Regardless, the Atmos demos were very impressive. I would have liked a comparison to a 9.1 or 11.1 configuration utilizing front height speakers, high surrounds (no ground level), and ProLogic IIz without Atmos (or to DTS Neo:X, but I certainly didn’t expect Dolby to demonstrate a competitor’s product).
DOLBY ATMOS DEMO DISC 2014 INSTALL
Most people who install 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound already place their side and rear surround speakers either on the ceiling or high on the walls, not on stands at ear level.
However, I think this was a little unfair. The Atmos mixes were much more convincing and realistic. Obviously, both versions of Atmos were superior to the basic 7.1, which restricted the helicopter and rain sounds to ground level with a big gaping hole in the soundstage above the listening position. That last one is for people who want Atmos at home but can’t mount speakers above their heads. Finally was Atmos with the overhead speakers turned off, but Atmos modules on four of the ground speakers firing upwards to bounce sounds off the ceiling. Next was Atmos utilizing all the speakers in the room (including overheads). First was a standard 7.1 down-render with no Atmos. We listened to these in three variations.
Next we heard a couple of audio-only demos: a helicopter circling the room and a rainstorm. The sense of immersiveness and directionality from all the clips we viewed was terrific, with plenty of discrete sounds moving around above our heads. That’s seven speakers on stands at ear level, one subwoofer, and four overhead speakers on the ceiling. The home theater room was set up in a 7.1.4 configuration. The room didn’t have nearly as many speakers, and the bass wasn’t quite as powerful, but overall fidelity was superior. The home theater room was much smaller than the cinema room, with speakers closer to the listening position, and the Atmos track was rendered for near-field viewing. Some of that may have been due to room characteristics. In fact, if anything, the home theater demo had superior sound quality. Although directionality from multiple overhead speakers was good, the audio sounded very bright and flat. The sound quality at Dolby’s San Francisco office is much better than the New York office. I’ll be honest I actually found the cinema screening room a little underwhelming. We watched all of these presentations twice, once in the office’s main screening room that played the Atmos cinema mixes, and then again later in a smaller home theater demo room where we heard the home versions played back through (upcoming) consumer speakers. Dolby and its studio partners are not ready to announce specific Blu-ray titles yet. We were instructed to be very clear that Paramount provided the ‘Star Trek’ clip for testing and demo purposes only, and this should not be taken as confirmation that ‘Star Trek into Darkness’ will be released on Blu-ray with an Atmos soundtrack.
DOLBY ATMOS DEMO DISC 2014 MOVIE
The movie clip was the opening scene from ‘ Star Trek into Darkness‘. The last trailer was a Red Bull Media ad involving a Formula 1 race car. The third was called ‘Leaf’, featuring animation by Pixar with sound design by the great Gary Rydstrom. For reference, here are the web-friendly versions reduced to underwhelming YouTube quality audio: At least two of the trailers (called ‘Amaze’ and ‘Unfold’) you may have seen if you’ve been to an Atmos theater. The Dolby reps showed us four Atmos trailers and one movie clip. Will the home version really be as good as what we hear in cinemas, or will it be watered down for mass market CE consumption? To answer that question, Dolby invited myself and some other home theater journalists to its New York headquarters to listen for ourselves.įirst off, I can confirm that home Atmos works and it sounds pretty great. Dolby’s groundbreaking Atmos surround sound format is coming to Blu-ray and home theater later this year.
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