Official Dolby Atmos Fans Thread (1 Viewer)

[Bobby Henderson]

That's not necessarily the case. New York City does host some world premiere events at theaters like the Ziegfeld. I lived in New York City for 5 years -this was back in the late 1980's and early 1990's. While some of the theaters there are pretty good (or were), I've seen other locations out-do the projection and sound quality I experienced at NYC theaters.

General Cinemas Northpark 1-2 theater in Dallas had the best presentation quality of any full time commercial movie theater I had ever visited. The #1 auditorium had over 1000 seats. Its THX certified sound system was one of the very first assembled (personally configured by Tomlinson Holman himself); it was one of a handful of theaters that had THX for the release of Return of the Jedi back in 1983. No theaters in New York City had THX at that time, just theaters in Dallas and Los Angeles. The Northpark 1-2 ran lots of 70mm Dolby mag prints (Century JJ projectors). It was one of the first in Texas to have Dolby Digital. The theater had a huge run with Jurassic Park in DTS. It even had a couple 70mm DTS shows (Vertigo and Titanic). The crew at the Northpark 1-2 regularly inspected and re-tuned the sound system, often each time the theater played a different movie. Screens 1 and 2 had projectionist balconies that also served as VIP seating. Lots of filmmakers sat on those couches, including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Ridley Scott. The Northpark #1 screen could probably go toe to toe with just about any acronym labeled, premium priced theater in this country and win easily.

Sadly, the Northpark 1-2 was closed in 1998. The theater building was demolished not after that, to make room for expansion of Northpark Mall. I could only image how good Dolby Atmos would sound if the Northpark 1-2 was still around and Atmos was installed inside of it. There's something lacking EQ wise in stadium seated theaters. I don't know what it is about them, but nearly all have a thin and hollow character to them. Their sound doesn't have that chest-pounding, meaty yet clean "oomph" I experienced at the Northpark.

AFAIK, Dolby's personnel have been performing or at least supervising all of the Dolby Atmos installations that have been completed so far. If a certain movie theater already had a great sound system, then Atmos might not seem to add so much more to the experience -especially if the movies are mixed in a conservative manner where they don't sound noticeably different than plain 5.1. A theater that didn't have a good sound system before would require a pretty substantial upgrade to run Atmos -particularly in terms of demands on surround speakers.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

One question: did either of those theaters in New York City play any of the Dolby Atmos sound format trailers (the "Unfold" and "Excite" trailers)? Both of those clips are very good demonstrations of what Atmos can do.

I do recall there being a specific Atmos trailer before some of the features, though I couldn't say which one. It was kinda similar to the IMAX countdown in that it showed what the system could do in a way that the films never came close to. (I love that blue screen IMAX countdown, but few movies go on to use the full screen height, and pretty much none do 3D with as much depth and pop-out as that IMAX logo.) I also recall it being more "loud" than "precise" if that makes sense. What you said about where you sit in the theater vs where I sit made sense - it may just be that my desire to sit closer to the screen will always push me out of the rear-to-middle rows which are the sweet spots for sound.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

What you said about where you sit in the theater vs where I sit made sense - it may just be that my desire to sit closer to the screen will always push me out of the rear-to-middle rows which are the sweet spots for sound.

You and me both! Oh well, there's always the HT.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I can deal pretty well with a massive IMAX screen in front of me and nearing very loud, if not entirely specific, sound behind me.

I always say that one of these days I'm going to try to sit further back to appreciate the sound in one of these rooms… and it keeps not happening, but I swear, I'll try… one of these days..

 

[Wayne_j]

Onkyo just announced a home pre/pro with Atmos.

http://dolbyatmos.onkyousa.com/

 

[schan1269]

Onkyo just announced a home pre/pro with Atmos.http://dolbyatmos.onkyousa.com/

The 3030 has been on my radar for weeks(used to sell wholesale).13 speakers in my theater soon(keeping the present IIz, adding the 4 Atmos).Trying to decide if I want to find older BIC V52 or if the lighter DV52 would be wiser.

 

[FoxyMulder]

It can be expensive buying the top of the line models, what i'd like to see is lower cost models which allow you to keep your current AV Receiver and use pre outs to power the other channels, height speakers is a big thing and i like the way Dolby Atmos works, you don't have to have the speakers as precisely positioned and the format is backwards compatible.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Does any Atmos content currently exist for any of the home entertainment formats?

 

[FoxyMulder]

Does any Atmos content currently exist for any of the home entertainment formats?

I don't think so but i'm hoping this is like Auro 3D and it will still work with existing releases, if the receivers are out there then the software may follow, the good thing about ceiling speakers is they don't need to be heavy and expensive.

 

[schan1269]

Atmos will be directional cue.Directional cues exist on Victrola.

 

[Wayne_j]

Atmos releases on Blu-Ray will start this fall.

http://www.twice.com/news/blu-raydvd/dolby-atmos-blu-ray-discs-due-year/45750

 

[FoxyMulder]

Atmos releases on Blu-Ray will start this fall.

http://www.twice.com/news/blu-raydvd/dolby-atmos-blu-ray-discs-due-year/45750

Doesn't say which movies but i wonder if the new Godzilla film will be one of the first releases.

 

[andySu]

Well I'm more or less already set-up for several years. I use the overhead as matrix for surround expansion and a below surround as well and that works fine creating a sense of surround below and feel.

 

[andySu]

I wonder what BLADE RUNNER would be like in Dolby Atmos as we have the 6 track versions (three to chose from depending on if you think he was, Human or Replicant)

Do androids dream of electric Atmos? I like the original closing as it would be so wicked awesome cool with Atmos flying over Shining mountains.

 

[Bobby Henderson]

I'm not very optimistic about this home theater, lite version of Dolby Atmos.

For one thing it's not remotely as elaborate or capable as the professional cinema version. It's Atmos-lite at best. Along with lacking authenticity, it's going to be more on the level of the competing home version of Auro 11.1 & 13.1.

My biggest concern is Dolby may literally kill off Dolby Atmos by trying to cash-in on it with home consumer electronics sales.

THX is a perfect example of this. In the 1980's it was very difficult for a movie theater to obtain THX certification. Back then the THX brand commanded a certain level of prestige. Standards and practices began to slip in the 1990s as more theaters were brought under the THX umbrella. Then THX got into the consumer electronics space, first certifying really high end components, but then going more and more mid-fi. By the time they got into certifying computer speakers any prestige the THX brand had was long gone. Today, very few movie theaters bother with THX certification. AMC is the only big theater chain bothering with THX at all, but that is only in association with its premium priced "Prime" screening rooms (which are also equipped with Dolby Atmos).

It costs a hell of a lot of money for a theater operator to install Dolby Atmos. The Dolby CP-850 Atmos processor has a list price of $35,000. Some of that high cost is the fee to pay Dolby technicians to evaluate the theater's layout and existing equipment specs. To do Atmos right a theater has to install entirely new, more powerful surround speakers and install sub-bass cabinets in the surrounds for timbre matching. They probably have to upgrade their stage speaker setups too, like going from a 2-way or 3-way system to a more expensive 4-way setup and add more of them. 5 stage channels is recommended for screens wider than 40'. More sub-bass enclosures may be required under the screen. To top it off, the sound system needs a BUNCH of amplifiers -like 3 dozen or more. Overall it costs a LOT of money to buy all that hardware and get it installed. $50,000 is a low-ball estimate for putting Atmos in a modest sized house. In a big screening room the theater operator is guaranteed to spend more than $75,000.

Here's the thing: just how is a theater operator going to be encouraged to spend $75,000 or more to install Dolby Atmos when Joe Schmo is getting a product bearing the same name for only a grand or two? The Atmos brand won't have any exclusive prestige for theater operators and a lot of ignorant consumers will think their cheap version of home Atmos is equal to the theatrical counterpart.

IMHO, Dolby should have called this home version of Atmos something else. I think Dolby has handed the guys at Auro and IMAX a big opportunity.

Auro isn't getting squat in terms of title support, at least not compared to Dolby Atmos. And its biggest customer (Cinemark) isn't doing the Auro brand any favors either. But I can see various theater operators revolting against Dolby by buying the cheaper, lesser quality Auro system. When enough theaters are equipped with Auro the studios will have to support it. IMAX already has their partnerships with Hollywood studios. So if they wanted to jump into the object-based audio fray they problably wouldn't have any trouble getting title support from the studios.

It can be expensive buying the top of the line models, what i'd like to see is lower cost models which allow you to keep your current AV Receiver and use pre outs to power the other channels, height speakers is a big thing and i like the way Dolby Atmos works, you don't have to have the speakers as precisely positioned and the format is backwards compatible.

Completely new AV receivers will be required for the home version of Dolby Atmos. The Atmos data will be embedded inside specially encoded Dolby TrueHD audio tracks. The new receiver will "see" that Atmos data and its own internal Atmos rendering module will direct the object data to the relevant speakers.

The same thing will be true for the home version of Auro. An AV receiver with decoding and processing capability will be required to pull Auro data out of DTS-HD Master Audio tracks.

The only practical way I could see anyone keeping their current cinema processing equipment is if they have a surround controller that merely passes the HDMI signal to a new Dolby Atmos capable amplifier. But that, again, sounds like an entire new AV receiver purchase. So it's back to square one.

On the bright side, customers won't have to buy new Blu-ray players (like they will with 4K video).

 

[FoxyMulder]

Completely new AV receivers will be required for the home version of Dolby Atmos. The Atmos data will be embedded inside specially encoded Dolby TrueHD audio tracks. The new receiver will "see" that Atmos data and its own internal Atmos rendering module will direct the object data to the relevant speakers.

The same thing will be true for the home version of Auro. An AV receiver with decoding and processing capability will be required to pull Auro data out of DTS-HD Master Audio tracks.

The only practical way I could see anyone keeping their current cinema processing equipment is if they have a surround controller that merely passes the HDMI signal to a new Dolby Atmos capable amplifier. But that, again, sounds like an entire new AV receiver purchase. So it's back to square one.

On the bright side, customers won't have to buy new Blu-ray players (like they will with 4K video).

True but Dolby are doing a home version as competition to dts, they need something as dts is usually the sound format chosen for most releases on blu ray these days, i would rather see a 15.1 channel version and have pre outs on new receivers which would enable us to use our old receiver for powering the additional speakers.

It all comes down to what software will be available and how good the sound mix will be, at the moment i don't think 7.1 is always used to great effect so will they use these additional speakers better, other than a few releases i doubt it.

 

[Bobby Henderson]

I love surround sound and I'm a pretty big fan of the cinema version of Dolby Atmos. But I still have a basic 5.1 setup at home. I haven't bothered buying a new 7.1 receiver yet. It's down the list of priorities for me. As far as big ticket items go, I'm more inclined to buy some new camera equipment (new lenses, new lights, etc.) rather than get a new 4K HDTV or new surround sound receiver. And I'm not looking forward to the labor involved in wiring up additional surround speakers to the walls. I kind of shudder at the thought of wiring any up in my ceiling.

I don't think there's going to be any big rush on the part of the general public at installing Dolby Atmos in their home theater rooms. Sure, some of the more wealthy people out there will do it (they can hire installers to deal with the PITA chores). Unless some really big hit movies come out soon that really go for broke when it comes to mixing Atmos, I can't see anything else giving lots of people the urge to install a speaker system more complex than 7.1.

 

[FoxyMulder]

I don't think there's going to be any big rush on the part of the general public at installing Dolby Atmos in their home theater rooms. Sure, some of the more wealthy people out there will do it (they can hire installers to deal with the PITA chores). Unless some really big hit movies come out soon that really go for broke when it comes to mixing Atmos, I can't see anything else giving lots of people the urge to install a speaker system more complex than 7.1.

You are probably right, what i see happening, and there are some available already, is speaker manufacturers making small and dedicated ceiling speakers, ones which can be screwed into the ceiling joists, for effects channels only they don't have to be large, if they can make them so you get a frequency response of 80hz up then that would be ideal, the sub handles the bottom end.

I personally wouldn't bother buying such a system for several years until enough movies are out that really use the format, i also wonder just how much software will hit the marketplace, i guess time will answer that question.

 

[andySu]

I guess need a thread with list of all known AVR AVP models that will be released with views form front and back and price listings from affordable models to expensive. I'm still holding back a while there isn't any rush for me to jump on a new AVR when I have older Onkyo model TH SR-875 that is suited fine for now.

Denon

http://www.audiogurus.com/learn/electronics/surround-receivers/denon-dolby-atmos-receivers/1598


http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/Denon-Marantz-Pioneer-Onkyo-Integra-Reveal-Dolby-Atmos-Equipped-Home-Theater-Gear.shtml

 

[DP 70]

I do recall there being a specific Atmos trailer before some of the features, though I couldn't say which one. It was kinda similar to the IMAX countdown in that it showed what the system could do in a way that the films never came close to. (I love that blue screen IMAX countdown, but few movies go on to use the full screen height, and pretty much none do 3D with as much depth and pop-out as that IMAX logo.) I also recall it being more "loud" than "precise" if that makes sense. What you said about where you sit in the theater vs where I sit made sense - it may just be that my desire to sit closer to the screen will always push me out of the rear-to-middle rows which are the sweet spots for sound.

The new Dolby Atmos logo called Amaze is one of the best logos I have ever heard in a cinema.