The Dolby Atmos, DTS-X, and Auro-3D Discussion Thread

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I watched "Jason Bourne" in DTS:X the other day.

I'm not sure if I could tell a significant difference between the DTSX vs. DTS-HDMA. They both sound very good. But the DTSX version doesn't have a whole lot of overhead effects. I bet the DTS-HDMA up-mixed with DTS Neural:X would sound about the same as the DTSX.

So I was once again disappointed in DTSX.

I still loved the movie and I'm glad I re-watched it.

So far, I think if you want to impress people, show them some good Atmos movies, not anything from DTSX.

 

[Danzilla31]

In case we haven’t already said it, thank you ATMOS for giving us more reasons to re-watch all these movies.

I cannot recall ever hearing this great of a soundtrack from the Matrix trilogy. It seems everything sounds better. I bet it sounds better even for people who don’t have an ATMOS System.

The benefits of progress!

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I watched "The Meg" in Atmos yesterday. It's about these giant prehistoric megalodon sharks.

The movie is stupid and so is the acting.

The giant sharks are cool.

As for Atmos effects, there are some underwater scenes that use the ceiling speakers. Overall, the soundtrack is very clean with clear dialogue and surround sounds. But certainly not the best Atmos tracks.

So we have a stupid movie + stupid acting + okay Atmos track = NOT recommended.

 

[panteragstk]

In case we haven’t already said it, thank you ATMOS for giving us more reasons to re-watch all these movies.

I cannot recall ever hearing this great of a soundtrack from the Matrix trilogy. It seems everything sounds better. I bet it sounds better even for people who don’t have an ATMOS System.

I don't know that Atmos could make me re-watch the last two matrix movies...

 

[Darenwh]

One thing that’s ironic is that I think some movies and TV shows (Castle Rock and Handmaid’s Tale in 2Ch AAC) upmixed with Dolby Surround or DTS Neural:X actually sound more “satisfying” than some new movies that are in ATMOS or DTSX.

The reason is because I can hear the overhead effects a lot easier in some of these upmixed contents.

I say “satisfying” because it all subjective and relative.

Some ATMOS/DTSX movies get so loud that all the Ground speakers “overpower” or sound significantly louder than the 4 (and especially 2) smaller ceiling speakers! Thus, the ATMOS overhead effects are overshadowed or overwhelmed and I cannot even hear it discretely enough to appreciate it.

I was watching about 13 minutes of “San Andreas” in ATMOS this AM - the beginning where the helicopter team rescues the girl in her car in the cliff. Well, the sound effects are so loud from every speaker that I could hardly hear the overhead ATMOS sound effects. If I “work hard enough”, I could hear the effects overhead. But otherwise, the overhead effects are completely lost and overpowered by the 5 ground speakers and Subwoofers.

Of course, there’s no beating some ATMOS movies.

In movies like “Now You See Me 2” or shows like “Daredevil Season 3”, the helicopter overhead effects sound so vivid, prominent, discrete, and easily heard. I don’t have to fight or work so hard to hear the overhead ATMOS effects. I find this 100% more gratifying.

I have not heard this with Atmos before but I have had the experience of a helicopter hovering in a canyon directly above me, yes, complete with only a foot or two at the most on either side of the rotor blades.

I was hiking with a friend in Germany in a gorge and their mountain rescue team was practicing a rescue of a trapped person in a fast moving river via Helicopter. I will tell you know that the sound of those props and the engine noise bouncing off the inside of a canyon makes it nearly impossible to tell where the sound is coming from directly. For that reason, hearing the sound from everywhere just makes sense to me in that particular part of the movie.

FYI, having a helicopter flying less than 100 feet directly over your head with only a foot or so on either side of the blades is definitely a pucker up moment...

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

For that reason, hearing the sound from everywhere just makes sense to me in that particular part of the movie.

Well, in real life I'd be running for my life, not stoping to see exactly where the sound is coming from.

But for the purpose of making good use of the new shiny ceiling speakers and pure entertainment, I would like to hear more discrete sounds from the ceiling speakers since the ground surround speakers are so last-year.

It's kind of like hearing RAIN DROP from above. In real life, we probably won't actually hear the rain drop from above (unless the rain is splashing on some hard reflective surfaces like our umbrella). In real life, especially if the rain is pouring down, I probably wouldn't notice where the sound is coming from because I'd be more worried about getting my wet a$$ into shelter.

But for the sheer purpose of entertainment, I prefer to hear the sound of rain dropping from my new shiny ceiling speakers.

 

[andyblackcat]

Blue Thunder (1983) Laserdisc imported from Japan
Dolby Stereo 4:2:4 / Scope 2.35:1 / THX sound system
Dolby DSU

I've been wanting to get this pressing for a while saw a Japanese pressing imported thought I'd get it as the USA pressings have difference in picture quality over the Japanese pressings. Not all bad at all.

No chapter stops on the disc.

Slight adjustment of lowering the brightness.

JAFO
Can anyone guess what JAFAP is.

I notice some common + signal dialouge leakage from the DSU into the surrounds/overheads that is top end not noticeable to the masses of listeners unless listening to each channels one by one. Its due to possible a tiny phase snag its not a big deal I heard far worse with Rambo on Laserdisc. The Rambo DVD 5.1 sounds even odder?

 

[andyblackcat]

I watched "The Meg" in Atmos yesterday. It's about these giant prehistoric megalodon sharks.

The movie is stupid and so is the acting.

The giant sharks are cool.

As for Atmos effects, there are some underwater scenes that use the ceiling speakers. Overall, the soundtrack is very clean with clear dialogue and surround sounds. But certainly not the best Atmos tracks.

So we have a stupid movie + stupid acting + okay Atmos track = NOT recommended.

Fed up with sharks being blown up. Can they least have the shark win for once and swim off into the sunset at the end. I take its a MegaPass on 4k.

 

[andyblackcat]

Underworld Blood Wars (2016)
Dolby Atmos / THX sound system

Its an okay Atmos not groundbreaking just okay.
Not over trilled with the HDR picture quality its okay I seen better.

I feel like getting The Golden Child "I could destroy you just like that" on DVD now or maybe Laserdisc?

Rain sounding around and on the roof of car I guess windshield as well sounded okay but made mistake buying this its not blowing me though the back wall then what do I expect with a running time of 1:31.29 thou seems more like painful 3hrs? Maybe I need to give a chance it has managed to escape the litter box so far.

Oh this seems like Underworld with vampires and lycans in cahoots all over again. First Underworld is better with Evolution second.

The 4k menu is like Blade Runner 2049 with no real menu that can be activated while film is playing, looks like return of DVD all over again.

I had to turn the flat screens own contrast up a bit 100%.


Well Underworld 4k should be here in a week or so.

 

[Bookmark]

Can they least have the shark win for once and swim off into the sunset at the end.

They never win, just offspring in large numbers, it is a sequeal after all.

Still a fair bit of the blue in the Blood wars I see, Andy.

Talking of format resurrection, I got my old Xbox 360 Hd Dvd box out. Apparently it now just works with Win 10. The reason is a bit more complicate. I got back my Bluray Harry Potters to find the first 5 only have a DD. There is an uncompressed 5.1, but whatever I seem to do over Hdmi, I end up with 7.1. Two channels of silence and no chance of a proper up mix. HD Dvds by contrast have True HD and DD+ on all the first 5. Again however problems, one appears missing and 3 seem to have a problem in the reading. Nothing I can see on the disc, but it is unrecoverable.

Potter 1, possibly the worst film for the sound, but has nice moments in the Quidditch and the flying Keys. The whole end sequence really.
Potter 2, Quidditch again and probably the best version, the spiders and basilisk fight are all good.
Potter 3, Train and the flying car, the patronus charm and a few other nice moments. The real problem on this one is crushed blacks. Nothing seems to fix it completely and if anything makes it stand out more. Apparently still not fixed in subsequent releases.
Potter 4, Not quite finish this one yet but this is the working Hd Dvd so a True HD is available and lot better sound wise.

Just in case anyone is planning on the UHD they appear to be not much better, although possible do include Dts HDMA, but perhaps not on all of them. It is hard to tell from the box. No Atmos here currently.

 

[Bookmark]

I watched "Jason Bourne" in DTS:X the other day

I think this was what I found when it was only the two front heights. I do think 4 improved this and overall it sounded better than without any, but this is a fairly low height/human level film with not a lot going on overhead.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Fed up with sharks being blown up. Can they least have the shark win for once and swim off into the sunset at the end. I take its a MegaPass on 4k.

Please don't waste your money on "The Meg", "Mechanic Resurrection", "Ocean's 8", and "Mama Mia 2" in 4K/Atmos. They would go straight into the litter box and your cat would curse you for it!

 

[Bookmark]

I saw “Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom” in DTSX today.

Thus far with everything I’ve seen, I thought that DTSX has been underwhelming overall.

Sadly this DTSX track from Fallen Kingdom doesn’t do anything to change my mind. We might as well upmix using DTSNX.

Jurassic World, Fallen kingdom, Dts:X

For me, good sound, iffy script. A waste of Jeff Goldblum, Toby Jones, Ted Levine and James Cromwell. Justice Smith and Isabella Sermon, just irritating. Lot of homage moments and a distinct deja vue with the Lost World.

Rain, thunder, aquatic moments, in fact the whole opening sequence. Brontosaurus entrance, volcano rumbles, Pterodactyls and the capture of Blue. Nice overhead with the Triceratops. Pterodactyls, the volcano and a dust storm. Bit of a gap. Ankylsaurus and the rest of the auction plus the escape. The Indoraptor. Poor Ted Levine and Toby with his Trump moment. Blue's escape and explosion. Indoraptor, Indoraptor, carnage rain and thunder. If you love something set it free, and who knows may be another sequel in the offing. $1.3 Billion box office gross says yes.

Perfectly good drinking film, no attention required. Overall, Dts:X as good as most of the Atmos, but not the best.

 

[Bookmark]

We might as well upmix using DTSNX.

Sadly true of a number of films.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Jurassic World, Fallen kingdom, Dts:X

For me, good sound, iffy script. A waste of Jeff Goldblum, Toby Jones, Ted Levine and James Cromwell. Justice Smith and Isabella Sermon, just irritating. Lot of homage moments and a distinct deja vue with the Lost World.

Rain, thunder, aquatic moments, in fact the whole opening sequence. Brontosaurus entrance, volcano rumbles, Pterodactyls and the capture of Blue. Nice overhead with the Triceratops. Pterodactyls, the volcano and a dust storm. Bit of a gap. Ankylsaurus and the rest of the auction plus the escape. The Indoraptor. Poor Ted Levine and Toby with his Trump moment. Blue's escape and explosion. Indoraptor, Indoraptor, carnage rain and thunder. If you love something set it free, and who knows may be another sequel in the offing. $1.3 Billion box office gross says yes.

Perfectly good drinking film, no attention required. Overall, Dts:X as good as most of the Atmos, but not the best.

Yeah there were some decent overhead action in Fallen Kingdom.

I think the biggest difference among all the Atmos setup is the actual distance from the Atmos speakers.

Of course, we all level-match all the speakers.

But when all the speakers are blasting away concurrently, the distance from the ceiling speakers make a big difference IMO.

My ceiling speakers are about 14 FT away from my listening position. I think if you have the ceiling speakers closer to you, then you will be able to hear the ceiling speakers a lot more.

My distance from the ground surround speakers are about 9 FT away.

My impression of the Atmos overhead effects would probably make more sense to someone else who also have ceiling speakers that are about 14 FT away.

When people do reviews, I think that bit of information (distance from Atmos speakers) needs to be known.

So when I say that contents like (Matrix Trilogy, Underworld Blood Wars, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Now You See Me 2, Daredevil Season 3) have great overhead effects with ceiling speakers 14 FT away, I bet it's really good from 6 FT away.

Take home message - don't place the ceiling speakers too FAR away from you.

 

[Bookmark]

"Mechanic Resurrection", "Ocean's 8",

By the way, too late and I'm pretty sure the Meg will turn up too. Mamma Mia has no chance.

Well there is likely some reason why X is ok for most and Y only seems to work for few others. I know you and some others have not really liked the Dts:X. Where as I have found most sorted worked fine. We are for the most part heights verus overheads and like you, I think overheads should work better.

For my part, since the heights are probably too low, however the distances are roughly equal for front and rears, relative to their positions, it may be I am getting some ceiling reflections from both sets. I do have a fair amount of overhead just off the mains. So that combined with the heights works in my room. If I ever get them in the right position I could end up agreeing with everything you have said about them.

Level matched, I don't think 14' feet should be too far away.

 

[Bookmark]

After all, I didn't think Resurrection worked particularly well and Oceans 8 was pretty useless from a sound point (both Atmos). Now You See Me 2 (Atmos) works well, I was surprised how well. I do think FF8, Atomic Blonde, Crimson Peak are pretty good Dts:X Fallen kingdom and Bourne are fair, with occasional nice moments, not the best, but no way the worst offerings available.

The numbers are disproportionate in favour of Atmos so chances of turkeys in Dts:X are not helping.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

By the way, too late and I'm pretty sure the Meg will turn up too. Mamma Mia has no chance.

Well there is likely some reason why X is ok for most and Y only seems to work for few others. I know you and some others have not really liked the Dts:X. Where as I have found most sorted worked fine. We are for the most part heights verus overheads and like you, I think overheads should work better.

For my part, since the heights are probably too low, however the distances are roughly equal for front and rears, relative to their positions, it may be I am getting some ceiling reflections from both sets. I do have a fair amount of overhead just off the mains. So that combined with the heights works in my room. If I ever get them in the right position I could end up agreeing with everything you have said about them.

Level matched, I don't think 14' feet should be too far away.

For many contents, the 14' overhead speaker distance doesn't seem to be an issue.

As for level-matching, of course, we are level-matching only with simple pink noise and with the microphones or SPL meters.

Pink noise from an 8" ceiling speaker vs pink noise from a Big Tower may have the same level when level-matched. But when actual loud complex sounds are played through them, I think there is going to be a difference.

I think there are more variables than I can try to account for.

But I do believe the main reason why people have different impressions of the same movies is because our Atmos speakers are all placed differently.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

BTW, there is a new Dolby Atmos movie release on Netflix - Outlaw King 2018.

I heard it's better than "Braveheart".

I will definitely be checking this movie out this weekend.

 

[Bookmark]

For you. I'm not sure it's atmos in the UK few things are.