When will all new blu rays have Dolby Atmos?

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cameron paterson

Audioholic Chief
Just wondering when will the Atmos technology be utilized with every new blu ray disc? Not just 4k UHD.
 
Y

yepimonfire

Audioholic Samurai
It's on many 1080p discs as well, it depends on the studio. I think lots of studios spent a massive amount of money on upgrading their hardware to 4k, and are pushing it to get a return on that investment.

4k is also becoming as standard as 1080p was. Almost all new tvs except low end small screen may models now come with 4k and hdr, and the price has come way down as well. Same with 4k bluray and players.

If you don't want to upgrade your display just yet, you could always pick up an inexpensive 4k player to get Atmos on the exclusives.

Sent from my LGMP260 using Tapatalk
 
C

cameron paterson

Audioholic Chief
I have a projector and the technology for 4k on projectors is very expensive for a true 4k UHD. I have a 4k blu ray (Sony UBP X-800). So atmos may be awhile before it becomes popular?
 
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Bookmark

Full Audioholic
Don't expect to see Atmos or DTS:X anything on Blurays from Disney, which includes Marvel, Lucas, Pixar and anything else under their control. Frankly they are currently the worst for audio tracks on either Bluray or UHD discs with reduced dynamics and low volumes. Even their Atmos tracks are not really an improvement over the DTS HD or Dolby True HD. I don't know if its price gouging or a preference for Cinemas.

Warner and Universal seem happy to provide the Atmos or Dts:X mix on Bluray if its available along with DTS HDMA. Other studios probably pick and choose as per release.

Dts:X seems to be slow to gain the traction of Atmos releases so we might see a push on the Blurays to catch up.

4K UHD is in no way close to replacing Blurays, let alone Dvds currently. They are priced too high and provide minimal benefits for most. Maybe in 5 years or so when most households have replaced their current sets then 4K may catch up on Blurays. That said most people are viewing at distances where 4K is totally pointless. Projectors as mentioned, are a completely different problem. Dvds are still by far the biggest seller.

4K streaming, with or without HDR/Dolby vision is improving, however it still lags behind the 1080p and a lot of the HD content is just upscaled anyway. Audio is also hit and miss largely because TVs/Projectors don't have the necessary speakers. eARC when it arrives will help here but this will require new 2019 TVs/Projectors and a capable AVR or Soundbar =>2017. Probably for the best streaming audio experience then its a console, Xbox One or PS4, or a skylake or better intel based PC.
 
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cameron paterson

Audioholic Chief
How close would I need to be to my projector screen to make 4k UHD worthwhile. Its a 135" screen
 
mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
.... Frankly they are currently the worst for audio tracks on either Bluray or UHD discs with reduced dynamics and low volumes. E....
That explains why Infinity War had to be turned up so much last night. Thanks.
 
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Full Audioholic
Differentiate between 4K and High Dynamic Range. The two are bound together currently in UHD discs, but there is nothing to say you could not use HDR, Dolby Vision or HLG on lower resolutions, it would just require a different codec than is currently used for those formats.

4K Tvs are 4K all the time, regardless of the source. So watching a Blu ray or 4k Netflix is still effectively 4k for both on the 4k TV, just that one is up scaled. Netflix uses a higher compression/lower bitrate for 4k than blu ray so any differences maybe hard to spot and there could be compression artifacts visible on either. Whether you see a real improvement with 4k largely dependent upon the viewing distance and quality of the media. Blue Planet looks gorgeous in 4k or 1080p. A number of the current and reissued 4k material is in fact just up scaled. New films, last couple of years have been filmed in 4k or even 8k so it should be 1:1, Harry Potter or Star Wars reissues are not true 4k and the mileage may vary between discs.

High dynamic range, be it HDR, Dolby Vision or HLG is a lot more noticeable than simply 4k. The peak brightness required for true HDR is several thousand nits. Oleds are usually around 400-600. The best currently is around 1000 nits from things like Samsungs QLED and others. So still less than the ideal but more than bright enough from most homes, especially if the ambient light is controlled. Netflix Mindhunters burns my retinas everytime a city location is displayed. Again like most reissues, the quality and benefits of HDR are media dependent.

Here is a list of viewing distances for upto 85" so you can get an idea from this. I am just about on the cusp with my 55" @ around 6-7'. With the 100" 1080p projector I am well inside @ ~10 feet.
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-7qIE2pL2u7I/learn/learningcenter/home/TV_placement.html

This is amusing but don't take it too seriously
Oh and when he talks about file sizes he is talking about actual individual frames as a total. Compression makes this a lot more manageable, however it can be taken too far and introduce its own problems.

By the way Disney wasn't always like this, phase 1 and 2 Marvels are fine. Just don't expect much from Infinity War, Solo, or Incredibles 2. I wish/hope they will sort this. I started to notice it with Guardians 2, then Last Jedi, Thor and Black Panther.
 
C

cameron paterson

Audioholic Chief
how close should I be for a 135" screen?
 
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Full Audioholic
In order for 4K to make the difference, over viewing just 1080 then its 12-16' feet as per the link. 1080 over lower resolutions is 16-28' feet.
 
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