Compromised sound when streaming Dolby Atmos via Netflix

wmlaven

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I recently upgraded to 4K HT System (Onkyo HT-S7800 5.1.2 Atmos) and use an Apple 4K box with 4K Netflix streaming service. Unfortunately, my top download speed is 20MBPS (I'm in the boonies). The image looks fine, but with Dolby Atmos soundtracks the sound comes in and out. For a few seconds, it will be full Atmos surround, but often it just plays the front speakers and the rear are silent. It's fine with DirecTV (more bandwidth for sound) and 4K disks are fine so I know it's not in the HT receiver. itself. And if a movie is in 5.1, the sound is through all channels just fine. Since getting more bandwidth isn't possible, I'm wondering what options I have. This Onkyo unit doesn't allow the user to choose which audio output to use which would allow me, hypothetically, to call for regular 5.1 output while streaming rather than Atmos so the sound is good. If the receiver detects an Atmos signal, it processes it as Atmos and then I'm stuck. Is there some workaround? I don't want to cancel the Netflix 4K because I like the image too much and use it at a second location with higher bandwidth where the image and sound are great. Any ideas?
 
I don't have an active Netflix subscription at the moment to check, but I thought there was an offline option so you could download the content to local storage (eg overnight) and watch it at full quality with no buffering.
 
With my slow connection, downloading is very problematic. Further, I often move from one show to another so it just isn't convenient. I'll try wired vs. wireless to my Apple TV to see what happens.
 

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