There has been a bug affecting music streaming from iTunes to AppleTV that started with tvOS 13 and has persisted in each release, including the most recent beta (13.4.5 17L5543d). It seems to primarily affect those streaming music from a PC using iTunes for Windows. A detailed description of the behavior can be found below. If anyone has any suggestions, they would be appreciated.
When playing music via iTunes to an AppleTV running tvOS 13 or higher, audio on the AppleTV drops out frequently during song playback. Audio drops about 20 seconds into the track and returns with about 10 seconds remaining before the end of the track. Sound continues playing on unaffected Airplay devices without interruption. It occurs every 1 to 5 songs and seems to be random. It is not track specific (ie it can happen to a specific song, but later that same song can complete without an audio drop). After the sound has dropped, deselecting the affected AppleTV as an audio destination and reselecting it results in immediate return of sound and the track sometimes then makes it to the end of the song without a further drop. Older AppleTV’s in my home currently running earlier tvOS versions (prior to 13) do not have this behavior. I experience the same behavior on an AppleTV 4k and AppleTV HD. I am running iTunes on a Windows 10 PC. I have also initiated the playback from iTunes on a MacBook Pro using HomeSharing and had the same behavior (the tracks are still physically on the same PC, but playing though iTunes on a Mac). The affected AppleTV remains connected to iTunes on the PC while the sound is out. A photo slideshow playing from the PC to the AppleTV continues without interruption.
There is a long discussion thread about this in the Support Communities forum under the title "tvos 13 Airplay bug (no sound with two airplay devices". Apple is no longer allowing mention of the beta releases on that thread, prompting the start of this one.
