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Apple TV 4K sometimes no video just audio

g0ld2k

g0ld2k

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 27, 2006
12
7
Chesapeake, VA
I'm currently on my third Sony XBR65X850e and am feeling a little frustrated. My first one had an issue where a few weeks into owning it, the TV developed a green horizontal line about 4 inches from the top. I swapped that one and got TV #2 (another XBR65X850e), this one had an issue where my Apple TV 4K would only have audio and UI elements (no video) when starting to play some content, but not everytime I played that content, normally the issue would occur after turning on the TV. I saw this issue occur when playing video from the Movies app, Netflix, and Amazon. I found that a reboot of the Apple TV or XBR65X850e would resolve the issue temporarily. It seems to occur once or twice a day. I returned TV #2 and got another XBR65X850e (TV #3) (I got a great price on this TV) and it is having the same issues as TV #2. I'm not sure if between #1 and #2 there was a firmware update that introduced this issue or if I have gotten two TVs with the same issues. Has anyone had good luck with their Apple TVs and this TV? Also anyone have any other thoughts on things I could try?


What I've tried:
  • Updated firmware on both Apple TV and TV to latest
  • Apple TV on HDMI 2 and 3
  • Turning off and on the Enhanced HDMI settings
  • Using chroma 4:2:0 and 4:2:2 settings on the Apple TV
  • I replaced my HDMI cables with Certified Premium High Speed cables that supports 18Gbps Monoprice
  • Doing a factory reset on the TV and on the Apple TV
 
HobeSoundDarryl

HobeSoundDarryl

macrumors G5
Feb 8, 2004
12,435
16,125
Hobe Sound, FL (20 miles north of Palm Beach)
Hook some other source up for a while and see if the issue happens again. Use the same HDMI cable hooked to the same port. The idea here is to try to further narrow the issue (by potentially eliminating the :apple:TV). Do you have a prior generation :apple:TV? Try that and any other HDMI source.

Any strong magnetic anythings close to that TV?

You’ve swapped the TV 3 times. Swap the :apple:TV? If too late, borrow a friends :apple:TV, hook it up and see if another causes the same problem. Or buy another, test it and return it before day 15.

Would you happen to have a HDMI pass through device like a receiver? If so, hook up through that and see if the problem persists. I’m thinking about a middle man device potentially manipulating the signal.

Any sense of a time issue here? Does the TV seem to be fine for about the same amount of time before this happens?

Have you done an Internet search for the model number and the problem? Any others griping about this happening with this TV? For example, https://community.sony.com/t5/4K-Ultra-HD-TV/XBR65X850C-Turns-off-by-itself/td-p/542158 looks like one source of blame is a “daydream” setting.

Can you recreate the issue on demand? For example, next time it happens, take note of the specific moment in the movie. Reboot to get it working again, then fast forward to just before that scene. Will it blink out on the scene again? And again? I’m wondering if maybe it’s a high contrast or bright white thing?
 
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punkdthrice

macrumors member
Nov 18, 2017
31
9
It's an Apple TV issue. I got the exact same problem with Audio but no Video on my Sony XBR49X800D. A reboot of the Apple TV fixes it temporarily. Don't worry It's not your TV. It must be some kind of bug between the ATV and the Sony TV. Numerous people have been reporting this problem with their Sony sets.

This didn't happen on TvOS 11.0. Something must have been changed from tvOS 11.1 and onwards that causes this problem. All we can do is hope for a future update to resolve this.
 
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g0ld2k

g0ld2k

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 27, 2006
12
7
Chesapeake, VA
punkdthrice said:
It's an Apple TV issue. I got the exact same problem with Audio but no Video on my Sony XBR49X800D. A reboot of the Apple TV fixes it temporarily. Don't worry It's not your TV. It must be some kind of bug between the ATV and the Sony TV. Numerous people have been reporting this problem with their Sony sets.

This didn't happen on TvOS 11.0. Something must have been changed from tvOS 11.1 and onwards that causes this problem. All we can do is hope for a future update to resolve this.
Click to expand...

Not the answer I was hoping for but the answer I was expecting. I'm tempted to go buy another Apple TV 4K from Best Buy and hope it has an old version of iOS on it. I saw someone else mention that tvOS 11.3b1 is still having this problem, so it sounds like it is going to be a while till it is resolved.

I've figured it was an issue with the Sony firmware especially after the last TV firmware update causes my PS4 Pro to reboot my TV every time I play a HDR game.
 
P

punkdthrice

macrumors member
Nov 18, 2017
31
9
That's not really worth the trouble. I believe those tvOS 11.0 devices are all gone, since so many updates have been out already. I agree that it's really frustrating. I'm currently using an Apple TV 4th Gen that doesn't have this issue. My ATV4k is useless right now. I'm currently using on my LG tv in a different room with no issue. Maybe you could try using it on another TV. Since this issue vary by different setups, a different TV could get you some use out of your device while we all wait for a fix.
 
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punkdthrice

macrumors member
Nov 18, 2017
31
9
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g0ld2k

g0ld2k

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 27, 2006
12
7
Chesapeake, VA
Well I’ve ordered the Belkin cable with the full expectation that it isn’t going to work, but I’m willing to try anything.
 
Michelasso

Michelasso

macrumors 6502
Feb 20, 2012
405
69
Treviso, Italy
In my case it sure wasn't the cable. I have all my HDMI cables from Amazon and they work perfectly. When it happened to me last night with Infuse (audio on, black screen), I have simply double clicked the "TV" button and closed Infuse. Starting Infuse again it worked (and kept working).

And yes, I have a Sony Bravia (EU XD80) as well. I think there is a pattern here. Maybe some mismatched HDMI communication between the tvOS and Android TV on Bravia.
 
netnothing

netnothing

macrumors 68040
Mar 13, 2007
3,806
417
NH
g0ld2k said:
Well I’ve ordered the Belkin cable with the full expectation that it isn’t going to work, but I’m willing to try anything.
Click to expand...

Same boat here with an X930E. I previously had my ATV plugged into my Denon AVR and then onto the TV. That caused issues where I needed to actually pull the power on the TV to get things fixed. I have since plugged the ATV directly into HDMI 3 on my TV to simply things. Since then I've been getting the random no video/with audio issue. I had ordered 2 Belkins to replace the Amazon and Monoprice cables that I tried.....didn't help sadly.

I have the latest firmware on the TV and I'm running 11.3b1 on the ATV. Hoping 11.3b2 helps things but I'm not optimistic.

I do have a bug report open with Apple, with logs and console output when it happens. Haven't heard anything back yet.

Just yesterday I figured out how to program the Reboot button into my Harmony to at least make it easier to reboot! Getting tired of the issue though.
 
netnothing

netnothing

macrumors 68040
Mar 13, 2007
3,806
417
NH
Just reporting that 11.3b2 had no change. Neither did switching the TV to a different HDMI port before shutting down.
 
RSmith2023

RSmith2023

macrumors 6502a
Sep 26, 2015
702
746
Atlanta, GA
g0ld2k said:
I'm currently on my third Sony XBR65X850e and am feeling a little frustrated. My first one had an issue where a few weeks into owning it, the TV developed a green horizontal line about 4 inches from the top. I swapped that one and got TV #2 (another XBR65X850e), this one had an issue where my Apple TV 4K would only have audio and UI elements (no video) when starting to play some content, but not everytime I played that content, normally the issue would occur after turning on the TV. I saw this issue occur when playing video from the Movies app, Netflix, and Amazon. I found that a reboot of the Apple TV or XBR65X850e would resolve the issue temporarily. It seems to occur once or twice a day. I returned TV #2 and got another XBR65X850e (TV #3) (I got a great price on this TV) and it is having the same issues as TV #2. I'm not sure if between #1 and #2 there was a firmware update that introduced this issue or if I have gotten two TVs with the same issues. Has anyone had good luck with their Apple TVs and this TV? Also anyone have any other thoughts on things I could try?


What I've tried:
  • Updated firmware on both Apple TV and TV to latest
  • Apple TV on HDMI 2 and 3
  • Turning off and on the Enhanced HDMI settings
  • Using chroma 4:2:0 and 4:2:2 settings on the Apple TV
  • I replaced my HDMI cables with Certified Premium High Speed cables that supports 18Gbps Monoprice
  • Doing a factory reset on the TV and on the Apple TV
Click to expand...

I have this issue sporadically on 2 of the AppleTV's I have in the house. Only one is a 4K so the issue isn't only with those.

If I stop the program I am watching, menu up 1 level, then go back in and restart it then both video and audio are restored.

This typically happens to me if I am binging a series and watch a bunch of episodes back to back (usually when I am working from home and "background noise.")
 
madgalaxy

madgalaxy

macrumors regular
Apr 11, 2015
121
67
Same with here on my XBR55X900E - I have to restart the ATV. No other inputs on the TV have this issue.
 
g0ld2k

g0ld2k

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 27, 2006
12
7
Chesapeake, VA
It’s sad that this is still going on. I don’t know who to blame, Apple or Sony because the fault could be on either, the Sony firmware has a lot of issues with 4K and HDR.

I managed to not have any issues for 4 days after resetting the TV and the Apple TV to factory defaults, but the issue started back up when I turned on match content and colors on the Apple TV. I haven’t been able to get the TV back to a good state since. I think I’m going to retry a reset on both again and see if it was just a fluke.


I also purchased the belkin cable and that didn’t help.
 
netnothing

netnothing

macrumors 68040
Mar 13, 2007
3,806
417
NH
g0ld2k said:
It’s sad that this is still going on. I don’t know who to blame, Apple or Sony because the fault could be on either, the Sony firmware has a lot of issues with 4K and HDR.

I managed to not have any issues for 4 days after resetting the TV and the Apple TV to factory defaults, but the issue started back up when I turned on match content and colors on the Apple TV. I haven’t been able to get the TV back to a good state since. I think I’m going to retry a reset on both again and see if it was just a fluke.


I also purchased the belkin cable and that didn’t help.
Click to expand...

Still no luck here either. Still have the issue every day and sometimes each time I turn on the TV. I’m running the ATV beta with no changes. Apple hasn’t touched my bug report about it.

I have tried every possible gimmick or setting or cable I can think of. There is no rhyme or reason as to why it works perfectly after a reboot, but fails after idle time. I would rather just have it fail all the time....then I would at least be able to troubleshoot it by changing a cable or something.

Been using the Roku now for a while with no issues. Really hoping either Apple or Sony push out a magic fix.
 
L

lsutigerfan1976

macrumors 68030
Sep 14, 2012
2,751
1,734
I have the same issue. But I’m running the beta. So I don’t know if that’s a bug in the beta. I usually reboot the Apple TV and it starts working after.
 
Menge

Menge

macrumors 6502a
Dec 22, 2008
611
3
Amsterdam
I have the same thing on my LG TV with the Belkin cable. Sleeping the Apple TV and waking it up again usually makes the issue go away for a couple of days.

Also, one of the times this happened I saw Netflix complain about my cable not supporting HDCP, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the waking up of the Apple TV is missing some negotiation point while the TV is waking up as well and HDCP is failing, causing broken video.
 
Mac 128

Mac 128

macrumors 603
Apr 16, 2015
5,360
2,930
netnothing said:
BTW - 14 pages long it looks like we are not alone in having an issue with the ATV and the Sony's:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8110879

Sad part is it's been going on since November with no resolution.
Click to expand...

It looks like the beta of 11.4.1 may fix it.

I’ll wait for the update, but in the meantime, the fix seems to be turning auto sleep off.

What’s the downside to never letting the ATV sleep? Does the screensaver just play all night while the TVs off? Just sucking more energy?
 
P

punkdthrice

macrumors member
Nov 18, 2017
31
9
I'm on tvOS beta 11.4.1 Beta 1 on a Sony X800D using Rocketfish HDMI cables from Best buy. I haven't updated to the newest beta yet because I'm going on a week and a half with no issues. No black screens. I haven 't noticed any bugs or anything like that on the beta. It looks like the problem may have been fixed by Apple. I can sleep normally in 30 minutes and wake it up 4 hours later or the next day and have video!! Highly recommend updating to the latest beta.
 
Last edited:
R

rockinray

macrumors newbie
May 26, 2015
7
4
I read on AVS forums that turning off Bravia Sync seems to have fixed this issue.

I’ve not tried this yet. Just sharing what I read in that forum.
 
Mac 128

Mac 128

macrumors 603
Apr 16, 2015
5,360
2,930
rockinray said:
I read on AVS forums that turning off Bravia Sync seems to have fixed this issue.

I’ve not tried this yet. Just sharing what I read in that forum.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately turning off Bravia Sync also turns off CEC functionality. I’m not sure which would annoy me more.

Turning off sleep on my ATV doesn’t seem to have solved the problem entirely. I left the screen saver on, so maybe I need to turn that off too?

I’ve actually started to suspect the auto match functions. Those were the most recent additions to picture content, and would affect the video signal being sent to the TV for each new program I launch, and the interface itself. That might be tripping up something.
 
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