BT TV Pro Box, Amazon Video and Atmos Audio

[kncowans]

Hello all 

Can anyone please tell me if the Amazon Video App on the Pro Box supports Atmos Audio?

When I Play a Show, or Movie, that is shown to have Atmos Audio in the App on the Pro Box, I only get DD+.

I get Atmos Audio through iPlayer and Netflix so I know my Sound System is all Setup correctly.

4K and HDR both work correctly, on all Apps.

Thanks in advance 

Kevin 

[NigelB72]

I've just checked and Good Omens 2 is showing as having Atmos via the Pro Box, so yes Prime does support it..

[kncowans]

Hello @NigelB72 

Thanks for the Reply.

I am aware that Prime shows Good Omens as having Atmos, however, when Playing Good Omens, for example, the Source is DD+.

This happens with all Content I have tried on Prime.

NetFlix and iPlayer on the Pro Box both Stream Atmos without issue so I know my System is Setup correctly.

Thanks 

Kevin 

[NigelB72]

Ahh I've just reread your post. Ours plays Atmos via the Pro Box. It might be worthwhile checking your set-up. If you're connecting to your soundbar etc via eARC, check the specs on your HDMI cable. I was using a HDMI 2.0 cable and Atmos worked on Netflix but defaulted to 5.1 on Prime and AppleTV. I tracked this down to Netflix heavily compressing their UHD and Atmos streams whereas AppleTV and Prime stream at a higher bandwidth. This led to a short fall in available bandwidth on the HDMI 2.0 cable.

HDMI 2.0 will happily carry 4K video but there isn't enough bandwidth for Atmos via eARC 🤷‍♂️

[kncowans]

Hello @NigelB72 

Thanks for the Reply.

My Pro Box is connected to a Marantz AVR and then to the TV.

All of the HDMI Cables that I use are HDMI 2.0b Premium High Speed Cables.

Thanks in advance 

Kevin 

[NigelB72]

You might be hitting a bandwidth limit then because 2.0b has a max bandwidth of 18Gbps whereas 2.1 has a max of 48Gbps.

As I said, Netflix heavily compress 4K video and Atmos Audio but Prime and AppleTV use less compression which gives better picture and audio quality so 18Gbps could be fine on Netflix but not enough for Prime. This is exact issue that we had.

You can get really good quality 2.1 cables for around £15 from Marks Electrical.

[kncowans]

Hello 

Thanks for the Reply.

As I understand it, the BT TV Pro Box does not have HDMI 2.1 so using an HDMI 2.1 Cable would not help, is that not correct?

Can anyone confirm what HDMI Version the Pro Box has?

Thanks in advance 

Kevin 

[NigelB72]

HDMI 2.0 is fine under normal circumstances but 2.1 is required if you using eARC.

Our Pro Box is 2.0 to the TV and then 2.1 out via eARC. PS5 is 2.1 for 120hz and 4K Blu-ray.

Honestly, I had basically the same issue as you and just swapping the eARC cable for 2.1 solved all the issues. It took me a few hours of moaning and effing and jeffing to figure it out... 

[kncowans]

Hello 

Thanks for the Reply.

The thing though is that I am not using eARC, the connection is Direct from the BT TV Pro Box to the AVR then to the TV.

Thanks 

Kevin 

[Midnight_Voice]

@kncowans @NigelB72 

Even more reason to use a 2.1-rated cable then, as it has to carry the video stream as well as the audio in that usage,