This dude makes good points in totally trashing Dolby Atmos...

[3db]

Atmos was a non-starter for me and my room. With no attic or crawl space I was quoted anywhere from $2500-$3500 for 4 in-ceiling speakers. Then it would have been another $1500 for the dry wall repair work needed after.

I will continue to live in 5.1 ignorant bliss.

There's that too.

 

[mtrycrafts]

And all along the cable path and then patch and paint the heck out of it...

Need Bluetooth speakers up there with rechargeable battery port. No further drilling necessary.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Are Auro3D and DTSX failures?

What is the DEFINITION of a failure?

8Track - failed
Cassette tape - failed
LaserDisc - failed
HD-DVD - failed

Auro3D - failure in the USA because there is not a BluRay movie in the USA that has an Auro3D soundtrack
DTS-X - failure because practically all new soundtracks are in ATMOS, not DTS-X

BluRay - success because it is available everywhere today
ATMOS - success because it is practically the standard soundtrack on all new and older remastered movies
4K - success because every TV out there is 4K

Failed or just evolution passed them by.
Not much will be the standard for a long time.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Atmos was a non-starter for me and my room. With no attic or crawl space I was quoted anywhere from $2500-$3500 for 4 in-ceiling speakers. Then it would have been another $1500 for the dry wall repair work needed after.

I will continue to live in 5.1 ignorant bliss.

Agree but that is not Atmos' fault, right.
I have similar issues and more.

 

[3db]

+1 this. For so many people, surround sound just turns their systems into a mess. I am not talking about dedicated theaters here, I am talking about living rooms and family rooms. Unless you have the resources to do it right, just leave out the surround speakers. Surround speakers are so rarely placed well for so many people. It's seldom worth the effort. Most people's living room/bedroom/family room systems should be a simple stereo system. I want the common home audio system to go back to two-channel, unless the user has the means to take higher-channel counts more seriously. A good two-channel system is easier to set up and can sound really killer.

I call BS to this. I dont have a dedicated room and Im here tell you that it works very well for my 3 living spaces. Its far from a mess and is much better than 3.1 could ever be.

 

[3db]

Seriously? So ONE movie defines success vs failure?

Why don't you look at the other ONE THOUSAND movies with ATMOS?

Box office:
1. Avatar $2.92 billion - ATMOS (Remastered)
2. Avengers Endgame $2.79 billion - ATMOS
3. Avatar 2 $2.3 billion - ATMOS
4. Titanic $2.25 billion - ATMOS (Remastered)
5. Star Wars VII The Force Awakens $2.06 billion - ATMOS
6. Avengers Infinity War $2.05 billion - ATMOS
7. Spider-Man No Way Home $1.92 billion - ATMOS
8. Jurassic World $1.67 billion - DTS-X
9. The Lion King $1.66 billion - ATMOS
10. The Avengers $1.52 billion - ATMOS

Top Gun Maverick $1.5 billion - ATMOS
Avengers Age of Ultron $1.4 billion - ATMOS
Star Wars The Last Jedi $1.3 billion - ATMOS
Iron Man $1.2 billion - ATMOS
Captain America Civil War $1.16 billion - ATMOS
Aquaman $1.15 billion - ATMOS

PRACTICALLY EVERY big movie released today has an ATMOS soundtrack.

But no, let's not look at ALL the movies. Let's just look at ONE movie that doesn't have ATMOS! Must be joking.

Apparently Oppenheimer rules them all.

 

[3db]

Are Auro3D and DTSX failures?

What is the DEFINITION of a failure?

8Track - failed
Cassette tape - failed
LaserDisc - failed
HD-DVD - failed

Auro3D - failure in the USA because there is not a BluRay movie in the USA that has an Auro3D soundtrack
DTS-X - failure because practically all new soundtracks are in ATMOS, not DTS-X

BluRay - success because it is available everywhere today
ATMOS - success because it is practically the standard soundtrack on all new and older remastered movies
4K - success because every TV out there is 4K

I'd better stop using cassettes since they failed..

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I call BS to this. I dont have a dedicated room and Im here tell you that it works very well for my 3 living spaces. Its far from a mess and is much better than 3.1 could ever be.

I agree with this .
OTOH tho, I just watched rebel moon. I’m so glad I watched it on one of our 5.1 systems. Would’ve hated to watch it on my Atmos system and have the whole thing ruined by the second rate crappy system. Maybe I should’ve used headphones. Lmao…..

Edit: oh wait. I’m just confused because I haven’t experienced 3.1 bliss.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I'd better stop using cassettes since they failed..

I still have the $800 Toshiba HD-DVD player that failed the HD market to BD. Looks great just sitting there.

I donated my Pioneer LaserDisc player to the Salvation Army.

 

[Tankini]

LOTR wouldn't be the same without surround. "You shall not pass!" going around my speakers.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

LOTR wouldn't be the same without surround. "You shall not pass!" going around my speakers.

Yep.

LOTR and The Hobbit Trilogy are all in ATMOS also, like most movies.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

TV series like the new Godzilla “Monarch Legacy of Monsters” have some great ATMOS effects.

 

[Cos]

TV series like the new Godzilla “Monarch Legacy of Monsters” have some great ATMOS effects.

You just reminded me that a new episode hit today!...hoping for some actual Godzilla this time.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

You just reminded me that a new episode hit today!...hoping for some actual Godzilla this time.

This reminds me of when I was kid. I used to love this Godzilla cartoon and there just wasn’t enough Godzilla!!!!

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

You just reminded me that a new episode hit today!...hoping for some actual Godzilla this time.

No Godzilla in this latest episode, but someone showed up at the end of the episode that was a great surprise to me.

Also, it took me a few episodes, but I eventually realized that both Kurt Russell and his real life son Wyatt Russell plays the same Shaw character.

Again, some great ATMOS sound effects in this latest episode.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

This reminds me of when I was kid. I used to love this Godzilla cartoon and there just wasn’t enough Godzilla!!!!

Ah, the great old days. Yes, being a little kid and looking forward to every Saturday morning for Godzilla cartoons.

ATMOS wasn’t around then, but it would have been great.

 

[3db]

I still have the $800 Toshiba HD-DVD player that failed the HD market to BD. Looks great just sitting there.

I donated my Pioneer LaserDisc player to the Salvation Army.

Mtyrcrafts said it properly. Not failed but new technology evolved leaving the older technology behind. That's evolution, not failure.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yep.

LOTR and The Hobbit Trilogy are all in ATMOS also, like most movies.

Neither my dvd nor bluray sets have Atmos....

 

[BMXTRIX]

I thought the YouTube video in the original post was okay. Not great, but okay. Where it hit, was talking a bit about how the speaker bar he purchased, which receives decent reviews, just wasn't good for his room and his home really didn't have a room where it would be ideal. This is often glossed over by manufacturers and is a really good point to bring up.

But, there was a lot that was questionable in the video. The presenter clearly knows his stuff about audio mixing, but he lives in a super heavy world of music above a lot of other things. Gaming? Maybe. But, music plus Atmos always has seemed really pointless to me. Unless it's a really good surround mix, for some reason, it's kind of silly to me. Where Atmos, and surround sound in general, have always had their home runs have been from movies and from gaming. Gaming is more difficult, I believe, because of the headset. I'm not a gamer (important to note), but I know some guys who have played games like Call of Duty, that were blown away when they got surround sound headphones for the first time and they were quick to point out how helpful it was to hear the footsteps of someone from behind them sneaking up on them. That they could LOCATE the person because of the audio and surround sound their headphones were delivering.

But, that wasn't Atmos. That was just surround sound. Atmos adds to that capability, but it doesn't replace it. It is supposed to allow for better placement of sounds within a room. But, from what I could tell, the presenter didn't have a single room that he tested in which allowed for his decent (?) speaker bar to actually take any advantage of that capability. Plus, if there is no calibration for a speaker bar available, then it will always fall well short of the capabilities that may be available to it.

I don't think the vaulted ceiling family room is normal for all homes. I think there are a ton more homes and inexpensive setups which just have normal ceilings. Likely more like 8' rather than the taller 9' or 10' ceilings some homes have. A lot of people may also be buying for their basement setups which almost all have standard 8' ceilings as well. He's not wrong in that it likely was pretty useless in his room. But, that should shock no one here.

But SO much of what he focused on was music.

truck THAT!

I mean, not really. Music is important. But, even he setup the speaker bar right under his television. The feed for the Atmos is coming from HDMI a lot of the time. The main focus of Atmos is movies. Maybe games. But, definitely, MOVIES. Not TV shows. MOVIES. Repeat that over and over and over. Then try again without spending over half the video talking about how music sounds so crappy when poorly mixed. I frankly, don't care. I will just click a button and listen to my music in stereo, just like I have for years. But, when it comes to movies, I want to get a bit more of the immersiveness. I want sounds to come from overhead, and behind me. I want to feel like I am in the stadium. Yes, maybe channel mixed surround sound is plenty for most setups. But, Atmos expands on the capability of a system to correct for weaker speaker placement. A calibrated speaker bar can actually work to get reflections more accurate and timings better based upon a primary listening position. It's more than just marketing. There is a point to it. Just as there is for DTS-X. I have no preference of one vs. the other. The idea is spot on. The end results may not have made him super happy, but he really seemed to not get things setup properly for the standard speaker bar. Then he didn't spend a lot of time watching different movies. Failing to set things up right, failing to have any room to do things right in, then complaining about the format... What does that do to help anyone?

It doesn't make the format bad. It doesn't tell us anything really. It's good to know in games things weren't great. Same with wireless stuff not being great. I can appreciate that. But, when I hear people talking about Atmos, it's almost always around their speaker bar and movies. When it's not about their speaker bar and movies, it's about a proper AV receiver and movies. It's NEVER headphones. It's also never about music as their main listening.

Come on. If you're going to talk about a format, you have to at least setup your cheap system properly and spend more time with it and talking about it.

At the end of the day, I think Atmos CAN improve upon channel driven surround sound. It's a completely different process though that really ends up with the same result. A good 7.1 channel surround sound system in a good room should sound NO different than a Atmos system in the same room. Atmos starts to show its stuff beyond 7.1. It also does a better job in certain weaker rooms. The calibration is the highlight of the format. That interaction between speaker positions and distances to get things right more easily for consumers.

 

[HTEnthusiast]

I consider Atmos ceiling speakers one of my favorite upgrades in the evolution of my dedicated (now 9.5.6) home theater. I initially did a lot of A/B comparisons with various movies after installing them. I find the Atmos speakers round out the experience, making everything more natural. I also prefer Neural X and Virtual Atmos to them being off. They certainly have more positive impact than the “wides” that I added.

I started with 4 ceiling speakers, then added the final middle pair. The first 4 had a nice impact. The 3rd pair was incrementally better, but to a lesser extent. I certainly wouldn’t want a theater without them. I’m fortunate to have dedicated room in my basement, but more important… I’m glad I designed it in a way that the equipment shelves are built into the wall with the back open to a storage area. When you have a dedicated processor running a 9.5.6 system… it’s a “snake pit“ of wires, even after zipping everything.