IOS 14 Apple TV paired with HomePods

[dannys1]

Using the new feature of being able to pair HomePods to the Apple TV - it’s actually quite a large change. It bonds the HomePods and the Apple TV together - now you see one AirPlay 2 device which appears as an icon showing the Apple TV and HomePods speakers.

You were always able to chose HomePods as outputs for the Apple TV - however it wasn’t really usable as the vocal channels were always phasing left and right and doing strange things. I believe the HomePods were taking it as a stereo source and applying inappropriate processing to it as if it was music. This is fixed now as it appears to play all TV input fine - even standard stereo tracks from things like All 4 - not just Dolby Digital and Dolby Atmos tracks.

However it’s introduced a whole load of other bugs. Some apps don’t appear to work with it - i’m not sure if APIs need updating because the standard UK catchup apps work fine and they haven’t updated. In my testing the Twitch app doesn’t work - for some reason the volume is very low and about 4 seconds out of time!? Spotify doesn’t work either, I just get no audio when playing from it - all native apps work fine of course.

Anyone else found any apps that don’t work yet with this feature properly?

 

[joelhinch]

What I like about the new feature:
- It's reliable when AirPlay'ing Video to the TV that the HomePods play audio without having to fiddle with AirPlay.
- When playing video/streaming with Apps it has worked 100% of the time, and the remote for adjusting audio works great.
- At least now the TV doesn't wake when only Audio is being AirPlayed/played by the TV to the HomePods

What I don't like:
- That the Apple TV consumes the HomePods, I can't tell Siri to play in a room, I have to tell it to play on the TV.
- Multiroom with other HomePods is buggy with the Apple TV owning the HomePods
- The HomePods don't think they're being "owned" by the TV, when you ask Siri to pause, Siri thinks as a HomePod nothing is playing. You have to tell Siri to pause the TV specifically. This didn't used to be the case.

 

[joelhinch]

Anyone else found any apps that don’t work yet with this feature properly?

To answer your question, all 3rd party apps I use e.g. Plex, (Australian Streaming Services such as Kayo, 9now, 7+) all work fine with vocals very clear, much better than before.

 

[TonyC28]

What I don't like:
- That the Apple TV consumes the HomePods, I can't tell Siri to play in a room, I have to tell it to play on the TV.
- Multiroom with other HomePods is buggy with the Apple TV owning the HomePods
- The HomePods don't think they're being "owned" by the TV, when you ask Siri to pause, Siri thinks as a HomePod nothing is playing. You have to tell Siri to pause the TV specifically. This didn't used to be the case.

I was hoping this part was just a bug but given the icon in the Airplay I guess it must be intentional. I am hoping to add some HomePod Minis around the house but I’m worried the setup might be clunky with my first two HomePods set up as a home theater with Apple TV. They really should give us the option to treat the HomePods independently from Apple TV for audio purposes.

 

[joelhinch]

I was hoping this part was just a bug but given the icon in the Airplay I guess it must be intentional. I am hoping to add some HomePod Minis around the house but I’m worried the setup might be clunky with my first two HomePods set up as a home theater with Apple TV. They really should give us the option to treat the HomePods independently from Apple TV for audio purposes.

Agree. With 'Home Theatre' it's as if they expect you to have a seperate HomePod for your music in the room with the TV setup. I wish they still showed up as a seperate entity while the TV is asleep. Then maybe they can disappear as their own entity when the Apple TV takes over ownership and is playing something?

 

[Madchemic39]

When you pair the Homepods to the Apple TV as stereo pair, do you change the audio output to stereo or can you leave it in auto mode pre -selected by Apple TV?

 

[dannys1]

I'm still having the same issues with apps since I posted this - Twitch is about 6 seconds out of time with the video.

Spotify still doesn't work for me either.

There are long delays playing and pausing Youtube, I assume it's using Airplay 1 - there's not a lot you can do about that I guess. It is what it is.

 

[B/D]

Selecting the Homepods as the default output of the ATV kills my ATV wifi speed and makes my ping go crazy. It goes from a rock solid 300/300 speed to a 1.2/2.4 speed, and the ping goes from 10ms to 120ms .

No idea why this happens, but it makes my ATV4K unusable for watching high quality content. As soon as I choose my internal tv speakers as default output and select the homepods from the ATV control center, the internet speed of the apple tv return to normal.

 

[jmmo20]

I'm having all sorts of issues with this.
I have two apple TV 4K but one has the "Default audio" option and the other one doesn't.

I just bought to Homepod minis and they don't even work with the apple tv as standard airplay.

I'm a bit confused as I thought this should just work, but it doesn't. And I'm an Apple fanboy for over 20 years........

 

[joelhinch]

I'm having all sorts of issues with this.
I have two apple TV 4K but one has the "Default audio" option and the other one doesn't.

I just bought to Homepod minis and they don't even work with the apple tv as standard airplay.

I'm a bit confused as I thought this should just work, but it doesn't. And I'm an Apple fanboy for over 20 years........

Yep. Yet another poorly implemented feature.

 

[mallbritton]

I'm having all sorts of issues with this.
I have two apple TV 4K but one has the "Default audio" option and the other one doesn't.

I just bought to Homepod minis and they don't even work with the apple tv as standard airplay.

I'm a bit confused as I thought this should just work, but it doesn't. And I'm an Apple fanboy for over 20 years........

Make sure both ATV 4K devices are updated to tvOS 14.2. Otherwise you won’t see the default audio option in settings. If both devices are running tvOS 14.2, then the one that does not have the feature is not a 4K model. The default audio feature is only supported on the Apple TV 4K, not the Apple TV HD models.

Make sure the HomePod minis are updated to the latest version of audioOS, 14.2. Keep in mind they do not support any surround sound formats, only stereo when used as audio out for an Apple TV.