Apple’s Great Customer Support
A few months ago I finally bought the TV I had been wanting for several years. It's the LG 65" OLED 4K. Costco had a deal that included the LG Soundbar with Dolby Atmos support that was just too good to pass up.
Suddenly last week while watching Lost In Space on Netflix (which supports Dolby Atmos), the sound starting cutting in and out. I noticed that every time it cut out, the LG Sound Bar displayed the message, "DOLBY ATMOS NOT SUPPORTED." This of course made no sense. I tried a different show that was also Dolby Atmos and had the same problem. I tried restarting the TV, Sound Bar and Apple TV but the problem remained.
At this point I called LG. They first checked to make sure my TV had the latest software update. It did. I thought perhaps this last update (about a week earlier) might have been the problem but I was leaning towards the Apple TV being the source as turning off Dolby Atmos on the Apple TV fixed the problem in a way but of course then I had no Dolby Atmos.
The LG rep suggested I try watching the show via the Netflix app built-in to the TV itself. This was revealing as the sound problem did not occur. This pointed even more strongly to the Apple TV being the source of the problem so I called Apple.
I spoke to Julie would had me try a few things but none worked. She then turned me over to a senior tech support rep named, Ana. She had me l re-seat all the cables then switch out the HDMI cable between the Apple TV and my LG TV. No change. She had me reset the Apple TV (requiring me to then go through the setup process again) but that didn't solve it.
She was convinced the problem was not the Apple TV though honestly, I didn't understand upon what her certainty was based. It sure seemed like the problem was absolutely the Apple TV. She said the TV decodes the Dolby Atmos after the Apple TV delivers it. She said I could send the Apple TV in for repair but if the technician plugged it in and to worked, they'd just send it back.
She had one last idea. Why don't we try resetting the software for the TV itself? I had just installed a software update so I didn't see why a reset would help but I was willing to try. Ana warmed me that she didn't know what negative effects this might have but I didn't have any reason to think things would get worse.
I went to the LG TV's software settings and noted the software version installed as I was curious if a reset reinstalled some version of the TV's software that came with the TV or not. After the reset (and going through all the setup procedure again) I noticed that the software version was still the same so a reset doesn't reinstall anything.
Time to now try watching Lost In Space (and in fact, the same episode) to see if the problem persisted. To my surprise and delight, the sound problem was gone. No cutting in and out. I even double-checked that it was truly using Dolby Atmos.
This is one of the reasons I buy Apple products. They have really top notch support. In this case, Ana from Apple solved my problem when it wasn't even a problem with any Apple product. Prior to trying the TV reset, she told me that she would be personally be helping me until this problem was resolved. She gave me her direct contact information and told me her work schedule as well.
You really get what you pay for and when you buy a product, customer service is one of the things you're paying for. Apple's is nearly always A+ for me. LG's support wasn't terrible but how did it not occur to them to try resetting the TV? From my experience with the two LG reps to whom I spoke and the two Apple reps, Apple hires more qualified reps and/or trains them better for their jobs.
When you buy an Apple product, you are buying access to their A+ customer support team as well.