Apple TV 4K to HomePods (in stereo) over Airplay 2

[d21mike]

My wife ask if she could have 2 speakers on the night stands instead of using the soundbar across the room. This would allow her to use a lower volume since they are on her side of the room. So I setup 2 HomePods (in stereo) and told the Apple TV to use them over Airplay 2 (as a single source).

This works very well with excellent sound quality except for 1 problem. After we SLEEP the Apple TV and then start using it the next day it reverts to the TV's internal speakers instead of using the HomePods. We then bring up the Audio selection (which still points to the HomePod's) and "reselect" the HomePods (as a stereo pair) and all good again until we SLEEP the Apple TV.

Other then NEVER Sleeping the Apple TV (which would keep the TV on) I do not know what to do to solve this.

Any ideas?

 

[verniesgarden]

I had a similar situation after using the beta tvOS, the solve I had was to reset the Apple TV to factory (luckily you can restore all the apps so you really don't lose anything) then reset your audio source in the system preference to the homePods.

 

[d21mike]

I had a similar situation after using the beta tvOS, the solve I had was to reset the Apple TV to factory (luckily you can restore all the apps so you really don't lose anything) then reset your audio source in the system preference to the homePods.

Thanks for the advice but that did not solve my issue. Do you have 2 HomePod in Stereo or just 1? In the past when I only had 1 before my wife ask for 2 it seemed to work better using only 1. But it would still loose the connection but I think in a different way. Here the source is still the 2 HomePods it is just the sound is coming from the TV. I may change the TV to say it does not have any speakers (i.e. use external) to see if that helps. But I still have the sound bar connected so surprised it does not revert to it instead of the TV Speakers.

It is just a bummer that it does not wake up and start streaming to the HP's.

One short cut is to hold down the pause button until the audio source comes up and they just reset it to the HP's and starts working again.

 

[verniesgarden]

I have 2 as well, such a conundrum... I do have apps that will "bounce" between, like Netflix shows the info will be the tv then it will go to the home pods, all peculiar.

 

[d21mike]

I have 2 as well, such a conundrum... I do have apps that will "bounce" between, like Netflix shows the info will be the tv then it will go to the home pods, all peculiar.

Your reply was very helpful to my problem. I tested with just 1 HomePod and had the same problem. It looks like I only have 1 App that has the problem that I can find. I have an App call Channels which uses it's own video player (I believe) because it has to covert MPEG2. And that is the App my Wife uses the most so that is what I was testing. After you comment I decided to try other apps and they did not have the problem (Directv Now, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix, CBS All Access and even PLEX). I will contact the Channels Developers.

EDIT: I contacted Channels Developers and they already knew about the problem and have reported a bug to Apple. They showed my the bug report which explains exactly my problem at the source code level. Not sure how quickly Apple will respond but that is the situation. It is related to not using the Apple Native Video Player.

 

[tromboneaholic]

For me Apple TV will stay connected to my stereo pair unless I use the stereo pair to play music while the Apple TV is off.

Recently, AMC app has been switching from the homepods to the TV speakers during commercials, and not switching back during the show.

 

[bergert]

I have exactly the same problem: do mostly use HomeSharing, setting for HomePod playback is lost after sleep/wake. I have filed a bug report with Apple's feedback assistant (I'm just a hobby developer, so they usually ignore my reports).

It's my only complaint of two (aTV4K + HP) otherwise great products - making it **THE** major problem