www.makemkv.com

Many years I’ve used MakeMKV to rip plenty of blu-rays, convert with Handbrake, and play them on my AppleTV 3 in perfect 5.1 surround on my Pioneer system.

This month I upgraded to the AppleTV 4K and a Denon 7.1 system.

The only blu-ray I have with a 7.1 track is “Pans Labyrinth”. I used MakeMKV to make my MKV file with the 7.1 track... but no matter what conversion tool I use (Handbrake, MP4tools, TSMuxR, etc) I can’t make a video file with 7.1 sound. All the converters are down mixing to 5.1 even though I say “passthru”.

Am I just doing something wrong, or is trying to make an AppleTV compatible video with 7.1 sound the same as looking for a unicorn?

NOTE: When I say I know they’re down mixing I mean I’m using Subler, VLC, and others to check... as well as the AppleTV playing 5.1.

Over on the handbrake forums, there have been occasional discussions about how to get better than 5.1 audio on Apple products. Can't say that I pay much attention to them, though.

I'm posting in the Handbrake forum as well. I just know that Handbrake isn't the only game in town, so I'm hoping by posting here I'll get responses from people having success with other conversion tools.

The Apple TV only support eAC3 7.1 tracks, and not DTS. That is not the cause of your issue? I am unsure if you are having an issue actually doing a pass-through of the track when converting, or just the playback on an Apple TV of the pass-through'd track.