Select Audio Track

Channels Apple TV Feature Requests
#1

This might be an unreasonable request, since it probably only applies to a small segment of viewers. But I deal with it often enough that I thought I might as well put the request in.

I have one OTA channel that often broadcasts with the DD5.1 track slightly out of sync. It is my local NBC (WBAL). The other channels work fine. I have complained about this on the WBAL twitter, but they don’t seem to be doing anything. So, in order to watch my shows from WBAL with the audio in the correct time, I need to back out of channels and go to my Apple TV settings and then go to the Audio settings and change the surround format to Stereo. When I am finished watching the show, I go back to the Apple TV settings and change the surround format back to DD5.1.

Channels already has an info bar at the top that allows selecting things like the audio track language or the closed captioning. If there was an option to switch the audio format here, it would save a lot of time flipping through Apple TV settings.

#2

Interesting, switching to stereo fixes it? That’s surprising because the app still receives 5.1 from the tuner and is just converting it to stereo first.

In the info bar, do you see multiple audio tracks listed? Sometimes the second “spanish” one is actually an english stereo track.

#3

Yes, it is only on WBAL (NBC) shows with multiple audio tracks. If there is a “spanish” option, that will fix it too. But often the Spanish option is not available. There is, however, as displayed in the guide, a stereo track and a DD5.1 track. If the ATV settings are set to DD5.1, channels will play the DD5.1 track, but the sometimes it is slightly out of sync on this one channel. If I select “Stereo” on the ATV settings, the stereo track is played instead and the audio is in sync.

#4

That’s not true, as the 5.1 track is still selected by default and will continue to be used. The app will notice that you’re asking for Stereo however, and downmix the 6 channel audio to 2 channel. I would not expect downmixing to affect audio sync, but your experience indicates otherwise.

#5

That is strange then that the DD5.1 works well on any of the other channels that use it, including ABC, CBS, and Fox. I thought it was being broadcast that way and that the stereo was a separate part of the broadcast. Something else must be causing the sync issue then.

#6

OK, nevermind. cancel this request. It must have been my TV. It is strange that the issue was only with one channel, but by wiring my soundbar differently (not using TV ARC), the issues with this channel are now gone.