AirPlay from AppleTV getting randomly wedged
VLC version 3.5.8 from AppStore, on AppleTV A1842 running tvOS 17.4 connected to an IKEA WiFi speaker via AirPlay. There were various problems with this setup, but bugs got fixed and now it works great - except one thing.
Often - eg when it is sitting idle, about enough for the AppleTV photos screensaver to kick in, or after starting and stopping playback a few times - the audio output stops working, ie the movie is playing without audio. Sometimes it manages to unwedge itself after a minute or so.
The easiest way to fix it is to switch to a YouTube or Netflix app and play anything. It will start without sound; exit it and play it again; at this point sound will work. Switch back to VLC, start playback, this time with working audio - until it breaks again.