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

[VonMagnum]

How many speakers does he have in his Atmos system?

He didn't say.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

A lot of overhead sound effects?

yeah, some helicopter stuff, environmental stuff. A lot of what I heard that was overhead was tied into bedlayer stuff. Just really cohesive. Lots of nice deep bass too.

Edit: reminded me of atomic blond, but with bass.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

“13 Hours” comes out on 4K Atmos 6/11. Hopefully it will have some nice overhead sound effects.

Buying this. I have it in my dvr. What a gutless turd that is. Need. Disk.

 

[VonMagnum]

It turns out he's Stuart Bowling from Dolby, BTW.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

He didn't say.

Well, invite him to AH so I can ask him.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Buying this. I have it in my dvr. What a gutless turd that is. Need. Disk.

Yeah, I love movies like 13 Hours, Black Hawk Down, and 12 Strong.

 

[VonMagnum]

Well, invite him to AH so I can ask him.

Or you could join RPF.

 

[VonMagnum]

I just watched Get Out (DTS:X) and The Last Witch Hunter (DTS:X).

Get Out was definitely a weird movie, but pretty good. Sadly, the DTS:X sound was not that great. It had a few moments that were decent with surround and a couple of overhead bits, but overall it just sounded like it was a slight (lazy) mod of 5.1. In fact, I had to run Flatliners (Auro-3D) just to see if my overheads were still working properly (they were; that is still the best overhead test for 1 minute ever, IMO).

The Last Witch Hunter was an OK movie, but damn it had pretty good surround sound with quite a few overhead and "everywhere" moments plus lots of good pans into the front wide region and past the sides towards the back. The main girl (Rose Leslie) was quite attractive so that always helps even when the movie is lacking in other areas. Michael Caine was in it, out of it, back in it again.... Frodo got what was coming to him...finally. Really, that bit was the best part of the movie.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I have to check out Last Witch Hunter.

 

[VonMagnum]

I just watched Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children in 3D with Dolby Atmos muxed in instead of the 7.1 soundtrack. FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC Daddy-O! Great 3D. Great soundtrack with lots of overhead sounds and great bizarre story with three good looking girls in it. I'm really starting to appreciate Tim Burton's eye for attractive actresses. Eva Green and Ella Purnell are both freakishly good looking. Lauren McCrostie wasn't bad looking either (I love red hair).

Next, I watched Gravity 3D in its totality for the first time since getting the Atmos soundtrack muxed into it (I had watched the first 20 minutes a few times to test speakers before, but it's not my favorite movie, but someone visiting wanted to see it so I put it on). There's a couple of weird pans and the panned voices to the sides didn't always seem right lined up with the visuals compared to a true (ala Disney animation) panned dialog movie, but I have to admit that movie gives the surround panning in general a hell of a workout. I heard sounds and voices from all over the room at different times. I wasn't sure about the location choices (I think many like radio transmissions were utterly arbitrary), but it was fun to hear solid sounds coming from so many places instead of that "murky lite" panning stuff that often happens once it leaves the screen area (like where is that coming from? I can't quite tell!). I'm still not crazy about sitting through Sandra Bullock moping and appearing inept half the movie, though (how much training did she get?) but the soundtrack was great.

I found one of the "vibrations" inside my left wall by the sub... I had this notion to look in the closet next to the steps. Sure enough, my old Star Wars plastic lightsaber I didn't even realize I still had since I moved (I thought my brother had it at his house) had somehow fallen against the wall and I think it was vibrating to bass shaking. I also put some cloth between the hanging tapestry rod (that gets rid of slap echo) and its holder on the wall. That got rid of 90% of the problem (still some odd sounds at a few resonant frequencies once in blue moon, but nowhere near as irritating).

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I just watched Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children in 3D with Dolby Atmos muxed in instead of the 7.1 soundtrack. FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC Daddy-O! Great 3D. Great soundtrack with lots of overhead sounds...

Yeah, I need to re-watch Gravity w/ Atmos in full, instead of just the first 20 minutes too.

But I didn’t even think about Peregrine’s. I need to get it.

 

[VonMagnum]

I just watched US and Sicario in Dolby Atmos. US had pretty good Atmos sound. Lots of sounds coming from all around and above. Odd movie, but kind of interesting. I knew there would be a twist at the end but I had some questions/issues with that ending. I'd say "Get Out" was better overall, though, but it US was still entertaining.

Sicario had some strange "snap" changes to channels (similar to Hunter Killer and Gravity where the sound suddenly appears in another speaker location instead of panning between; could be the "snap to speaker" function or it could just be a quick location change. I'm not really certain. It did this mostly in the beginning, but also had loads of sounds from all around the room and above, especially later in the film as the action ratchets up. The movie's story was kind of grim, but probably pretty damn realistic. And some people want LESS controls near the border?

 

[VonMagnum]

As you might have surmised, I'm on vacation (staycation would be more accurate) so a couple more films tonight....

I watched Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift in DTS:X. Again, very little opportunity for overhead sound in the movie (mostly music and I recall noticing a brief sound of the subway train passing overhead for a second). Like the first movie, it does make use of rear surrounds and presumably front wides through Neural X if you haven't hit the channel limit (things imaged there anyway). I think the main character is a doofus, but Tokyo scenery is great (meaning the girls mostly, but also seeing bits of the city) and the drift racing is kind of spellbinding. I still enjoyed this movie more than most of them.

Then I tried something different. I watched Battle of Britain (1969) on Prime in 5.1 upmixed with Neural X to see how the spitfires were handled. The answer is surprisingly well. It'a almost amazing how it knows WHEN to put them overhead (as in some dive downward and I swear they sound like they stay in the bed speakers but when they fly overhead, BAM they're on the ceiling! It's not quite Red Tails quality in that regard, but it was enjoyable. I gotta love Neural X.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Yeah these days for me it comes down to either Atmos, DTSX, or NeuralX for pretty much everything.

 

[panteragstk]

Yeah these days for me it comes down to either Atmos, DTSX, or NeuralX for pretty much everything.

You able to update the OP with what we all think is good DTSX, Atmos reference material? I would think that'd be helpful to someone that wants to see what their system can do.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

You able to update the OP with what we all think is good DTSX, Atmos reference material? I would think that'd be helpful to someone that wants to see what their system can do.

Everyone has a different list, but I think it's a great idea to update the personal lists every time we do a short review/impression.

ADTG's Atmos/DTSX List:

1. Pacific Rim 2013 Atmos
2. Blade Runner 2049 2017 Atmos
3. Cloverfield Paradox 2018 Atmos
4. The Equalizer 2014 Atmos
5. The Great Wall 2016 Atmos
6. Hunter Killer 2018 Atmos
7. The Matrix Trilogy 1999, 2003, 2003 Atmos
8. Oblivion 2013 Atmos
9. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies 2016 Atmos
10. Salt 2010 Atmos
11. Sully 2016 Atmos
12. Twilight 2008 Atmos
13. Underworld 2003 Atmos
14. Underworld Blood Wars 2016 Atmos
15. Atomic Blonde 2017 DTSX
16. Harry Potter franchise (8 movies) 2001-2011 DTSX
17. Black Hawk Down 2001 Atmos
18. 13 Hours 2016 Atmos
19. Gravity 2013 Atmos
20. Ready Player One 2018 Atmos
21. Robin Hood 2018 Atmos

 

[Auditor55]

The question is whether it's supposed to sound like it's raining in the room rather than "outside" the house. I suppose it depends on what's being shown on-screen too, though....

I find a lot of rain effects sound like there's a glass dome above my head being pattered (i.e. real rain is heard when it hits the ground or whatever surface and thus many movies sound like they really want you to notice the overhead speakers with rain, but it should really be more the thunder up there and the rain all around on the bed level.

Meanwhile, I've got "Get Out" (4K UHD with DTS:X) and "Don't Breathe" (only 5.1, but it has ringing endorsements at AVS for incredible sounds and bass) coming tomorrow.

That's one of the downfalls of the so-called immersive audio palette, it can become "gimmicky," if not used properly. In my opinion, sometimes Atmos and or DTS-X is overkill. You don't need all those speakers to for your sound to be immersive. A good 5.1 mix can be immersive enough. The use of overhead sounds should be used very little because we as humans don't really perceive sounds from directly above us, more to sides, even height effects.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

That's one of the downfalls of the so-called immersive audio palette, it can become "gimmicky," if not used properly. In my opinion, sometimes Atmos and or DTS-X is overkill. You don't need all those speakers to for your sound to be immersive. A good 5.1 mix can be immersive enough. The use of overhead sounds should be used very little because we as humans don't really perceive sounds from directly above us, more to sides, even height effects.

Yeah, but 5.1 mixes can be gimmicky too. Some of the early ac3 tracks after Dolby surround(the original and into pro logic) and DD were HORRIBLE, and obnoxious.
A lot of the effects etc that are in soundtracks accompany environments that don’t exist in reality, and neither do the sounds. So they have to make it up. Also, that’s part of the excitement sometimes. Over the top films with over the top sounds.
Personally, I like when soundtracks do sound realistic, and what you might expect to be real. The “overhead” part is exciting for me when done right, but IMO, atmos is at it’s best when you don’t realize it’s working. The whole XYZ axis thing with sounds in the room, and the way it removes the room. I’m amazed many times at how the sense of scale is apparent.

 

[Danzilla31]

Yeah, but 5.1 mixes can be gimmicky too. Some of the early ac3 tracks after Dolby surround(the original and into pro logic) and DD were HORRIBLE, and obnoxious.
A lot of the effects etc that are in soundtracks accompany environments that don’t exist in reality, and neither do the sounds. So they have to make it up. Also, that’s part of the excitement sometimes. Over the top films with over the top sounds.
Personally, I like when soundtracks do sound realistic, and what you might expect to be real. The “overhead” part is exciting for me when done right, but IMO, atmos is at it’s best when you don’t realize it’s working. The whole XYZ axis thing with sounds in the room, and the way it removes the room. I’m amazed many times at how the sense of scale is apparent.

That's when I love it the most is when it just makes the room dissapearm. It's not always about the effects for me it's more about the immersion. Until I get the new room in the new place built its just 5.1 in my ol bedroom I'm kind off missing atmos right now

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

That's one of the downfalls of the so-called immersive audio palette, it can become "gimmicky," if not used properly. In my opinion, sometimes Atmos and or DTS-X is overkill. You don't need all those speakers to for your sound to be immersive. A good 5.1 mix can be immersive enough. The use of overhead sounds should be used very little because we as humans don't really perceive sounds from directly above us, more to sides, even height effects.

Actually you only need 1.0. Everything else is gimmick.