Apple TV multiple times, unplugged it and confirmed it’s not the internet by connecting the LG TV directly to the internet and streaming something.

Last resort was resetting the Apple TV and when trying to set it up via my phone, it connects but stalls and comes up with error (because it cannot connect to internet).

I have limited warranty available until 9/9.

Any advice here?

Because of my work schedule I can’t watch games live. I’d like to watch replays but when scrolling about the scores are shoved in my face, ruining basically the whole point of watching the game.

Tried most of the apps. Netflix, disney, hbo whatever.

Works on the menu but as soon as i start a movie the audio cuts and doesn't come back until i exit the app

Tried cutting the power on the device.

Checked for updates on thr Appletv and the apps but seems to be updated

Weird question for everyone. I have a Samsung oled, and a Samsung q930h soundbar connected via eARC. Applets box works fine for most things - YouTube,plex, etc. when I try to watch movies from the tv app, I get inconsistent audio sync issues. The audio is coming after the video. Anyone else encounter this? Done the reboots, checked for updates, etc.

Always a bit annoyed with the slight judder of fast pans in films and TV but just thought it was something I had to live with, then a Facebook reel showed me I could hard set to a ‘film’ frame rate, and now pans are smooth and glorious!