5 Reasons Dolby Atmos May Be DOA

[AcuDefTechGuy]

This is basic math. DVD, by a long shot, outsells Blu Ray, Blu Ray outsells UHD Blu Ray, additionally, streaming is killing off optical disc, so where does that leave Atmos and DTS-X? I'm not optimistic? I just don't see volumes of UHD titles out there. There are lots of movies that are not making it to UHD. I believe vast amounts of movies will never be on UHD because the disc format is dying.

Even if the physical disc format dies one day in distant the future, we still have DIGITAL 4K/Atmos streaming.

Are high-end speakers/subs/projectors/computers/electronics all unsuccessful or all doomed because most people can't afford them or don't have them in their homes?

Regardless of how many people have Atmos or any of these in their homes, the bottom line is that as long as these companies continue to make a PROFIT, Atmos is NOT dead.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

That is why your local AMC Dolby Cinema is where people can experience Atmos properly. Too many variables in the home.

What?

You have it the BACKWARD.

I have never seen a commercial Atmos theater that sounded great to me.

Just based on all the commercial Atmos theaters I'be been to (California, Florida, Texas [AMC-26 Grapevine], Oklahoma [AMC-24 OKC), I thought Atmos sucked -- that is until I tried Atmos at HOME.

Then I thought Atmos was awesome.

So Atmos is awesome at HOME, but sucked at the commercial theaters.

My conclusion is that commercial theaters have ceiling speakers that are too far away in distance and have levels that are too low in volume.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Bottom line is, people who can't get Atmos at home will naturally be opposed to Atmos.

People are "afraid" of things they don't "understand".

It's one thing to talk about theories. It's another thing to actually EXPERIENCE Atmos firsthand at HOME.

Let's see what the people who actually experience Atmos everyday at home have to say about Atmos.

So before you diss Atmos, actually experience Atmos in a HOME environment FIRST. It makes absolutely no sense to disparage Atmos when you have actually NEVER experienced Atmos in a home environment.

Just like it makes absolutely no sense to diss a movie before you even see it.

Don't judge a book by it's cover.

 

[Alex2507]

So before you diss Atmos, actually experience Atmos in a HOME environment FIRST. It makes absolutely no sense to disparage Atmos when you have actually NEVER experienced Atmos in a home environment.

I don't know anybody who has it ... and that's why it'll die.

The next big thing in speaker placement better not be called Uranus.

 

[VonMagnum]

I don't know anybody who has it ... and that's why it'll die.

The next big thing in speaker placement better not be called Uranus.

I don't know anyone that has The Clap and yet it's been around for thousands and thousands of years.....

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I don't know anybody who has it ...

I don’t either. That’s why they always come over to my house.

 

[Alex2507]

I don't know anyone that has The Clap

I'm not convinced.

 

[VonMagnum]

I'm not convinced.

Well, the emphasis is on "know". I don't generally ask friends if they have the drip.

 

[Alex2507]

I don't generally ask friends if they have the drip.

My friends would tell me. One guy I know ... well, like you said, you don't ask.

 

[Auditor55]

What?

You have it the BACKWARD.

I have never seen a commercial Atmos theater that sounded great to me.

Just based on all the commercial Atmos theaters I'be been to (California, Florida, Texas [AMC-26 Grapevine], Oklahoma [AMC-24 OKC), I thought Atmos sucked -- that is until I tried Atmos at HOME.

Then I thought Atmos was awesome.

So Atmos is awesome at HOME, but sucked at the commercial theaters.

My conclusion is that commercial theaters have ceiling speakers that are too far away in distance and have levels that are too low in volume.

Dolby Labs is directly involved with Cinema Atmos. A commercial cinema is set up to Dolby's recommendation. In home cinema their too many variables because different room configurations. Many homes cannot be set up per Dolby's recommendations. Dolby is aware and understood that when they licensed Atmos for the home, that is why Dolby and their consumer electronics partners introduced the Dolby Enabled speakers approach simply they knew many would not be able to set up a Dolby Cinema style home theater.

 

[Auditor55]

Bottom line is, people who can't get Atmos at home will naturally be opposed to Atmos.

People are "afraid" of things they don't "understand".

It's one thing to talk about theories. It's another thing to actually EXPERIENCE Atmos firsthand at HOME.

Let's see what the people who actually experience Atmos everyday at home have to say about Atmos.

So before you diss Atmos, actually experience Atmos in a HOME environment FIRST. It makes absolutely no sense to disparage Atmos when you have actually NEVER experienced Atmos in a home environment.

Just like it makes absolutely no sense to diss a movie before you even see it.

Don't judge a book by it's cover.

My criticisms of home Atmos have been mostly about it's viability in the home market from a practical standpoint. Your post here kind of makes my point, it doesn't seem many have experienced Atmos in the home, not because they don't want to, simply because they can't practically do so in their home environments.
With that said, I do have criticism of immersive audio in general, which is to say that, in some instances it might be overkill. How much more sound firing at us do we need to be immersed in a movie, will be speakers beneath our feet?

 

[VonMagnum]

Yeah, speakers on the floor baby! That's what I'm talking about. They're walking on a rope bridge above a volcano. I need to hear the volcano BELOW me!!! Bring it on!

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Dolby Labs is directly involved with Cinema Atmos. A commercial cinema is set up to Dolby's recommendation. In home cinema their too many variables because different room configurations. Many homes cannot be set up per Dolby's recommendations. Dolby is aware and understood that when they licensed Atmos for the home, that is why Dolby and their consumer electronics partners introduced the Dolby Enabled speakers approach simply they knew many would not be able to set up a Dolby Cinema style home theater.

Let's not compare Commercial In-ceiling speakers vs those little upward-firing Atmos-modules or enabled speakers?

Compare In-ceiling HOME Atmos vs commercial Atmos. Then come back here and tell us about it.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

My criticisms of home Atmos have been mostly about it's viability in the home market from a practical standpoint. Your post here kind of makes my point, it doesn't seem many have experienced Atmos in the home, not because they don't want to, simply because they can't practically do so in their home environments.
With that said, I do have criticism of immersive audio in general, which is to say that, in some instances it might be overkill. How much more sound firing at us do we need to be immersed in a movie, will be speakers beneath our feet?

The ONLY way to get good Atmos/DTSX experience is to be able to easily hear those sounds from the CEILING and have good soundtracks that will make use of those ceiling speakers.

But even without the best soundtracks, we can still use NeuralX.

That is the secret weapon. And Atmos is backward-compatible. So that's why Atmos will live. Most people don't even need to use Atmos for it to live.

If you don't have Atmos, you can still listen to TrueHD. No sweat.

Wait. Didn't we already talk about this?

 

[VonMagnum]

I'm afraid he has a point, though. MOST people will NOT put speakers on their ceiling. Most people are lucky to be able to know how to tie their shoe, let alone mount speakers with wires through the ceiling. Besides, Dolby HEAVILY advertised the "enabled" (ceiling reflection) speakers as being AS GOOD or BETTER than ceiling speakers in a room. Yes, it was marketing horse manure, but that doesn't change the fact Dolby was willing to drag their own reputation through the mud (seems to make some people more popular as of late for some odd reason) to make a $ale.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Atmos is not like some 3D glasses or some new competing format (Dolby Vision vs HDR vs IMAX, BD vs HD-DVD, etc.).

Atmos is just an evolution in sound that is 100% backward compatible.

If you have only 2 speakers, you can still watch an Atmos movie!

You don't need to buy any glasses. You don't need to buy a new BD player. You don't need to buy any new speakers. Just enjoy what you have now. Heck, just enjoy stereo 2Ch sound.

Will something else EVOLVE beyond Atmos like Atmos evolved beyond TrueHD?

Probably yes. But these are all backward compatible. No harm done.

Oh, did I already mention a hundred times that NeuralX and DSU sound much better than the old ProLogic and DTS-Neo? Hells yes!

You don't have to install any ceiling speakers. Just enjoy your old 5.1 system. NeuralX and DSU will turn your 2Ch source into really good 5.1 sound.

 

[CajunLB]

Yeah, speakers on the floor baby! That's what I'm talking about. They're walking on a rope bridge above a volcano. I need to hear the volcano BELOW me!!! Bring it on!

Wasn’t that catmos ?

 

[VonMagnum]

Volcano Vulkan Atmos or VOLVOS for short.

For instance, I bought many Volvos for my home theater the other day. I parked them on lines of each side of the theater and tested the drivers for horns well loaded into the bonnet. I metered the parked Volvos carefully and wrote tickets and set them on top of the ones that weren't parked correctly. As the movie came on, the horns all sounded at the same time and for a moment, I thought I was really right there at the start of the Cannonball Run.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I like vulvas!!!!!

 

[Danzilla31]

I understand the very good points made by those who aren't convinced in atmos

However......

After having atmos setups in 2 different homes now all that matters is I'm convinced for me

Both setups were superb and had amazing sound

The new theater room is just simply friggin awesome tho It Chapter 2 the other day I had this one scene where the head on the screen was crawling all over my ceiling the side walls behind me and then can rushing at me screaming from the front it was amazingly immersive and just friggin awesome

Hell I love vampire shows and really like the Netflix VWars so far that isn't even full atmos my anthem just upmixes it to all the speakers and it SOUNDS phenomenal

Sounds going on all around beside behind you above you just matching the action on the screen just really super cool

Sicario day of the Soldado the other day was just superb with overhead effects with the coptors and stuff there was one scene in particular where they lift off and fly above you before heading left the sound started from the ground moved up the screen went over my head and off to the left behind and it sounded so friggin authentic just awesome

So atmos may die but you know what when done right it sounds friggin awesome so until it does I'm riding it all the way until it finally craps out!!!!!