Atoms decoder question

[moreira85]

I noticed on my RX A770 AVR in my living room 5.1 when I play Xbox it says on the AVR “Dolby Atmos” in the decoder . When I stream netflix it never says Atmos on the decoder of the AVR, it always says Dolby digital +. However before I play the movie it says 4k Atmos in Netflix so I assume it’s getting it. Does it only display Atmos when it’s 5.1.2? I was curious why its showing up when I play xbox on the AVR decoder screen?

 

[everettT]

I noticed on my RX A770 AVR in my living room 5.1 when I play Xbox it says on the AVR “Dolby Atmos” in the decoder . When I stream netflix it never says Atmos on the decoder of the AVR, it always says Dolby digital +. However before I play the movie it says 4k Atmos in Netflix so I assume it’s getting it. Does it only display Atmos when it’s 5.1.2? I was curious why its showing up when I play xbox on the AVR decoder screen?

I'm assuming that's the container and your getting the True HD mix.

 

[moreira85]

What do you mean by that if you can elaborate ?

 

[Trebdp83]

I noticed on my RX A770 AVR in my living room 5.1 when I play Xbox it says on the AVR “Dolby Atmos” in the decoder . When I stream netflix it never says Atmos on the decoder of the AVR, it always says Dolby digital +. However before I play the movie it says 4k Atmos in Netflix so I assume it’s getting it. Does it only display Atmos when it’s 5.1.2? I was curious why its showing up when I play xbox on the AVR decoder screen?

what is the model of XBOX? Is Netflix app from XBOX or another device?

 

[moreira85]

It’s an older Xbox one 500gb console. Said I had to get the dolby app to get Atmos for games.
Netflix is being played on Fire Cube second gereration via Netflix app

 

[lovinthehd]

Not sure you would get Atmos option if you don't have an actual Atmos setup. You have the appropriate subscription from Netflix? What are you playing on the Xbox that's the same on Netflix? What display do you use?

 

[everettT]

What do you mean by that if you can elaborate ?

This is from dolby

"Dolby Atmos in Dolby TrueHD
Dolby has expanded the Dolby TrueHD format to allow the format to support Dolby Atmos content on Blu-ray and ultra high definition Blu-ray Disc. Prior to Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD provided lossless support for channel-based audio, such as 5.1 and 7.1. Now we have added a fourth substream for Dolby Atmos sound in Dolby TrueHD codec to enable a support for a losslessly encoded object-based sound mix.

Dolby Atmos in Dolby TrueHD is transmitted from a Blu-ray player or Ultra HD Blu-ray player to your AVR via an HDMI connection. If your AVR supports Dolby Atmos, the Dolby TrueHD object-based audio and related metadata will be decoded, processed, scaled, and rendered to your specific speaker configuration. Dolby Atmos audio can be encoded with Dolby TrueHD at multiple sampling rates (including 48 and 96 kHz) and bit depths (16- and 24-bit).

Dolby Atmos enabled receivers will also support legacy Dolby TrueHD bitstreams at multiple sampling rates (including 48, 96, and 192 kHz) and bit depths (16-, 20-, and 24-bit) to provide full backward compatibility with legacy Blu-ray Disc media and Dolby TrueHD music files.

Dolby Atmos in Dolby Digital Plus
Dolby Digital Plus has been updated and features a new decoder capable of processing content encoded for Dolby Atmos. This module uses new bitstream metadata to extract Dolby Atmos object-based audio and outputs this information for further signal processing. The sampling rate for Dolby Atmos content is 48 kHz, the same sample rate as for Dolby Digital Pluscontent.
Both new audio decoders are designed to be fully backward compatible with legacy channel-based Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD soundtracks.

Dolby Atmos in Dolby MAT
The Dolby Metadata-enhanced Audio Transmission (Dolby MAT) encoder resides in a Blu-ray player to pack the variable bit-rate Dolby TrueHD bitstreams for transmission over the fixed bit-rate HDMI connections. A MAT decoder is subsequently employed in an AVR to unpack the Dolby TrueHD bitstreams. With the introduction of Dolby Atmos, we have expanded this technology to support encoding of Dolby Atmos content as lossless pulse-code modulation (PCM) audio."

Even though it says ATMOS, it maybe TrueHD or DD+ depending on the player.

 

[moreira85]

Not sure you would get Atmos option if you don't have an actual Atmos setup. You have the appropriate subscription from Netflix? What are you playing on the Xbox that's the same on Netflix? What display do you use?

Yes I have subscription. I get Atmos in the basement on my 5.1.2 set up.
I’m playing a vidieo game on Xbox (madden)
then on Netflix I’m streaming through from fire cube.
Display Samsung 65inch curved display

 

[moreira85]

This is from dolby

"Dolby Atmos in Dolby TrueHD
Dolby has expanded the Dolby TrueHD format to allow the format to support Dolby Atmos content on Blu-ray and ultra high definition Blu-ray Disc. Prior to Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD provided lossless support for channel-based audio, such as 5.1 and 7.1. Now we have added a fourth substream for Dolby Atmos sound in Dolby TrueHD codec to enable a support for a losslessly encoded object-based sound mix.

Dolby Atmos in Dolby TrueHD is transmitted from a Blu-ray player or Ultra HD Blu-ray player to your AVR via an HDMI connection. If your AVR supports Dolby Atmos, the Dolby TrueHD object-based audio and related metadata will be decoded, processed, scaled, and rendered to your specific speaker configuration. Dolby Atmos audio can be encoded with Dolby TrueHD at multiple sampling rates (including 48 and 96 kHz) and bit depths (16- and 24-bit).

Dolby Atmos enabled receivers will also support legacy Dolby TrueHD bitstreams at multiple sampling rates (including 48, 96, and 192 kHz) and bit depths (16-, 20-, and 24-bit) to provide full backward compatibility with legacy Blu-ray Disc media and Dolby TrueHD music files.

Dolby Atmos in Dolby Digital Plus
Dolby Digital Plus has been updated and features a new decoder capable of processing content encoded for Dolby Atmos. This module uses new bitstream metadata to extract Dolby Atmos object-based audio and outputs this information for further signal processing. The sampling rate for Dolby Atmos content is 48 kHz, the same sample rate as for Dolby Digital Pluscontent.
Both new audio decoders are designed to be fully backward compatible with legacy channel-based Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD soundtracks.

Dolby Atmos in Dolby MAT
The Dolby Metadata-enhanced Audio Transmission (Dolby MAT) encoder resides in a Blu-ray player to pack the variable bit-rate Dolby TrueHD bitstreams for transmission over the fixed bit-rate HDMI connections. A MAT decoder is subsequently employed in an AVR to unpack the Dolby TrueHD bitstreams. With the introduction of Dolby Atmos, we have expanded this technology to support encoding of Dolby Atmos content as lossless pulse-code modulation (PCM) audio."

Even though it says ATMOS, it maybe TrueHD or DD+ depending on the player.

That is very helpful, thank you!!!

 

[Trebdp83]

Lossy DolbyAtmos/DD+, which is used by all streaming services, can be bitstreamed by some devices or delivered using Dolby MAT which just means the Dolby Atmos/DD+ signal has been converted to LPCM while retaining the atmos metadata.

The XBOX is one device that does this conversion to LPCM for output. Some receivers will display this signal as just Dolby Atmos while others Dolby Atmos/PCM even when just configured for 5.1.

When a streaming device bitstreams a Dolby Atmos track from a service, it will display Dolby Atmos/DD+ IF the speaker configuration is compliant. If not, it will display Dolby Digital+ and sometimes it will be 7.1 and some services will knock the track down a peg to 5.1 and Atmos metadata is not processed.

If Netflix is coming in as Dolby Digital+ rather than Dolby Atmos/DD+, it does not contain the Atmos metadata. Change the speaker configuration to 5.1.2 and the incoming signal should change to Dolby Atmos/DD+ as the new configuration will allow for the Atmos metadata in the bitstream to be processed.

The Dolby info is handy but can be confusing because no stand alone blu-ray disc player can convert output to PCM and retain Atmos metadata. Then there are devices like the Apple TV 4K that cannot bitstream at all but use Dolby MAT to transmit Atmos metadata in an LCPM converted signal. The XBOX does this as well. But at one time, XBOX would bitstream from streaming services but use Dolby MAT LPCM conversion in games. It’s been a mess.

 

[moreira85]

Lossy DolbyAtmos/DD+, which is used by all streaming services, can be bitstreamed by some devices or delivered using Dolby MAT which just means the Dolby Atmos/DD+ signal has been converted to LPCM while retaining the atmos metadata.

The XBOX is one device that does this conversion to LPCM for output. Some receivers will display this signal as just Dolby Atmos while others Dolby Atmos/PCM even when just configured for 5.1.

When a streaming device bitstreams a Dolby Atmos track from a service, it will display Dolby Atmos/DD+ IF the speaker configuration is compliant. If not, it will display Dolby Digital+ and sometimes it will be 7.1 and some services will knock the track down a peg to 5.1 and Atmos metadata is not processed.

If Netflix is coming in as Dolby Digital+ rather than Dolby Atmos/DD+, it does not contain the Atmos metadata. Change the speaker configuration to 5.1.2 and the incoming signal should change to Dolby Atmos/DD+ as the new configuration will allow for the Atmos metadata in the bitstream to be processed.

The Dolby info is handy but can be confusing because no stand alone blu-ray disc player can convert output to PCM and retain Atmos metadata. Then there are devices like the Apple TV 4K that cannot bitstream at all but use Dolby MAT to transmit Atmos metadata in an LCPM converted signal. The XBOX does this as well. But at one time, XBOX would bitstream from streaming services but use Dolby MAT LPCM conversion in games. It’s been a mess.

This was really helpful! I found changing the AVR AMP configuration in the settings to BASic and turning on presence setting showed DOLBY ATMOS on the AVR screen when now watching Netflix. I didn’t have it on basic because I have zone 2 for outdoor speakers hooked up. However doesn’t turning on basic and enabling presence (when I don’t actually have presence/ATMOS speakers) mean those signals wont be played on the track I’m streaming?

 

[snakeeyes]

The presence speakers (height) need to be enabled for it to do Atmos.

Also on a 7 channel A770, zone 2 borrows the amp from the presence (height) pair of speakers so zone 2 would need to also be off for the Atmos to work in 5.1.2. When you power zone 2 it just borrows the pair.

You can see the speakers it’s using displaying on the front AVR display. You can see the 2 presence speakers disappear when zone 2 is on.

My best answer is Whatever info from Atmos in 5.1.2 presented in 5.1 is lost, however it’s likely the same info already in the 5.1 mix just it appears instead as a panning effect between front and back speakers. So really it’s not lost entirely. Such as a helicopter flying over. It just isn’t as great of an effect.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

The presence speakers (height) need to be enabled for it to do Atmos.

Also on a 7 channel A770, zone 2 borrows the amp from the presence (height) pair of speakers so zone 2 would need to also be off for the Atmos to work in 5.1.2. When you power zone 2 it just borrows the pair.

You can see the speakers it’s using displaying on the front AVR display. You can see the 2 presence speakers disappear when zone 2 is on.

My best answer is Whatever info from Atmos in 5.1.2 presented in 5.1 is lost, however it’s likely the same info already in the 5.1 mix just it appears instead as a panning effect between front and back speakers. So really it’s not lost entirely. Such as a helicopter flying over. It just isn’t as great of an effect.

Correct. Sounds are never just thrown out. They just get folded in to other speakers.

 

[Trebdp83]

If possible, you can connect height speakers to the surround back terminals and have a 5.1.2 + Zone 2 setup. As @snakeeyes mentioned, it will switch the amps as needed when using one or the other zone.

Yamaha also has virtual surround back speakers when using a 5.1.2 configuration. Unfortunately, this model pre dates the Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization feature. It allows for Atmos metadata processing when using a 5.1 speaker configuration. Yamaha models supporting it will have the “Dolby SP Virtual” setting that can be turned ON or OFF.

 

[moreira85]

Thank You for all the help everyone very helpful. Now you have me thinking about adding height speakers in the living room !!!!! Ha ha my wife will love that ha.