Apple TV App on Select LG Smart TVs Will Support Dolby Atmos Sound 'Later This Year'

Don't get me started on this again. No AppleTV+ app on LG TV's that are older than 2019 but perfectly capable of running those apps?

Don't get me wrong I love my 2017 LG OLED but they've seriously hacked me off by not providing support for applications like AppleTV+ that the set could easily handle. It supports 4K Netflix in Dolby Vision so there's no reason I can think of that they can't support AppleTV+ too.

I won't be buying an LG next time.

Just as a curiosity, do you find using the built in TV apps better then using just an external device? I also have a 2017 LG OLED (C7) and I've honestly never used the built in apps. To me an Apple TV/Roku always seems superior to any TV experience I've messed with.

I honestly wish it was possible to just buy a monitor that looked exactly like the OLED tv with none of the smart stuff at a lower price.

Don't get me started on this again. No AppleTV+ app on LG TV's that are older than 2019 but perfectly capable of running those apps?

Don't get me wrong I love my 2017 LG OLED but they've seriously hacked me off by not providing support for applications like AppleTV+ that the set could easily handle. It supports 4K Netflix in Dolby Vision so there's no reason I can think of that they can't support AppleTV+ too.

I won't be buying an LG next time.

The Apple TV app would work better on 2019 LG OLEDs, esp. with Dolby Atmos, because they are the only ones that support HDMI 2.1 and eARC. I tried getting Dolby Atmos to work from my HDMI 2.0 2018 LG OLED with my HDMI 2.0 Marantz receiver, and it just doesn’t work.

I hear you and you make a valid point. My position is that AppleTV+ without Dolby Atmos would work fine and doesn't need a super up to date TV to function, as is demonstrated by Netflix and others on the set.

That’s a pretty strange reason not to buy an LG next time. Yours is a frickin’ 3 year-old TV. Generally in TVs, if it’s not there when you buy it, don’t expect to ever have it, unless they specifically made a point to announce the upgrade before you bought it. That’s normal for the consumer electronics companies.

You're not wrong, but just because some tech companies behave like that it doesn't mean that I have to like it. Other tech companies have rolled out support for AppleTV+ to their older sets, so if they can do it...!

Just as a curiosity, do you find using the built in TV apps better then using just an external device? I also have a 2017 LG OLED (C7) and I've honestly never used the built in apps. To me an Apple TV/Roku always seems superior to any TV experience I've messed with.

I honestly wish it was possible to just buy a monitor that looked exactly like the OLED tv with none of the smart stuff at a lower price.

Yup .. hate smart tv apps .. Like you I wish I could purchase the OLED without it.

Don't get me started on this again. No AppleTV+ app on LG TV's that are older than 2019 but perfectly capable of running those apps?

Don't get me wrong I love my 2017 LG OLED but they've seriously hacked me off by not providing support for applications like AppleTV+ that the set could easily handle. It supports 4K Netflix in Dolby Vision so there's no reason I can think of that they can't support AppleTV+ too.

I have the 2018 LG C8 OLED, and don’t get the Apple TV app either, but I don’t really care that much. I’d rather just use the Apple TV 4K, because that way I get my Dolby Atmos.

The Apple TV app would work better on 2019 LG OLEDs, esp. with Dolby Atmos, because they are the only ones that support HDMI 2.1 and eARC. I tried getting Dolby Atmos to work from my HDMI 2.0 2018 LG OLED with my HDMI 2.0 Marantz receiver, and it just doesn’t work.

I won't be buying an LG next time.

That’s a pretty strange reason not to buy an LG next time. Yours is a frickin’ 3 year-old TV. Generally in TVs, if it’s not there when you buy it, don’t expect to ever have it, unless they specifically made a point to announce the upgrade before you bought it. That’s normal for the consumer electronics companies.

Stopped by LG’s CES booth this year and was excited about the 2020 TV’s having the Apple TV app built in. Still not quite sure why LG doesn’t support the Apple TV app on older models released prior to 2019.

Wonder if future external devices (nVidia Shield, XB1X) will get Atmos support.

Shield TV not only supports Atmos but decodes more audio than any other device (because Nvidia paid for the lossless licenses). Apple won't license DTS/DTS-HD/DTS:X and Dolby TrueHD/TrueHD+, and for the price of the box, you'd think they would. You can install infuse, but why is that even necessary for such an expensive box? With Shield you get support for everything. Apple pushes everything out as either DD or DD+ (and it adds Atmos metadata if you have a receiver that will handle it), both of which are lossy formats.

FireTV is about the same as the ATV. It's designed for streaming, so yeah.

I have a 13.2 speaker movie theater. An ATV will never set foot in there, it's like putting a volkwagen engine in a Maserati. If you have a theater that's at all decent, don't play lossy audio, it does make a huge difference. If you're only streaming and not playing digital content (blu-ray and/or other protected digital content), yeah, it doesn't matter much, possibly not at all. Any streaming you're going to find will be lossy, but that will start changing as soon as someone points it out to consumers. Keep in mind DD 5.1 is about 25 years old now. Apple's big improvement with the 4K ATV was adding EAC3 support, aka DD Plus. Wowee.

By the way, Atmos on a television that doesn't have three dimensional speakers isn't Atmos, it's a pretty solid gimmick. You'll get better sound from a 5.1 setup or even 7.1 headphones. They're probably getting away with it by putting speakers on the top, sides and bottom of the TV. You can have an Atmos setup with as few as six speakers, by definition. In my opinion you really need 9 to get the 3d sound though. I believe commercial Atmos can have up to 60 speakers, so 9 or 11 really isn't that great.

I have the Apple TV app on my 2019 82" 4K tv. it is the same as the one on my 13" 2018 Macbook Pro. Worthless for me for anything except Apple TV+ content. It does not support Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix, Disney+ and CBS All Access unless you subscribe via their channels. Apple TV Box supports all of those except Netflix. I will stick to my Apple TV HD for now.

Haha yes unless you have actual speakers in your ceiling you are just getting some fake sound bouncing around your room

Consumer Atmos works better with upfiring speakers to produce a more diffuse sound image. That's because home media mixes those extra channels as "presence" channels. If you actually listen to them, they merely carry background and ambient noise. It's different than cinema where the mixes are intended for large numbers of overhead speakers.

Don't get me started on this again. No AppleTV+ app on LG TV's that are older than 2019 but perfectly capable of running those apps?

Don't get me wrong I love my 2017 LG OLED but they've seriously hacked me off by not providing support for applications like AppleTV+ that the set could easily handle. It supports 4K Netflix in Dolby Vision so there's no reason I can think of that they can't support AppleTV+ too.

I won't be buying an LG next time.

Just use an AppleTV. It will function better and longer than any TV built in apps