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Dolby Atmos Content to test?

G

gusnyc

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 18, 2007
354
39
New York City
Hi!

I just updated to tvOS 12 beta.

Where can I find Atmos content to test the Atmos support? I can't find anything online.

Thanks for your help.

Gus
 
gusnyc said:
Hi!

I just updated to tvOS 12 beta.

Where can I find Atmos content to test the Atmos support? I can't find anything online.

Thanks for your help.

Gus
Click to expand...
Pretty much every iTunes 4k Dolby Vision will get the added Dolby Atmos in the Fall. You can only experience it on a 4K Apple TV.

Currently setting up the home theater for this. I'll be ready by the end of July.
 
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Out of interest can a 4K HDR iTunes film carry Dolby Atmos or is it only Dolby Vision iTunes film that can carry this?

Also wondering why some studios change from Dolby Vision to HDR instead. The Fifty Shades is an example. The first two are 4K Dolby Vision on iTunes but the latest release is 4K HDR on iTunes even though the cinema showing was Dolby Vision and on the end credits there is the Dolby Atmos logo.
[doublepost=1529971301][/doublepost]
gusnyc said:
Hi!

I just updated to tvOS 12 beta.

Where can I find Atmos content to test the Atmos support? I can't find anything online.

Thanks for your help.

Gus
Click to expand...
According to FlatPanels HD they are appearing...
https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1529904499
 
I got Atmos on Vudu. No iTunes yet. I tried BR2049 and got no audio at all in iTunes movies
 
priitv8 said:
Are you saying, that Vudu app already plays back Dolby Atmos in current tvOS 12 beta??

You can get a iTunes compatible DD+ Atmos file directly from Dolby site:
https://www.dolby.com/us/en/guide/test-tones.html
Click to expand...


Thanks, I have plenty of Atmos content. I am able to play it via other devices (i.e. Xbox One X).

I updated to the public beta on TVos last night and did some quick tests:

There is now a Atmos setting in the audio section, and it was turned on.
I saw zero mention of Atmos in the Movie section of iTunes (or TVos, not sure what it is called).
I tried the following titles that I know have Atmos support somewhere:
Supes v Bats, Pacific Rim and Alien Covenant.
These played like before, multi channel PCM (Alien came up with 7.1 channels).

I tried Blade Runner 2049 and my receiver read "no streaming" and was basically silent.

Next I tried Vudu with Pacific Rim and Dolby Atmos fired right up.

I didn't look for any Netflix content nor did I try any file content with Infuse since that hasn't been updated yet.
 
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Funny thing, when I play Vudu content, I don't get the Atmos notification in my soundbar (LG SK10Y). I wonder if I have to plug it directly, even thou my TV (LG OLED C7) has Atmos passthrough.
 
I wasn’t seeing any indication of Atmos support when connected the way I’ve been doing. So I changed to directly connecting to my Samsung Atmos soundbar and then I see Atmos support in settings.

Oddly my Xbox One does Atmos just fine via my connections as they were. Hope whatever checks Apple is doing will be fixed to support my preferred connections.
 
Zimmy68 said:
I tried the following titles that I know have Atmos support somewhere:
Supes v Bats, Pacific Rim and Alien Covenant.
These played like before, multi channel PCM (Alien came up with 7.1 channels).

I tried Blade Runner 2049 and my receiver read "no streaming" and was basically silent.

Next I tried Vudu with Pacific Rim and Dolby Atmos fired right up.
Click to expand...
What format is the atmos audio in those movies?
Vudu is online streaming and constrained to DD+.
As it looks now, Apple will also only be supporting DD+ (because they like Vudu offer only streaming service).
Hoping for lossless formats is wishful thinking in my opinion.
 
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BODYBUILDERPAUL said:
Out of interest can a 4K HDR iTunes film carry Dolby Atmos or is it only Dolby Vision iTunes film that can carry this?

Also wondering why some studios change from Dolby Vision to HDR instead. The Fifty Shades is an example. The first two are 4K Dolby Vision on iTunes but the latest release is 4K HDR on iTunes even though the cinema showing was Dolby Vision and on the end credits there is the Dolby Atmos logo.
[doublepost=1529971301][/doublepost]
According to FlatPanels HD they are appearing...
https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1529904499
Click to expand...

4K and ATMOS have not bearing on each other. I have a few standard blu-rays that have ATMOS tracks.
 
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BODYBUILDERPAUL said:
Out of interest can a 4K HDR iTunes film carry Dolby Atmos or is it only Dolby Vision iTunes film that can carry this?

Also wondering why some studios change from Dolby Vision to HDR instead. The Fifty Shades is an example. The first two are 4K Dolby Vision on iTunes but the latest release is 4K HDR on iTunes even though the cinema showing was Dolby Vision and on the end credits there is the Dolby Atmos logo.
[doublepost=1529971301][/doublepost]
According to FlatPanels HD they are appearing...
https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1529904499
Click to expand...

Dolby Atmos is an audio ‘format’.

Dolby Vision is a video standard for HDR encoding/reproduction. HDR10 (often just called HDR) is another.

Films can feature one, the other or both. One isn’t dependent on another.

Most 4K BluRay discs feature HDR10 video and Dolby Atmos audio.
 
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Brenster said:
Dolby Atmos is an audio ‘format’.

Dolby Vision is a video standard for HDR encoding/reproduction. HDR10 (often just called HDR) is another.

Films can feature one, the other or both. One isn’t dependent on another.

Most 4K BluRay discs feature HDR10 video and Dolby Atmos audio.
Click to expand...

I will just ad that 4K blu-rays are required to have HDR10 as the base layer, so even if it is a DV disc, it still has HDR10. The same is not required for streaming.
 
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gusnyc said:
Funny thing, when I play Vudu content, I don't get the Atmos notification in my soundbar (LG SK10Y). I wonder if I have to plug it directly, even thou my TV (LG OLED C7) has Atmos passthrough.
Click to expand...

So, last night I figured out why this could be happening. I have all of my devices including an Apple TV 4K on the new TVOS 12 Beta going through my Sony STR-DN1080 receiver. When I was streaming some titles on Vudu, my receiver is reporting Dolby Atmos on Linear PCM, not DD+. I didn't think this was possible but after reading Dolby's white paper on Atmos, it is indeed possible to include the Atmos metadata on top of another audio container. So the Apple TV is still decoding the DD+ stream but passing through the Atmos data.
 
This video shows you can get Dolby Atmos in the Infuse app after updating to TVos 12 beta.

 
This video is just click bait, it has been commented many time this does not work yet. If you watch the video carefully the movie starts playing showing HDR but as the camera pans down to the receiver you see it change to Dolby Atmos, this would be showing as soon as the movie starts playing. It seems like he starts playing another Dolby Atmos source to show Dolby Atmos on the receiver. I may be wrong and I hope I am as I can’t wait to have Atmos and pass through sound available on the ATV.
 
pdmpolishing said:
This video is just click bait, it has been commented many time this does not work yet. If you watch the video carefully the movie starts playing showing HDR but as the camera pans down to the receiver you see it change to Dolby Atmos, this would be showing as soon as the movie starts playing. It seems like he starts playing another Dolby Atmos source to show Dolby Atmos on the receiver. I may be wrong and I hope I am as I can’t wait to have Atmos and pass through sound available on the ATV.
Click to expand...
My Dolby Atmos setup will be complete mid July. I'll report back the findings.
 
floaty83 said:
...after reading Dolby's white paper on Atmos, it is indeed possible to include the Atmos metadata on top of another audio container.
Click to expand...
Atmos objects and metadata can be added (in backwardly compatible manner) to exactly 2 audio codec formats : DD+ (lossy) and TrueHD (lossless). No more, no less. Non-Atmos decoder will be able to play the streams back without the audio objects.
floaty83 said:
So the Apple TV is still decoding the DD+ stream but passing through the Atmos data.
Click to expand...
This is simply not possible for 2 reasons:
1) aTV does not know your speaker configuration. Your Atmos decoder does (needs to).
2) it is impossible to piggyback Atmos metadata to PCM stream (see above). In PCM decoding mode your AVR does not expect any metadata.
 
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960design said:
Pretty much every iTunes 4k Dolby Vision will get the added Dolby Atmos in the Fall.
Click to expand...

Yes and no. If the streaming version supports Atmos then it should be there. But:

1. The number of releases that support Atmos is relatively small. See the list of Dolby Vision and Atmos theatrical releases. Only handfuls of releases 2016 and earlier:

https://www.dolby.com/us/en/cinema/theatrical-releases.html

2. This list for theatrical releases. A subset of these (maybe a very large one?) released on Blu-Ray include it.

3. Streaming versions are again a subset of (2).
 
BODYBUILDERPAUL said:
Out of interest can a 4K HDR iTunes film carry Dolby Atmos or is it only Dolby Vision iTunes film that can carry this?


Dolby ATMOS and Dolby Vision have nothing to do with each other. An SD movie could have Atmos if Apple wanted to. Atmos is a data stream tied to the Dolby Audi bitstream and is completely separate from HDR or Dolby Vision Metadata.

Also wondering why some studios change from Dolby Vision to HDR instead. The Fifty Shades is an example. The first two are 4K Dolby Vision on iTunes but the latest release is 4K HDR on iTunes even though the cinema showing was Dolby Vision and on the end credits there is the Dolby Atmos logo.
[doublepost=1529971301][/doublepost]
According to FlatPanels HD they are appearing...
https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1529904499
Click to expand...


You’d have to ask the studios what these logic is for this.... I doubt anybody here could do better then a guess.
[doublepost=1530275249][/doublepost]
Zimmy68 said:
I got Atmos on Vudu. No iTunes yet. I tried BR2049 and got no audio at all in iTunes movies
Click to expand...


The only movie I have found that will play with Atmos from iTunes directly is Blade Runner 2049.
[doublepost=1530275400][/doublepost]
Zimmy68 said:
I got Atmos on Vudu. No iTunes yet. I tried BR2049 and got no audio at all in iTunes movies
Click to expand...


Yeah this is a bug in the bitstream alignment. I have been able to get Blade Runner 2049 to play with Atmos, but I’ve had to go out of the movie and back in again to get the bitstream to send it’s signal again.
 
priitv8 said:
Atmos objects and metadata can be added (in backwardly compatible manner) to exactly 2 audio codec formats : DD+ (lossy) and TrueHD (lossless). No more, no less. Non-Atmos decoder will be able to play the streams back without the audio objects.
This is simply not possible for 2 reasons:
1) aTV does not know your speaker configuration. Your Atmos decoder does (needs to).
2) it is impossible to piggyback Atmos metadata to PCM stream (see above). In PCM decoding mode your AVR does not expect any metadata.
Click to expand...

The following is a section in the Dolby Atmos for the Home Theater white paper:

"Dolby Atmos in Dolby MAT

The Dolby Metadata-enhanced Audio Transmission (Dolby MAT) encoder resides in a Blu-ray player to pack the variable bit-rate Dolby TrueHD bitstreams for transmission over the fixed bit-rate HDMI connections. A MAT decoder is subsequently employed in an AVR to unpack the Dolby TrueHD bitstreams. With the introduction of Dolby Atmos, we have expanded this technology to support encoding of Dolby Atmos content as lossless pulse-code modulation (PCM) audio.

A key benefit of Dolby MAT 2.0 is that Dolby Atmos object-based audio can be live encoded and transmitted from a source device with limited latency and processing complexity. Among the possible sources are broadcast set-top boxes, PCs, and game consoles. The Dolby MAT 2.0 decoder in an AVR outputs the object-based audio and its metadata for further processing. The Dolby MAT 2.0 container is scalable and leverages the full potential of the HDMI audio pipeline."

This is where I got the idea that Atmos can be packed with PCM, but I admittedly am not a Dolby engineer so I could be misunderstanding this. From my understanding a Dolby ATMOS stream, regardless if it's packed with DD+ or TrueHD, still has either a 5.1 or 7.1 base (for backwards compatibility). My theory still stands that the ATV is decoding the base DD+ stream, sending it as PCM 5.1 or 7.1, while passing the Atmos on top.
The Atmos object renderer is then able adapt the audio to the connected speaker config.

I'm certain that my Sony STR-DN1080 receiver reports Atmos on Linear PCM. I will take a picture or video of it on the display tonight and post it.
 
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WOW! I have seen that whitepaper, must admit I must have skipped over the MAT section.
floaty83 said:
I'm certain that my Sony STR-DN1080 receiver reports Atmos on Linear PCM. I will take a picture or video of it on the display tonight and post it.
Click to expand...
Please do! I have the same receiver, and I have not yet come across this experience. Output from tvOS 12 beta is just PCM 5.1 (3/2.1) or PCM 7.1 (3/4.1), depending on if DD or DD+ is played back on aTV.
Someone in the forum claimed BR2049 in iTunes store plays back in Atmos sound, I do not see it happening.
On our store page it is described as having DD 5.1 sound. Maybe in US store?
So I would love to learn about new capabilities of my receiver.
 
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