HomePod with AppleTV seems to be causing lag?

[jkeitz]

I recently set my AppleTV 4K to output to a stereo pair of original HomePods for Atmos audio. It sounds so much better than my 5.1 setup, but I’ve started to have lag with the Apple TV. Pause takes a few seconds, skip ahead takes a few seconds, and worst of all, it often just goes black with the buffering wheel for a few seconds to a minute (usually just as the Islanders get into the offensive zone).

I have it connected via Ethernet to a fiber Internet connection with 150 down. This is never a problem with the 5.1 setup and it never happens on the other two Apple TV’s. I really don’t want to switch back to 5.1, so I’d appreciate any advice?

 

[Just_Me_D]

Is it possible a neighbor, especially if you live in an apartment, is piggybacking off of your connection? Could your ISP provider be throttling your connection?

 

[EdwinG]

Is it possible a neighbor, especially if you live in an apartment, is piggybacking off of your connection? Could your ISP provider be throttling your connection?

To piggyback on your questions: do any other WiFi networks in your vicinity use the same channel(s) as yours? Choosing a free channel should reduce the issue.

Also, reducing the amount of WiFi devices should also help.

Last thing, try the Wireless Audio Sync feature on your Apple TV: Settings, Audio and Video, Wireless Audio Sync.

Note on channels (simplified): Channels 1, 6 and 11 are the only non-overlapping below 36. Channels 2, 3, 4 and 5 overlap to some extent with 1 and 6. And channels 7, 8, 9, 10 overlap with 11, causing interference. These must not be confused with TV channels, which use a completely different frequency range for their channels.