I've just updated my Apple TV 4K to tvOS 14.3 (18K561).

When playing content streamed from an iMac I'm able to pause. However, once I do so, I cannot un-pause - continue playback.

Pressing the Play/Pause button on the remote has no effect.

Pressing the Menu button once on the remote has no effect.

There are all sorts of quirks and oddities that did not exist before. Scrubbing, for instance, is hit and miss. Buffering is often endless.

I can no longer use my Apple TV 4K to reliably stream movies from my iMac.

Hi. Just a thought. I had this previously - and strangely - physically unplugging and plugging the Apple TV from the power lead fixed this for me. Worth a try.

Thank you for the reply!

Unfortunately, unplugging my Apple TV did not work.

Sounds like something went wrong with your update. I'd restore to factory settings then reinstall the update.

worldomination said:

I've just updated my Apple TV 4K to tvOS 14.3 (18K561).

When playing content streamed from an iMac I'm able to pause. However, once I do so, I cannot un-pause - continue playback.

Pressing the Play/Pause button on the remote has no effect.

Pressing the Menu button once on the remote has no effect.

There are all sorts of quirks and oddities that did not exist before. Scrubbing, for instance, is hit and miss. Buffering is often endless.

I can no longer use my Apple TV 4K to reliably stream movies from my iMac.

Click to expand...

I have the same problem with a non-4K unit, but it's random. I have to 'back out' of the pause with a menu button and then re-start whatever I was watching...it's just annoying...

I’m also having the same problem on a 4K and a regular ATV 4. I’m hesitant to reset it. Has anyone had success with doing so?

Encountering the same problem. It's a 14.3 bug for sure.

Few things elicit as much dread as hearing an Apple technician say…

Let’s reinstall your Mac’s operating system.

Or, worse...

Let’s re-install iOS 14.

That last one is also up there with…

Let’s reset your iPhone’s network settings.

I imagine hours of wasted time, frustration trying to remember my passwords and settings… Only to have things as broken as they were before.

This time, however, reinstalling tvOS worked. One of the very few times reinstalling software has actually fixed a problem. And it took very little time and effort.

Very little time because I saved my tvOS settings to iCloud and have an iPhone. There were only a few passwords to enter for Netflix and my cable provider.

Huh.

Who would’ve thought.

Thanks, Apple.

I’ll have a go at resetting tomorrow then, and report the news. As you pointed out, it is so rarely actually a fix that I didn’t want the bother of dealing with the need to get home sharing set up properly when it’s not on my icloud account if it wasn’t going to do anything.

worldomination said:

When playing content streamed from an iMac I'm able to pause. However, once I do so, I cannot un-pause - continue playback.

What apps are you using on the iMac and Apple TV side to stream?

HDFan said:

What apps are you using on the iMac and Apple TV side to stream?

Not the OP but I’m using current iTunes for windows and the computers app on the Apple TV.

I just started the restore on mine to see if I can reproduce it solving the problem.

Reinstalling does not appear to have fixed the bug for me. Sad, sad days.

When reinstalling didn't work, I tried upgrading to the 14.4 beta that was available in the interface. The problem still exists there, so I now I'm in the middle of downloading the IPSW to downgrade to 14.2. I'm going to be really sad to lose fitness, but home sharing / the computers app is my main use case for my Apple TV.

Found a solution that worked for me! Had same issue, first spotted after 14 Dec upgrade to Big Sur 11.1 and tvOS 14.3. Both Apple TV 4K and Apple TV (connected to same Apple ID) have stopped responding to Unpause (in the "Computer" app when streaming from MacBook). Rebooting/iCloud sign out/in did not help. Followed the advice in this thread and did reset/software update, twice, on both Apple TVs. To no effect. Tried beta. Nothing.
Which brought me to the point, that had something was wrong with the update, it would most likely affect just one device, not both, and the trouble may be in streaming device itself (MB), following the update. Erased and reinstalled Big Sure - and voila. Pause button operates like charm again.
Of course that have added some hassle with reinstalling Big Sur, but was worth it to get TV operational again. And I did not restore MB from backup, ported back the files and reinstalled all soft.

I've tried reinstalling Big Sur 11.1 now (not from a backup) but I'm still getting this bug - it's infuriating - the only file that I retained was the TV Library. Updating to tvOS 14.4 beta has made no difference either.

All this is very frustrating. Unpause works for smaller sized files below 3.5/4 GB, and still not working for any bigger size file. Besides, it seems Apple screwed up the whole "computers" app with the recent update, as no fast forward /rewind is working, and also subtitles change for some files.
Too bad, as home sharing/streaming and also YouTube was the only reason this TV device was useful for me.

I had this problem.

HERE’S THE FIX.

Turn off Dolby Atmos.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Go to Video and Audio.
3. Scroll down and select Audio Format.
4. Toggle Change Format to On.
5. For New Format, select Stereo.
6. Done.

You’ll be able to play and pause content from the Computers app without a problem now.

To add some more information, I’ve got my Apple TV 4K on the latest beta (14.4) at time of writing. I’ve got it connected directly to an LG 55CX. I’m not using an AV Amplifier or a sound bar.

Turning Dolby Atmos off fixes the problem of not being able to unpause content streaming from the Computers app.

I’ve set mine to stereo, however Dolby Digital 5.1 is also an option if someone would like to try that.

I have navigation sounds enabled on my Apple TV. When I first discovered the play/pause button issue I also noticed that I wasn’t getting navigation sounds either. That’s what lead me to believe the problem was with sound.

I hope this helps someone.

Thanks joesayegh, This worked for me. I can listen in stereo to home sharing content until Apple fixes this unpause bug in future release.

joesayegh said:

I had this problem.

HERE’S THE FIX.

Turn off Dolby Atmos.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Go to Video and Audio.
3. Scroll down and select Audio Format.
4. Toggle Change Format to On.
5. For New Format, select Stereo.
6. Done.

You’ll be able to play and pause content from the Computers app without a problem now.

Click to expand...

Hey just wanted to say thank you as well. This was infuriating but your suggestion seems to have done the trick!

thanks again

joesayegh said:

To add some more information, I’ve got my Apple TV 4K on the latest beta (14.4) at time of writing. I’ve got it connected directly to an LG 55CX. I’m not using an AV Amplifier or a sound bar.

Turning Dolby Atmos off fixes the problem of not being able to unpause content streaming from the Computers app.

I’ve set mine to stereo, however Dolby Digital 5.1 is also an option if someone would like to try that.

I have navigation sounds enabled on my Apple TV. When I first discovered the play/pause button issue I also noticed that I wasn’t getting navigation sounds either. That’s what lead me to believe the problem was with sound.

I hope this helps someone.

Click to expand...

Changing to “Stereo” fixed this for me. Dolby Digital 5.1 had the same freezing taking place as “Auto”.

Thanks!

It indeed worked. Thanks so much joesayegh, your’re a life saviour 🍻

After fixing the "Unable To Pause" problem the Audio menu disappeared... only to reappear a few days later.

Now 5.1 surround sound doesn't work on my Apple TV 4K.

Try downloading this...

3MB Video

...from this web site...

Fraunhofer

I've converted the sound to AC3. Add the 3MB movie to the TV app on your Mac and stream it to your Apple TV 4K.

It may be challenging to tell what's wrong. Listen for the subwoofer... it's not there. One can't hear it at all. In addition, sound should play through each speaker individually, not all of them at once.

Surround sound is broken now.