BT TV Box Pro- Ultimate sound issues.

[Colesy7]

Whenever I watch any sport broadcast in Atmos on the Ultimate channel, the sound randomly glitches and “pops” and is usually followed by the picture freezing then resuming. Whenever I play something that is Dolby Atmos my soundbar will show ‘Dolby Atmos’, this repeatedly shows after the sound glitches and pops. This only happens on the ultimate channel and not when I play Atmos content through Netflix etc. All my cables are ultra high speed HDMIs and the soundbar is connected through E-ARC. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[NigelB72]

This might sound silly and obvious but check that the eARC HDMI cable is 2.1 because I was suffering random audio drop outs on AppleTV+ which I traced back to a HDMI cable being 2.0 rather than 2.1... so it was carrying Atmos but running out of bandwidth occasionally. Check the eARC audio settings on the TV because you should have a pass-through option. This will turn off the audio processing on the TV.. Netflix etc might be fine because they heavily compress 4K but BT Sport Ultimate runs at quite a bandwidth hence the 25-30mpbs requirements rather than Netflix's 15-20mbps.

[Colesy7]

There’s nothing wrong with my setup all TV settings are correct and all cables are ultra high speed hdmi cables. I’m currently using my Pro Box over wifi but it’s receiving over 250mbps download and have tried wiring in through my wifi disc and that doesn’t make it any better. I’ve reset my box and all but the problem persists.

[ozsat]

You may be getting 250Mb over wifi - but is it constant?

I think BT will want you to try direct Ethernet to prove the issue - but a call to them may find an external issue.

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@Colesy7wrote:

There’s nothing wrong with my setup all TV settings are correct and all cables are ultra high speed hdmi cables. I’m currently using my Pro Box over wifi but it’s receiving over 250mbps download and have tried wiring in through my wifi disc and that doesn’t make it any better. I’ve reset my box and all but the problem persists.

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[NigelB72]

Are your HDMI cables Ultra HD compatible cables ie. HDMI 2.0 or 2.1 because there is a big difference. HDMI 2.0 cables can handle 18 Gbps and HDMI 2.1 can handle 48Gbps. If you're pushing through uncompressed Atmos through a 2.0 cable you will run into bandwidth issues. 

I know because I had the same issue but as you're so confident about your cables, I can't offer any further help.

[Colesy7]

I’m using the hdmi cable that came with my Xbox series X so is an “ultra high speed” cable. There isn’t really such thing as a HDMI 2.1 cable, the 2.1 refers to the port rather than the cable. 

[Colesy7]

Yep constantly gets 250mbps and only happens on the ultimate channel. Every other Atmos source works without a hitch.

[NigelB72]

@Colesy7 unfortunately you are wrong in your thinking. HDMI 2.1 cables are actually a thing. They're required for 8K, 120hz and also Atmos via eARC because of the higher data transfer rates of HDMI 2.1 protocol. 

Same as USB 3 over USB 2.. the cables look the same but the hardware is different. A USB 2 cable will not carry the same amount of data as a USB 3... 

To get the full speed of a HDMI 2.1 connection, you need a HDMI 2.1 compliant cable 

[Colesy7]

Incorrect, the soundbar/system only needs to support HDMI 2.0 as the box itself only has a 2.0 port.

Either way I’m using my Xbox series x hdmi cable so I don’t think it’s an issue with the cable.

[NigelB72]

I had the same issue with Atmos dropping on Ultimate and AppleTV+ via eARC on a 2.0 HDMI cable. It was an easy fix by swapping the cable to a 2.1 compliant one. If you don't want to try that, then that's up to you but for £12.99 I fixed my audio issues and now have fully uncompressed Dolby Atmos on BT Sport Ultimate and it sounds amazing. If you don't want to try my suggestion, then that's up to you but there's no issue with the Atmos on BT Sport Ultimate so it's clearly an issue with your set-up.