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Roughly Drafted: 5.1 audio on Apple TV

Submitted by Merlin on March 30, 2007 - 4:40am.

Ten Myths of the Apple TV: 5.1 Audio

Via my internet puppetmaster, Brian Hogg, comes another very good (and very long) piece from Daniel Eran on the Apple TV that runs down some of the details on 5.1 audio and attempts to clear up some ongoing confusion about what works, what doesn’t, and why.

So really, the Apple TV doesn’t need to decode 5.1 audio, it only needs to hand the surround audio stream to a receiver than can decode those formats. Can it do this…?

In addition to stereo cables, Apple TV also features a Toslink digital optical port. Since we can send raw digital audio data over the Apple TV’s optical output, can’t we send DTS digitally encoded 5.1 as well?

Of course we can. Download a DTS sample file in WAV format, drop it into iTunes, and Apple TV will happily sync it and play it. Unlike Pro Logic audio, it will sound like static over regular stereo speakers, but hooked up to a DTS receiver, it is decoded into 5.1 channels of sound and played back in real DTS 5.1 surround.

I don’t personally have a 5.1 setup so I have no way of verifying this, but I’m curious what you audiophiles are discovering – especially given that some of the Scott Bournes out there have cited lack of 5.1 audio as one reason for holding out on an TV purchase.

Any luck getting 5.1 working satisfactorily with your Apple TV? Is the lack of 5.1 content on iTS a dealbreaker for you?

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Just make sure the volume...

Submitted by Kai Steinbach (not verified) on March 30, 2007 - 6:35am.

Just make sure the volume in iTunes or the QuickTime Player is set the 100%. If it is just one tick below, the Receicer will stay silent.

I don’t have a Apple TV here, but with the optical out of Mac mini or Mac book pro it is very similar. The receiver picks up normal iTunes music as “PCM 44.1 kHz”. When you play dts or DD5-7.1 content like the wav files that are linked above, it goes to multi channel beauty and you really really really hear the difference. There are some albums on amazon in SACD or 5.1 DVD-Audio, which sound great, too. I can only recommend it.

I didn’t know about all that when I bought the home cinema sound setup for movies from DVD. Hence now I enjoy it even more with music.