Ripping in surround for Apple TV

[Geoff in Belfast]

Hi everyone - so I've just bought a new Apple TV 4K which of course opens up the world of Dolby Atmos on Apple Music (albeit that I am downscaling that to 5.1!!!)

What I don't really understand is how to rip and then play back some of my existing surround physical discs and play back via my Apple TV. I use Apple Music/ iTunes for my digital audio but also use Plex.

I am a Mac user - is there a tutorial of some sort which could explain (1) what format do I need to rip to to play back via Apple TV; (2) where do I play those back from ???

Thanks and apologies if this is covered elsewhere.

 

[Methuselah’s Grandpa]

Hi everyone - so I've just bought a new Apple TV 4K which of course opens up the world of Dolby Atmos on Apple Music (albeit that I am downscaling that to 5.1!!!)

What I don't really understand is how to rip and then play back some of my existing surround physical discs and play back via my Apple TV. I use Apple Music/ iTunes for my digital audio but also use Plex.

I am a Mac user - is there a tutorial of some sort which could explain (1) what format do I need to rip to to play back via Apple TV; (2) where do I play those back from ???

Thanks and apologies if this is covered elsewhere.

I can’t help you directly but perhaps there’s something in this thread that could help; this person uses Home Sharing to play his multi-channel audio from his computer to his AppleTV:
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/threads/apple-tv-4k-tvos-16-1-no-alac-multichannel.33279/

 

[HomerJAU]

Now that iOS supports FLAC I assume tvOS would too. Not sure if multichannel FLAC is supported but easy enough for somebody here on QQ using an Apple TV device to try. I use a media player to play all my multichannel files (including Atmos).

 

[gwlbe]

PLEX via a NAS with ripped MCH FLACs. Not sure how to rip in the MAC environment. I don’t use PLEX but is based on KODI/XBMC structure Which plays FLACs.

 

[Cheezmo]

I can’t help you directly but perhaps there’s something in this thread that could help; this person uses Home Sharing to play his multi-channel audio from his computer to his AppleTV:
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/threads/apple-tv-4k-tvos-16-1-no-alac-multichannel.33279/

It used to work fine. You could just convert the flac to multichannel ALAC (I use xACT which specifically fixed an issue with channel assignments way back when), then give it an .mp4 or .m4v extension and add it to iTunes, you could then play it using the Computers app using Home Sharing on the AppleTV just like any other song and it would play in 5.1.

But they kind of broke it in tvOS 12 or so.

I say kind of, because it actually still works but only if you play a music video with an ac3 5.1 sound track first to kick the AppleTV output into 5.1/multichannel mode first. I actually have a 3 second silent 5.1 video that I stick in my playlists to achieve this. It will stay in 5.1 mode as long as you continue playing ALAC tracks but if you play an lossy .m4a or .mp3 or a stereo video it will kick back to stereo mode and the next 5.1 ALAC .mp4 will play in stereo unless you "prime" it again with a 5.1 video.

It is horrible and obviously not a bug/issue they would care about fixing but there it is.

 

[Blackwood]

I’ll just put this out there for you Geoff. It’s not exactly what you’re asking for, but an alternative depending on your setup.

My house is Apple all the way... Mac Minis, Apple TVs, etc.

I’m sure my setup will change as time goes on, but I got so tired of futzing with Apple TV as part of the chain. I tried Plex and VLC and just couldn’t get things to work right.

In the end, I used a recently freed-up Mac Mini as my music server for ripped files. I plug the Mac Mini into an HDMI port on my receiver. From that, I can get 7.1. (Doesn’t work with my two height speakers which was something discussed in another thread.)

For ripping, I use MakeMKV to make... well, MKV files. Just yesterday, I finally finished ripping 150 surround studio albums I have on Bluray and DVD.

I’ll be honest... I’m not totally thrilled with the results. Some of the ripped MKVs I listened to didn’t sound quite as good as I expected. It feels “close”, but not all the way there. Need to spend more time with it, though, but it took weeks to rip that many titles and I’m a little fried from the experience. That might be clouding my judgement.

I’m probably missing something in my setup, or there will be updates to Macs, receivers or Apple TVs that will continue to improve things. For now, it’s OK and it’s nice to have those titles backed-up somewhere.

 

[gwlbe]

Kodi can be ported to ATV 4k. Search kodi tv box. Once installed it will play everything.

 

[sbrom]

Kodi can be ported to ATV 4k. Search kodi tv box. Once installed it will play everything.

I searched (from the App Store within Apple TV 4K) for “kodi”, nothing found. Am I searching the right place?

 

[triple_vee]

I’ve gotten lossless multichannel (and Atmos) mixes to work with Plex on Nvidia Shield (se my post in the Mr. Big thread). Impossible to do the same on Apple TV through any app.

I do have an Apple Music subscription and listen to and enjoy their spatial mixes.

 

[gwlbe]

For KODI I use FireTV, SHIELD, and Raspberry Pi which all play MCH FLAC.

I searched (from the App Store within Apple TV 4K) for “kodi”, nothing found. Am I searching the right place?

It’s not in the APP Store, it’s a modification. Search “kodi tv box“

 

[sbrom]

For KODI I use FireTV, SHIELD, and Raspberry Pi which all play MCH FLAC.

It’s not in the APP Store, it’s a modification. Search “kodi tv box“

Thanks! I see it requires a Mac computer to load, which means I’m out of luck.. :-(

 

[FLX]

I say kind of, because it actually still works but only if you play a music video with an ac3 5.1 sound track first to kick the AppleTV output into 5.1/multichannel mode first. I actually have a 3 second silent 5.1 video that I stick in my playlists to achieve this. It will stay in 5.1 mode as long as you continue playing ALAC tracks but if you play an lossy .m4a or .mp3 or a stereo video it will kick back to stereo mode and the next 5.1 ALAC .mp4 will play in stereo unless you "prime" it again with a 5.1 video.

Hey @Cheezmo,
I tried your solution but it won't work.
I play back a video file with 5.1 AC3 audio stream and it's playing back fine with 6 channels.
Immediate afterwards I play back a video file with 5.1 ALAC audio stream and it's stereo.
The receiver is also directly stereo when I leave the AC3 video file.
I thought it was because of (stereo) navigation clicks and I disabled them.
But it won't work ...
Can you help.

Maybe the file I created from this WAVE is wrong?
ffmpeg -i test.m4v -i 5.1_AC3.wav -map 0:0 -map 1:0 -c:v copy -c:a ac3 test2.m4v

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AC-3
Format/Info                              : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name                          : Dolby Digital
Codec ID                                 : ac-3
Duration                                 : 46 s 533 ms
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 448 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel layout                           : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate                            : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate                               : 28.711 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 2.49 MiB (0%)
Service kind                             : Complete Main
Default                                  : Yes

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Hi everyone - so I've just bought a new Apple TV 4K which of course opens up the world of Dolby Atmos on Apple Music (albeit that I am downscaling that to 5.1!!!)

Out of interest....

Is your Apple TV 4K directly connected to an AVR or is it directly connected to your TV?

If your Apple TV 4K is directly connected to your TV, what connection method are you using to your AVR (optical or HDMI ARC).

And what are the makes and model numbers of your AVR and TV?

 

[Cheezmo]

Hey @Cheezmo,
I tried your solution but it won't work.
I play back a video file with 5.1 AC3 audio stream and it's playing back fine with 6 channels.
Immediate afterwards I play back a video file with 5.1 ALAC audio stream and it's stereo.
The receiver is also directly stereo when I leave the AC3 video file.
I thought it was because of (stereo) navigation clicks and I disabled them.
But it won't work ...
Can you help.

Maybe the file I created from this WAVE is wrong?
ffmpeg -i test.m4v -i 5.1_AC3.wav -map 0:0 -map 1:0 -c:v copy -c:a ac3 test2.m4v

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AC-3
Format/Info                              : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name                          : Dolby Digital
Codec ID                                 : ac-3
Duration                                 : 46 s 533 ms
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 448 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel layout                           : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate                            : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate                               : 28.711 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 2.49 MiB (0%)
Service kind                             : Complete Main
Default                                  : Yes

When you say immediately after, are they in a playlist or are you manually playing one then the other?

 

[Cheezmo]

How are you creating your 5.1 ALAC files?

I use xACT and select "Encode" with Apple Lossless as the target. I then feed it 5.1 flacs. This produces files with a .m4a extension which will NOT play back in 5.1. But, if you change the extension to .m4v or .mp4 they will. xACT is the only tool I'm sure gets the channel mappings correct.

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Is it still the case that the Apple TV 4K outputs all multi-channel audio in Dolby MAT, regardless of the input multi-channel audio format?

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

@Cheezmo,

Same question to you...

Is your Apple TV 4K directly connected to an AVR or is it directly connected to your TV?

If your Apple TV 4K is directly connected to your TV, what connection method are you using to your AVR (optical or HDMI ARC).

And what are the makes and model numbers of your AVR and TV?

 

[Cheezmo]

@Cheezmo,

Same question to you...

Is your Apple TV 4K directly connected to an AVR or is it directly connected to your TV?

If your Apple TV 4K is directly connected to your TV, what connection method are you using to your AVR (optical or HDMI ARC).

And what are the makes and model numbers of your AVR and TV?

My AppleTV is directly connected to a Denon AVR-X4800H via HDMI. The TV shouldn't be relevant (not in the chain, as in it would play with it off) but it is a Sony XBR-75X940D, also connected to the Denon via HDMI.

 

[Cheezmo]

Is it still the case that the Apple TV 4K outputs all multi-channel audio in Dolby MAT, regardless of the input multi-channel audio format?

No, it is sent as multichannel PCM if it is not Dolby Atmos. Even AC3 is output as multichannel PCM.

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

No, it is sent as multichannel PCM if it is not Dolby Atmos. Even AC3 is output as multichannel PCM.

Indeed... Dolby MAT (Metadata-Enhanced Audio Transport) is an audio packed transport system. It transcodes 'variable' bit-rate Dolby bit-streams into a fixed/constant rate LPCM bit-stream for transmission over HDMI connection, complete with any required meta-data.