Info Apple TV: tvOS 13 and Airplay 2 from Audio Station

[fredbert]

I've two of the newer style Apple TV: a 4K (aka 5th gen) and the older HD (aka 4th gen).

I had problems getting Audio Station to directly stream using Airplay 2 to these on the previous tvOS. It was semi-resolved by enabling PIN code access on the Apple TV's Airplay settings.

I've updated the 4K box to tvOS 13 and while it seems that Audio Station is streaming the music there is no sound coming out of the Apple TV. I once got the Apple TV displaying the album art and controls on the TV screen, yet no music. To test that the volume wasn't turned down somewhere I was able to Airplay from my iPhone to the Apple TV, also Audio Station could stream to my Denon AVR using DLNA (which is where the Apple TV is plugged in to). That worked.

Also, tested Audio Station to the Apple TV HD on tvOS 12 and that still works. So seems there may be a problem with tvOS 13, Airplay 2, and Audio Station.

 

[jeyare]

@fredbert , seems to be additional bug in 13th edition of OS, that was iconic from 2007, but from iOS9 the system is still issued in immature stage. Seems to be not a mistake, it is a feature ATM.
I started with Macintosh Quadra 800 in 1993, it was great vs Win3.1 based on i486. In 1998 I left the Apple environment to SGI, then in 2001 move to Win/Ubuntu based world. But from 2008 back to Apple just with iPhones later iPads family ecosystem. Till now.
Seems to be, that from Steve death, Apple goes to market with same attitude as rest of world at the time = immaturity, what is worse for such mad price of HW. Now I looking for step to Android world. First step is done Sony TV. Same immaturity issues for better cost.
But, all finger crossed for a solution of your problem.

 

[wwwampy]

Now I looking for step to Android world.

And I'm stepping into the Apple ecosystem. iMac a few months ago. No regrets so far. Updates for devices last longer then on Android, for instance. MacOS is great. I still use Windows daily... Not worth comparing. But ok, all this is really very subjective. Depends what you want and need. I'm looking at iPhone currently, I'm sick of Android phones. Wife got a new iPad Air 3 with Apple pencil for drawing - incredible!

Ok, this is all offtopic. Sorry for hijacking a thread, @fredbert. We should open a new one.

 

[jeyare]

the new iOS/Android thread has been moved to this link

 

[WST16]

I didn’t update my 4K yet. Read a lot of complaints about the Netflix like previews, and one cannot switch it off. I’ll wait and see.

 

[durin]

I don't usually use our AppleTV for audio playback as I already have our Sonos system linked to my music directory on my DS1019+ for playback, but after upgrading the AppleTV to tvOS13 I tested Audio Station and didn't have any issues with Airplay 2...

But perhaps I haven't replicated the circumstances sufficiently.

 

[durin]

@fredbert , seems to be additional bug in 13th edition of OS, that was iconic from 2007, but from iOS9 the system is still issued in immature stage. Seems to be not a mistake, it is a feature ATM.
I started with Macintosh Quadra 800 in 1993, it was great vs Win3.1 based on i486. In 1998 I left the Apple environment to SGI, then in 2001 move to Win/Ubuntu based world. But from 2008 back to Apple just with iPhones later iPads family ecosystem. Till now.
Seems to be, that from Steve death, Apple goes to market with same attitude as rest of world at the time = immaturity, what is worse for such mad price of HW. Now I looking for step to Android world. First step is done Sony TV. Same immaturity issues for better cost.
But, all finger crossed for a solution of your problem.

Not sure what this contributes to the original question beyond a subjective rant.

 

[fredbert]

I don't usually use our AppleTV for audio playback as I already have our Sonos system linked to my music directory on my DS1019+ for playback, but after upgrading the AppleTV to tvOS 13 I tested Audio Station and didn't have any issues with Airplay 2...

But perhaps I haven't replicated the circumstances sufficiently.

Interesting. I had issues with Airplay 2 such that Audio Station would only work if I set a PIN access code for all users of Airplay on the Apple TV HD and 4K. But now even that isn'y working with tvOS13.

My Denon AVR was updated to support Airplay 2 but doesn't have any way to add a PIN code. So that hasn't worked with Audio Station since then. Luckily DLNA still does.

Video Station does work with Airplay 2 to the Apple TV 4K. I suppose I should test on the tvOS 12 Apple TV HD.

The reason I want to do this is so the iOS apps are just controllers of the NAS packages, not part of the streaming.

My user account on DSM is a non-admin, if that makes any difference.

 

[durin]

Sounds like you want it to do essentially what the Sonos system does, as iOS devices are just controllers and the Sonos software handles pulling the data from the NAS (or Apple Music/Spotify/etc) and playback to speakers over wifi - feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I'll check again that I'm replicating what you're doing, though it'll probably have to wait to the weekend...

 

[fredbert]

Revisiting this thread.

Apple released tvOS 13.2 that had a partial fix for the Airplay 2 issue. Hurrah! Now I can get Audio Station to stream 10 may be even 20 seconds before the audio drops. To say that this has been cheesing me off a wee bit might be understating it. Hoping tvOS 13.3, in 2nd beta, may fix it.

Anyway, I still have absolutely no fix for the Airplay 2 update that Denon included for my AV receiver. On the plus side it has DLNA support and so Audio Station can stream using that. But the AVR isn't in the other room with the 2nd 4th gen Apple TV.

Looking for an alternative out of Apple's control I picked up a Denon HEOS amp for a bargain price because the AVR has HEOS too. The HEOS Amp doesn't have Airplay of any version but is DLNA compliant (and I knew this worked without buying into a whole Sonos eco-system). No Airplay means I can't send iOS/iTunes direct unless using a suitable player app of cloud service, but.....

Next step is to add Airplay so that both AVR and H.amp will work directly from the Apple-sphere. I did a bit of searching and found this philippe44/AirConnect and there's a Docker container that is being maintained here Docker Hub (available in Docker's Registry). What this does is advertise Airplay connectivity for each UPnP/Chomecast player it finds.

The container is defaulted with latency parameters to support Sonos/HEOS player. The only thing that you need to do when creating the container instance is in Advance Setting under Network: enable 'Use the same network as Docker Host'. You can add Environment variables AIRCAST_VAR (for casting players) and AIRUPNP_VAR (for UPnP players, e.g. Sonos) but I found I didn't need to do this.

Not sure if this will be useful to anyone, or me, but it's worth checking out if you want Airplay on a network player that doesn't have it. There is a 3rd party Syno package too but I'd rather have a contained Docker instance than install directly on DSM.


[Contrary to what I thought about adding an AirPlay access PIN to the AVR I find it is possible via the mobile HEOS app, buried deep in settings. It didn’t help to get Audio Station to stream to it.]

 

[fredbert]

Following-up I wrote the Docker - AirConnect: Use AirPlay to stream to UPnP/Sonos & Chromecast devices tutorial a while ago.

I've since forgotten about the Airplay 2 issue now I'm running AirConnect in Docker. I (will have come Christmas) got an HEOS 1 HS2 speaker and that instantly had Airplay added by AirConnect.

BTW if anyone is interested in a cheaper Sonos speaker, take a look at Ikea's Symfonisk which they worked on with Sonos. SYMFONISK: Stereo Furniture by Sonos and IKEA | Sonos