holy shit! you did it. did you do it, is this real life? it even works with pip!
the sadist in me even rebooted to make sure I wasn't making it up.
it works!
congrats!
1 Like
Hmm I wish I had your luck.
I tried today with the latest beta, both default and lab audio drivers.
Channel changes cause complete audio drops and require app restart to get audio back.
So I will patiently wait for devs to update us in their time.
Awesome, just did a quick test of live tv and pip which both struggled with the lab driver before for me and is working perfectly for the short time i tested!
Hopefully Apple leaves it alone now! Awesome work channels team:)
Sorry I didnāt realise there was a release today 2.21.300.
Tested again, and this lab driver looks the best Iāve seen it with my OG pair.
I used to have a lag in sound stopping after closing the app.. now itās way shorter. No audio drops between channels changes.
Thanks!
Nice to hear that!
Let's hope to see a stable version soon! 
Indeed, things appear to be fixed! Thank you so much.
So I've been testing this for the last couple of days and it looks like most of my issues are fixed.
- Audio starts almost immediately when changing channels
- Frame drops while using Lab audio driver appear to be fixed
- Audio sync issues appear to be fixed
- When watching a virtual channel, audio is no longer missing when a new TV episode or movie starts
However, it looks like a new bug has been introduced: We have a stereo pair next to the TV set as the default output. We also have multiple HomePod minis scattered throughout the house that we often set as a "temporary output" on the ATV so that we can listen in other rooms. This used to work with Channels, but as of the last update, no sound comes out of the non-default speakers. I can switch to the YouTube TV app (with no changes to the ATV) and all the speakers play. It's only Channels that won't play through the non-default output.
Diagnostics submitted
Edit: To be clear, the ATV plays through the ātemporary outputā speakers IN ADDITION TO the default output so it should be playing through 3 or 4 HomePods at the same time.
Hmm, I was having issues yesterday and today (latest TestFlight client) with the AppleTV connected to one the Sonos in the Kitchen via AirPlay. I tried both Experimental audio as well as Lab. Which one is preferable these days for AirPlay 2 support?
Woah woah woah! Your first post was the first and only to mention Sonos issues. Every subsequent post you have made in the thread has been related to HomePods.
Have your sync issues with HomePods been resolved?
Also, if you are having issues with Sonos, have you opened a separate thread for that issue?
(Having dealt with family issues with a Sonos speaker and iOS, I understand the issues. But if we can close a support thread about HomePod audio, there is no reason to keep it open for tangential Sonos issues ...)
I have noticed that despite audio fixes on my HomePods - now playback controls via airplay screen on iPhone/Apple Watch are not working - in fact controls donāt update with the current content at all.
There have been many threads about this, I've mentioned both my HomePod Mini as well as my Sonos speakers. I use them both with Channels, depending on which room. The AirPlay issues I've had are shared between them. Here's one example where I've mentioned this, trying to help:
And here's a reply from one of the developers confirming they use the same tech:
What issues?
The same I had with the HomePod. The first attempt to play any content from Channels would have no sound. I had to exit out, and then enter back in, for audio to play. And sometimes the video would instantly pause after that, Iād have to hit play to re-initiate it. And sometimes the audio and video are slightly out of sync, changing the channel and then back again seems to resolve that though.
I am using the Lab Audio Driver.
The good news is, itās not happening now. The next time it does, I will send diagnostics.
1 Like
With the latest TestFlight beta (v2024.02.26.2233), our recommendation for driver settings is as follows based on your audio setup:
HDMI: Default
HomePod: Default or Experimental
AirPods: Experimental
AirPlay: Experimental
The Lab driver will be removed as it behaves the same as Default.
2 Likes
Seeing video freeze on any stream that is not multichannel audio using Airpods with Experimental driver.
OTA 5.1 ABC - no problem
TVE ABC - freeze
Removing Airpods and stream plays normally
Diagnostic log submitted:
842d74c6-bf72-4e44-8aa9-fc148be04796
1 Like
Channels airplay controls via iOS or watch still not appearing in latest beta today. Not sure how to submit debug for this - as they arenāt the client playback devices - just that they canāt see the airplay activity.
Otherwise HomePod OG audio on default driver all good here.
You need the latest TestFlight and the Experimental driver setting
Have confirmed on ATV 4K and iPhone client that freezing video with AirPods is related to Spatial Audio setting.
With latest Test Flight and Experimental driver -
Spatial audio on causes stream to freeze if not a multichannel station.
Stream resumes when spatial audio is turned off.
1 Like
Iāve been testing the last view betas with my OG homepods, including the 2 released today - and personally Iām experiencing a regression in the audio compared to build 2.21.300. This is with either default or experimental driver. I wonder if others have found this too.
With live tv Iām experiencing slower audio stream starts or stuttering start of audio stream. 2.21.300 imo nailed the audio, itās kinda perfect - only caveat being missing airplay controls on network devices. (Aman, yep setting experimental driver on newer releases did fix this, but audio is worse)
1 Like
Latest Pre-release and tvOS beta with stereo OG Hompods.
Default driver has perfect playback for me.
No lag or silence when playing/resuming, FF/RW buttons working, PiP working WITH audio.
@tmm1 thank you! Saved me a soundbar purchase!