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Apple TV 4K having HDR / Dolby Vision issues when passthrough a receiver (Denon) to a Sony TV- Here is the solution and also a workaround

I recently got Apple TV 4K and continue to struggle to get the best out of my setup. While Apple TV 4K is a great player, I could not get HDR passthrough from Denon receiver (Denon AVR-X3500H) to my Sony TV (Sony X900F). I was able to solve the issue in two ways- the correct way (solution), and mediocre way (workaround until I found a solution). Details below:

Symptoms:

• If I connect Apple TV 4k to Sony TV directly, Dolby Vision and HDR are working perfectly. No cable issues or anything.
• However, since I have a home-theater setup, I need to use my Denon receiver to passthrough the signal from Apple TV 4K to Sony TV.
• When I connect Apple TV 4K to Denon and connect Denon’s output to Sony TV, I could not get HDR/ Dolby Vision to work. Apple TV kept switching back to 4K SDR and refused to use 4K HDR/ Dolby Vision.

Struggle:

I tried everything that I could. Played with all settings in the Denon receiver. All of the online searches pointed me to the HDMI cable issue. I was using seven-year old Mediabridge Ultra HDMI cables with ethernet.

• Tried all kinds of new HDMI cables with better specifications (several of them, certified and non-certified premium HDMI cables with great reviews on Amazon) – None of the cables can resolve my issue.

I then played with receiver settings. Since it was clear that Apple TV and Sony TV both are working fine with 4K HDR/ Dolby Vision when connected directly, issues could be receiver or cable. Easy diagnosis! At least that’s what I thought!

• Playing with settings in Denon receiver and trying out Video conversion “ON” or “OFF”
• Of course, I did make sure that Denon is set to 4K Signal Format “Enhanced” (Setup > Video > 4K Signal Format).

No help. Nothing works.

Workaround (Mediocre solution):

I gave up on cables and did not want to try fiber optic or other high-end cable costing hundreds of dollars. I already tried all other sensible things and reputed good cables, played with settings and all. So I almost gave up and changed the signal path as follow:

• Connect Apple TV 4K to Sony X900F (connect to non-ARC HDMI port).
• Connect Sony X900F (ARC HDMI port) to Denon x3500 OUTPUT (ARC port).

This solved my HDR and Dolby Vision issues as Apple TV 4K works perfectly fine with Sony TV when connected directly. It also outputs the audio signal through the HDMI ARC channel to my Denon receiver so my audio system was alive.

The issue with a workaround:

• The workaround solved video issues but created audio issues. Now my TV is not sending the high-quality original audio signal to the receiver, so the audio system was working but not as it should. A stereo quality signal was received by the receiver even if I play 5.1 channel movies from Amazon Prime. So the audio system was underperforming. Not acceptable for me as I like quality audio just as much as quality video.

Solution:

Finally, I found a solution. It’s even laughable. When I got it working, it was crazy- I laughed that I spent too many days to find a solution this way. Are you ready? Here it is:

Connect everything as it should normally be:

• Apple TV 4K > Denon receiver input (any input works, I tried first and last both)
• Denon receiver output (ARC) to Sony X900F (ARC input on the TV, or non-ARC input- as you prefer).
• Denon receiver: Make sure video signal format is set to “Enhanced” (Setup > Video > 4K Signal Format).
• Now here is the secret 😊- Sony TV settings. Yes, Yes, Yes, the solution is with Sony TV and not with Denon receiver, not with HDMI cable, or not with Apple TV.
• Go to Sony TV settings > External inputs > HDMI signal format.
• Set the format to “Enhanced format.”  
• That’s it. You found a magic bullet. Not sure why this setting is not relevant when I connect Apple TV directly to Sony TV. Probably when Apple TV is connected directly, TV may set it automatically- I don’t know. Regardless, we need to correctly set it when the signal is coming through a receiver.
• Restart all components once all connections are established (before you check and try HDR). Now, try going into Apple TV and enable HDR / Dolby Vision. That’s it. – It should work now.
• While in Apple TV, also make sure “Match Content” is “ON” for both, Match Dynamic Range and Match Frame Rate.
• It was a fun project to get this working, and the solution was found in a totally unexpected place.

Do let me know how it goes for you. Enjoy!