Joined
·
275 Posts
Don't wire for Atmos. It's the worst sound quality of all 3 immersive sound options. DTS:X is second worst, considerably better-sounding than Atmos, but FAR from the best. The best immersive decoding is Auro-3D for ALL sound formats. Even if the movie is encoded with Atmos or DTS:X, it will sound better if you use Auro-3D processing. If your processor/AVR doesn't support Auro-3D, I would suggest not even considering immersive sound. The problem is that studios are not providing a human being to sit at a console and create good Atmos or DTS:X soundtracks. There's no reason Atmos or DTS:X can't produce great immersive soundtracks... the problem is the studios saving money by using automated CHEATS to produce the so-called Atmos or DTS:X soundtracks. When Atmos is to be the final soundtrack, what appears to be happening is that the studio sets the decoding to Dolby Surround (the Atmos upconverter for stereo, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 soundtracks) so 11 channels are output. Those 11 channels are then muxed into an Atmos soundtrack without ANY HUMAN INTELLIGENCE controlling the final result. As a consequence, you get $35 Blu-ray movie discs touting their Atmos soundtracks when there's maybe 1 minute of sound in the height channels for many "Atmos" soundtracks--for an entire 120 minute movie. It's a joke, a bad joke, on home theater enthusiasts.
Dolby is scared of Auro-3D because it works so well that a couple of years ago, Dolby jiggered their soundtracks so they could not be processed with Auro-3D. One lawsuit later and Dolby had to stop doing that by court order. Dolby has also tried ruining Auro-3D as a company by hiring away key employees. Dolby being predatory instead of being good at their job. I have NO DOUBT, that 1 or 2 people at a console could make a perfectly great Atmos or DTS:X soundtrack... but it takes asses in seats to do it and the studios aren't paying for that very often. I consider Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks to be WORTHLESS without Auro-3D processing of them instead of Atmos or DTS:X processing. Atmos also has the stupidest speaker location recommendations for home theater where width will be far less than what is available in movie theaters. Speakers that fire straight down sound TERRIBLE compared to box speakers aimed towards the listeners and mounted on wall brackets at the sides or above the L&R main speakers. Auro-3D recommends the height speakers be located directly above the "ear level" speakers... front L&R heights directly above the front L&R speakers. Side surround height speakers directly above the side surround speakers. This gives you more width for rooms in homes that are much narrower than movie theaters. These locations even work fine for Atmos decoding of Atmos soundtracks, or DTS:X decoding of DTS:X soundtracks. But once you hear those with Auro-3D decoding, you won't want to use Atmos or DTS:X decoding. If you want to wire for immersive sound, use Auro-3D recommended height-speaker locations, not Dolby.
Dolby is scared of Auro-3D because it works so well that a couple of years ago, Dolby jiggered their soundtracks so they could not be processed with Auro-3D. One lawsuit later and Dolby had to stop doing that by court order. Dolby has also tried ruining Auro-3D as a company by hiring away key employees. Dolby being predatory instead of being good at their job. I have NO DOUBT, that 1 or 2 people at a console could make a perfectly great Atmos or DTS:X soundtrack... but it takes asses in seats to do it and the studios aren't paying for that very often. I consider Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks to be WORTHLESS without Auro-3D processing of them instead of Atmos or DTS:X processing. Atmos also has the stupidest speaker location recommendations for home theater where width will be far less than what is available in movie theaters. Speakers that fire straight down sound TERRIBLE compared to box speakers aimed towards the listeners and mounted on wall brackets at the sides or above the L&R main speakers. Auro-3D recommends the height speakers be located directly above the "ear level" speakers... front L&R heights directly above the front L&R speakers. Side surround height speakers directly above the side surround speakers. This gives you more width for rooms in homes that are much narrower than movie theaters. These locations even work fine for Atmos decoding of Atmos soundtracks, or DTS:X decoding of DTS:X soundtracks. But once you hear those with Auro-3D decoding, you won't want to use Atmos or DTS:X decoding. If you want to wire for immersive sound, use Auro-3D recommended height-speaker locations, not Dolby.
