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Apple Brings Enhance Dialogue to Original HomePod and HomePod mini With 17.1 Update

SDJim said:
I'm on gen 1 HomePods, so I must have beta turned on, at least for the ATV? I would certainly hope it improves, but honestly I have found personally that sound quality varies a lot by steaming service. Netflix is particularly poor, in my experience.
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@SDJim

For gen 1 Homepods it specifically requires 17.1 installed on both the pods and the Apple TV to work properly. Perhaps you had the beta installed on the Apple TV but not on the Homepods and that caused issues sound wise when you turned on the setting on your apple tv.
 
Morac said:
Was this pulled? I’m not seeing any new updates on either of my HomePod Minis. They are on 17.0.
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You have to update tvos to version 17.1. I’ve been watching content from Max through my HomePod minis and blue tooth headphones. The difference is definitely noticeable.
 
Johnnyboy55 said:
You have to update tvos to version 17.1. I’ve been watching content from Max through my HomePod minis and blue tooth headphones. The difference is definitely noticeable.
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Turns out the Home app lied to me and the update was downloading on my HomePods. When I checked later it said the update was downloaded and waiting to install.
 
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disaster

I updated my 2nd gen HomePods to 17.1.

The 2 of them are connected to my TV

I ask it to play Apple Music hits and it now turns on the TV every time I ask it to play music

it never used to do this and rightfully so

is anyone else having this issue?
 
Timo_Existencia said:
Ever since upgrading my homepods to 17.0 (and now 17.1) my homepods respond "looks like Apple Music can't play that" every time I ask it to play a playlist.

I'd support Apple stopping all new feature development until they can make my homepods simply work.
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I agree 100%!
 
If like me you were hoping that 17.1 would fix all the music interruption issues (songs ending before the end, songs starting after the beginning, songs restarting from the beginning after a few seconds or long silences), well this is just another HomePod disappointing update. It took me 20 minutes to get my first issue after updating. I don't think Apple does any quality control for the HomePod.

The only positive thing so far, is that they fix the issue where Siri couldn’t like a song when asked anymore.

Besides that, I'm still hoping to get OS 15.7 back as it’s the last OS Apple released that was working on my HomePods.
 
garethjs said:
disaster

I updated my 2nd gen HomePods to 17.1.

The 2 of them are connected to my TV

I ask it to play Apple Music hits and it now turns on the TV every time I ask it to play music

it never used to do this and rightfully so

is anyone else having this issue?
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Unpair the Homepods from the Apple TV. Reboots them (from the Home app or unplugging them). Reboot the Apple TV.

Repair the Homepods to the Apple TV. Retest.
 
B/D said:
Yes, only for home theater mode (AKA default audio output), with an Apple TV 4K. It says so in the Macrumors article, and the release notes.
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Will this work With the first gen Apple TV 4K?

I have two 3rd gen Apple TV 4Ks and two 1st gen Apple TV 4Ks. All are using HomePods a the default output option. I’ve only updated my 3rd gen Apple TVs so far and the option is available there. Just wondering if it will be available on my 1st gen 4K Apple TVs when I update them.
 
Shanghaichica said:
Will this work With the first gen Apple TV 4K?

I have two 3rd gen Apple TV 4Ks and two 1st gen Apple TV 4Ks. All are using HomePods a the default output option. I’ve only updated my 3rd gen Apple TVs so far and the option is available there. Just wondering if it will be available on my 1st gen 4K Apple TVs when I update them.
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Yeah, the first gen Apple TV 4K also supports it (source, I use one with my OG Homepods in my living room).
 
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B/D said:
Yeah, the first gen Apple TV 4K also supports it (source, I use one with my OG Homepods in my living room).
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Thanks. I just upgraded one of my first gen Apple TVs and it does indeed support it. Pretty good going for an old device.
 
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It'd be great to use the Homepod as the output for my Apple TV however not all apps are comptaible which makes it unusable. Twitch in particular for some reason for years now has it so the audio is totally out of sync if using a Homepod. It's not the "live" aspect as other apps with live streaming manage to handle it fine.
 
dannys1 said:
It'd be great to use the Homepod as the output for my Apple TV however not all apps are comptaible which makes it unusable. Twitch in particular for some reason for years now has it so the audio is totally out of sync if using a Homepod. It's not the "live" aspect as other apps with live streaming manage to handle it fine.
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No, its the fact the they lack full and proper Airplay 2 support. A pity.
 
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B/D said:
The amazing thing here are the OG Homepods. They have an A8 chip which is positively ancient these days, and yet they are still getting updates, features, and even improvements sound wise.

Awesome!.
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Agreed my stereo paired OG homepods are still going strong and still getting updates and new features. I can't complain at all.
 
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@SDJim

I´ve detected a weird and strange issue with the "Enhance Dialogue" feature. I have discovered than on my OG Homepods paired with my first gen Apple TV 4K, enabling this feature actually makes everything sound lower and muddy, dialogue included, on every tvOS app. Everything sound super compressed.

However, if I pair my OG Homepods with my third gen Apple TV 4K (in the bedroom), the feature works as intended and everything sound louder and fuller with this setting on.

Any ideas?. A bug, perhaps?
 
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Fairly sure this is just a coincidence, but one of my OG HomePods just died last night after working flawlessly for many months. It was set to Auto Update FWIW. (The other one seems to have updated just fine.)
 
B/D said:
@SDJim

I´ve detected a weird and strange issue with the "Enhance Dialogue" feature. I have discovered than on my OG Homepods paired with my first gen Apple TV 4K, enabling this feature actually makes everything sound lower and muddy, dialogue included, on every tvOS app. Everything sound super compressed.

However, if I pair my OG Homepods with my third gen Apple TV 4K (in the bedroom), the feature works as intended and everything sound louder and fuller with this setting on.

Any ideas?. A bug, perhaps?
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Strange. I am working with a 2nd Gen ATV 4k with gen 1 HomePods, but I haven't revisited the feature since the formal update. Let me check my versions and try again! Maybe it's a gen1 ATV4K issue and mine will work properly... 🤞
 
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Upon further testing, we have concluded that at max volume, or near it, (we have a big living room) we DEFINITELY think that everything sounds louder and richer with BOTH reduce loud sounds and enhanced dialogue off.

A couple of examples that perhaps you could try: Search for the "Napoleon" trailer in the Apple TV app, and play the "trailer 2". The first scene of the trailer is DEFINITELY louder with "Enhanced Dialogue" off.

The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix, episode 1: The opening sequence narration is DEFINITELY louder with Enhanced Dialogue off.

At very low volumes though, Enhanced Dialogue makes voices clearer.

Very strange.
 
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Anyone noticing very low volume on HomePod minis? I have a set stereo-paired at 50% and it’s barely audible.
 
MacRumors said:


Apple today released the HomePod 17.1 software for the HomePod and HomePod mini, bringing support for Enhance Dialogue to additional devices.

HomePod-2-and-Mini-feature-2.jpg

Enhance Dialogue is a feature that boosts the volume of spoken voices to make dialogue easier to hear over effects, action, and music in a movie or TV show. The feature works when a HomePod or HomePod mini is paired to an Apple TV and used as the audio output option.

Prior to today, Enhance Dialogue was available on the second-generation HomePod, and it was a feature that was first introduced in tvOS 17. With tvOS 17.1 and HomePod software 17.1, Enhance Dialogue can be enabled on any HomePod (or set of HomePods) paired to an Apple TV 4K. Apple's full release notes for the update are below.Enabling Enhance Dialogue can be done by playing a TV show or movie, bringing up the playback controls with the Siri Remote, and choosing the Enhance Dialogue feature from the Audio Options button. It can be enabled for all content by going to Settings > Video and Audio > Enhance Dialogue.

‌‌‌‌‌HomePod‌‌‌‌‌‌ software is installed automatically on the ‌‌‌‌‌‌HomePod‌‌ unless the feature is disabled‌‌‌‌, but the ‌‌‌‌‌‌HomePod‌‌‌‌‌‌ can also be manually updated in the Home app by following the instructions in our HomePod‌‌ update how to.

Article Link: Apple Brings Enhance Dialogue to Original HomePod and HomePod mini With 17.1 Update
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All my devices are up to date and I see no enhance dialogue anywhere. What am I missing?

Edit: Just discovered that I have to have my HomePod and AppleTV labels as same room in the home app in order to unlock enhance dialogue option.
 
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Squuiid said:
I genuinely think this is an accessibility feature more than anything. It’s really been over-hyped IMO. Yes, it’s there for those that need it, but the HomePods should, and do, reproduce a movie’s sound as the film maker intended.
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I think the problem is more with TV shows containing lots of dialogue. They cram so much exposition into a scene that is necessary to follow 5 seasons of show. But they bury that dialogue under loud, ambient music and SFX so it's very hard to follow. Film is a little different because it's just more of a visual medium that only has 2 hours to tell the whole story. They don't rely on filler episodes and a lot of exposition delivered through dialogue the same way that TV does these days.
 
I have 2 original HomePods and 4 other HomePod Mini’s. They are all updated to 17.1 along with my 4K Apple TV (1st Gen, not the newer one they released not to long ago), and I still have yet to find this option. What am I missing here?
 
ShawnTXDFW said:
I have 2 original HomePods and 4 other HomePod Mini’s. They are all updated to 17.1 along with my 4K Apple TV (1st Gen, not the newer one they released not to long ago), and I still have yet to find this option. What am I missing here?
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Go to settings, video and audio, scroll down and it is under audio format. Turn on or off enhance dialogue
 
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