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

[andyblackcat]

I might watch Salt 2010 again in Atmos.

Atmos is pretty much an excuse to re-watch some of these movies.

I saw "Punisher War Zone Remastered in Atmos" last night. It was loud, which is expected of action movies like this. The Atmos sound didn't really grab my attention like "Gravity" or "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies". It was still a good excuse to re-watch the movie.

You said it, TechGuy, you said it. The Matrix was just awful again warner bros don't know how to make movie as the colour again all botched up! I wouldn't recommended that crap 4k to anyone not even for free. Get the Laserdisc Dolby AC3 or the first DVD pressing which doesn't have dire colour and over saturated contrast that washes out details on the original film the HD-DVD crap, the bluray crap the 4k crap. warner bros might as well call The Matrix. The Milkrix to milk consumers out of pocket.

 

[andyblackcat]

I do like Salt, alas mine is only a bluray. I may try an upmix on it and see how that is.

Which version? There are 3 versions on my disc. One was the Theatrical and two other re-edits. I prefer the one which ends up back at the training centre in Russia (also the longest I believe). I disliked the other endings, unless they planned on a sequel at some point.

I watched Oblivion and Gravity up mixed and they were fine. The Gravity re-entry and the flies were particularly good, but the initial comms before the strike were not really moving off the horizontal plane but they still panned around.

View attachment 26184
The kitten will watch anything.. Johnny English Reborn. She particularly like the helicopter bit.

I like the star effect reflection on the flat screen and your white cat watching the Dolby CatMos.

 

[Bookmark]

One of a pair, The Twins of Evil as I like to refer to them.

I watched the Salt Dts HDMA last night up mixed by the Neural X. Everything mostly seemed in the right place, not quite sure how they could have messed that up on the 4K. The initial Korean prison, the subway (both times) and the church all seem to have right level of overhead contribution. The machine guns were a little odd with an awful lot overhead.

I seem to remember a lot of complaints about the colour shift/"correction" from green to blue in the later versions of the Matrix. Nothing compared to the ham acting in Jupiter Ascending. The atmos is quite good though.

 

[andyblackcat]

Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
Dolby Atmos five screen Lucasfilm Ltd THX sound system

"Dear lord help me get one more"

Desmond Doss a pacifist that refuses to hold a weapon would rather be in the combat to save lives. Grime insanity of the war on Hacksaw Ridge is graphical violent.

The sound mix I kinder doubted it at first when seeing it on 123 movies in Dolby Stereo. The discrete Dolby Atmos is harrowing it made me flitch a few times with bullets whizzing from behind to front or above or some sounds that are frequency shaped and filtered to create sound falling downwards as its low frequency then quickly merged with other sound on side surrounds to back that happens really fast.

Voices of screaming yelling men all around.

LFE shakes the battleground arena.

The last 30 mins is scray with noise guns quietened down and snipers shooting while Doss still carrying men down from the ridge.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Hmm, Hacksaw Ridge, huh? I recall the sound effects were great even on the original BD.

Not often that andyblackcat praises a BD!

I wasn’t planning on it, but I’ll have to watch it in ATMOS.

 

[Bookmark]

Hacksaw on bluray is atmos and well worth it for the fight but there is some nice ambient stuff earlier on I think too.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Wow, I just rewatched “Interstellar” DTS-HD MA with DTSNX.

The sound effect is absolutely amazing. I recall the sound was already great, but DTSNX enhanced the sound with the 4 ceiling speakers.

As before, you better have your Subwoofers ready for this movie. It will rock your house like an earthquake!

Amazing bass and sound effects all around.

Probably don’t even need ATMOS on this one since we have DSU and DTSNX.

 

[Bookmark]

I need to thank you for "forcing" me to re-watch Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, again. It's only a Dvd, but up mixed it was delightful. Especially I think the demise of Miss Heathcott, numerous party guests and Mrs Mcgregor. The shotgun splatters are particularly well done.

The first 4 minutes of Firefox audio is very good with the arrival of the helicopter and the flashback. The plane's supporting wires on the landing on the ice pack, not so much. The aerial photography is still excellent, even if the ship overlay looks somewhat questionable now. Audio in the subway is nicely handled and overall still quite enjoyable, if a bit dated.

I see if I can struggle through Interstellar again, although I much prefer Inception. Probably both. Matthew McConaughey does annoy me, and the only film I truly like him in is The Lincoln Lawyer with the ever delightful Marisa Tomei and the wonderful William H Macy.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I need to thank you for "forcing" me to re-watch Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, again. It's only a Dvd, but up mixed it was delightful. Especially I think the demise of Miss Heathcott, numerous party guests and Mrs Mcgregor. The shotgun splatters are particularly well done.

The Dialogue panning effects in “Pride/Prejudice/Zombies” (PPZ) from Front Left to Rear Left, Front Right to Rear Right is very cool like in “Gravity”.

I think the guys who mixed the ATMOS sound on PPZ had a lot fun and it shows.

 

[andyblackcat]

Unbroken (2014)
Dolby Atmos five screen with below surround / Lucasfilm Ltd THX sound system

Opening was nice to hear the score performed by the London symphony orchestra set the tone nicely for the movie.

The opening bombing raid followed "Zeros" flying all around. The rest of the story is great.

 

[snakeeyes]

I know this doesn’t count but I got DTSX MA from the UHD Mummy 3 today. My Yamahas allow this in 5.1 actually. The Yamaha forces you to turn on at least 2 ceiling speakers in the setup menu to light up the Atmos logo though. (Tested with UHD Thor 3). Anyhow, counting this as any early success for hearing DTSX MA!

I am planning out the cutouts for my 4 ceiling speakers next.

 

[Bookmark]

Excellent Snake, best of luck going forward. Yes, if you want the atmos/overhead speakers to lite up on regular dvds and blurays you will need to use an up mixer either DSU or Neural X.

One of my old favorite bass/surround stalwarts used to be The Haunting. Alas time and numerous other more recent contenders have now replaced it. It is not to say it was bad or lacked bass, but it is nowhere near as surroundy as I previously remembers. I did repeated back stepping and switching between DSU and Neural X thinking there was a difference with Dolby being the better choice, but if it is there was it was very subtle.

Two that did up mix well were Hostel Parts 1 and 2. Some very nice moments in both. I rounded off the horror fest with Dusk Till Dawn. Still a great movie, music works well if even if the surround elements are not that great.

 

[andyblackcat]

The Thing (2011)
dtshdma 5.1 with upmixer Neural:X makes you "hear Things"?
Like The Thing (1982) every-time they move to the Rec-room, someThing bad always happens.

 

[andyblackcat]

snakeeyes, make sure to run a low frequency rattle test in the ceiling so that the speakers don't rattle or buzz any fittings within the ceiling and that the speakers each can play low frequency satisfactory as the lows can reach down to 20Hz and that all are polarity checked so that the sound doubles up if all 4 happened to get same signal at same time as never can tell?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

snakeeyes, make sure to run a low frequency rattle test in the ceiling so that the speakers don't rattle or buzz any fittings within the ceiling and that the speakers each can play low frequency satisfactory as the lows can reach down to 20Hz and that all are polarity checked so that the sound doubles up if all 4 happened to get same signal at same time as never can tell?

You don’t run your small 8” ceiling speakers full-range, do you?

Most of us set a high-pass filter (crossover) to 120Hz for those small ceiling speakers so frequencies below 120Hz will go to the subs.

 

[andyblackcat]

You don’t run your small 8” ceiling speakers full-range, do you?

Most of us set a high-pass filter (crossover) to 120Hz for those small ceiling speakers so frequencies below 120Hz will go to the subs.

All output settings set to full-range.

 

[snakeeyes]

Hmm the RSL 34E say to crossover at 80hz but I’m guessing I should tryout 90 or 100 etc to see. They each have dual 4.5’s and a tweeter.

I do still have my dvd of the haunting. I need to watch it again.

I wonder why DTSX MA even works with 5.1 ???

 

[Bookmark]

If the Yamaha is in Straight mode and the disc bluray/UHD is an Atmos or Dts:X then Straight will use all the speakers configured. In Straight mode with only a normal Dolby or Dts it will only use 5.1 or 7.1 depending upon other factors. To make use of the Height/Overheads speakers for normal Dolby/Dts films you need to use the up mixers. If the up mixer is DSU then Atmos discs still work normally however Dts:X will be dropped to the core Dts HDMA and then up mixed. The opposite is also true. For Neural X then Dts:X will be passed untouched, Atmos will be dropped to the core True HD and then up mixed.

The new Yamaha's xx80s models, are restricted by Dolby from up mixing Dts, so Yamaha introduced a nice Auto mode to do the correct up mixing options.

Only thing I would add about the Haunting is a friend had an American import with Dts and he believed was most disappointed compared to the European Dolby version. I would add this was an original release back in 1999 I think.

 

[Danzilla31]

The following is compared to the original playback on 7.1 and not necessarily just as judgement on the use of Atmos/Dts:X. None of these films sound bad in 7.1

Recommended
Mad Max Fury Road
A Quiet Place
Annihilation
Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle (UHD? it is only Dts HDMA in the UK bluray)
John Wick
Gravity
Oblivion

Good films so far, in no particular order (don't judge me for the choices .)
Fast an Furious 8
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Transformers The Last Knight
XXX Return of Xander Cage
Rampage
Ready Player One
Mission Impossible Rogue Nation
Now You See Me 2
Crimson Peak
Atomic Blonde
Sucide Squad
Wonder Woman
Pacific Rim Uprising
Hunger Games Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2
Ghost in the Shell
The Great Wall
Kong Skull Island (can't believe I forgot this)
Hacksaw Ridge (the battle is very nice)
The Hitman's Bodyguard
Batman v Superman
Tomb Raider (2018)
Legend of Tarzan
The Justice League
Warcraft

Good but not greatly improved, (I have really only listened to in .2 and will rewatch)
Jason Bourne
The Mummy
The Mechanic Ressurection
Jack Reacher Never Go Back
Pitch Perfect 3 (Dts:X was viewed with .4 now but is only a bit better)

Unknown but hopeful
Valerian

This is really only a sub section of what is available I think the total figure is thought to be around 200ish, perhaps more and growing. Atmos heavily outnumbers the Dts:X. UHD I think always have the Atmos/Dts:X or both. Blurays are bit more hit or miss in the release.

I think Dts could score big time on Bluray if instead of the usual preference for Dts HDMA which is far more prevalent than True HD. A Dts:X mix instead would go a long way to redressing the balance.

You may notice a heavy presence of DC Comics and Tom Cruise and a complete absence of Disney/Marvel/Pixar/Lucasfilms. I do not currently own any UHD discs and Disney for whatever reason, does not release Atmos/Dts:X on Bluray. However since their recent releases on Bluray and UHD sound mixes have been less than stellar that might not be a bad thing. The sooner they sort this the better. Blaming Skywalker Studios is a complete red herring as a number of the above were also done there.

YMMV, other discs are available.

I cannot agree with you more on the Disney Marvel upmix situation man I was so disappointed in Thor Ragnarok and Black Panther especially since I was so excited to get an in the house I bought them new

 

[Danzilla31]

Do we have an official thread discussing all matters pertaining to these 3D Surround Sound formats?

Until recently I’ve been resisting the new 3D Surround formats.

I’m not alone. I know guys like @PENG, @TLS Guy, @TechHDS, and many others haven’t made the jump either.

When I built my custom 22’x26’x14’ HT Room in December of 2016, the installers could have installed the 4 ceiling speakers for me - after they installed the other twelve (12) ceiling speakers throughout the house.

I mean what’s four more speakers, right?

Why in the world didn’t I do that and get it over with? Why resist when I know that resistance was futile? I was just being an idiot.

So now I had to crawl up the scorching attic atop my 14’ ceiling and use my 12’ ladder to install my 4 RBH VM-815/FB-C8 ceilings speakers (1” Aluminum Tweeter, 8” Aluminum Woofer, 88dB/2.83V/m, 50Hz-20kHz +/- 3dB).

I am such an idiot.

So anyway, what’s everyone thinking about this Atmos/DTSX/Auro business about 6 years later ?


1. Which ones have you experienced in both commercial and home setting?

2. Was the commercial experience better or was the home experience better?

3. Which one do you prefer?

4. Do you use Overhead Ceiling speakers or On-wall Height speakers or Add-on-Modules?

5. Do you think Four (4) Ceiling/Height/Add-on speakers are better than two (2) ?

6. What do you think is the best setup and speaker placements after seeing other systems ?

7. Do your main speakers and subs “Overpower” the Atmos speakers?

8. What are some awesome Atmos, DTS-X, or Auro-3D materials for showing off your system?

I just got my Denon 4400H and my 4 RSL C34E's installed for a 7.2.4 setup. Although my in ceilings aren't perfectly positioned they are very close. My surrounds are a little too high but that changes next year. I haven't had much time to enjoy it yet that changes tonight and tommorow. I don't have a lot of content yet this thread is helping me find it. What I can say is even with discs I currently have that aren't optimal. I'm glad I made the jump. It just feels more immersive with the sound. Could be subjective but I listened pretty heavy and critically to my 7.2 setup so I'm thinking my reactions so far are honest and not biased. Anyways I'm looking forward to getting more into it this weekend. Hope you've been enjoying yours!