Read it here: RHINO Unveils DOLBY ATMOS Series | Rhino
This seems like one of the dumbest things I've ever heard of, at least on the surface.
Dolby has diluted the "Atmos" brand so much as to render it basically meaningless. It started out as a theatrical sound format which debuted somewhere around 2017. In the Atmos theatrical system, a movie soundtrack is not rendered in individual channels the way it is on a standard soundtrack. Instead, the Atmos processor "maps" the surround sound to each specific auditorium the system is installed in, sending the appropriate sound to the "area" it's meant for, rather than the individual speaker channel. To make this happen, an Atmos-specific mix of the sound is required. The system is scalable up to 128 channels. The system channels the surround sounds on the fly to the specific number of speakers in the auditorium, according to how each individual system is configured, with more speakers being better, obviously. Therefore, you could really hear a race-car zoom around the room with pinpoint accuracy. When done right, and used with the right kind of content, it is very impressive.
As you can imagine, this system was (and still is) horrendously expensive. You not only need the Atmos processor, which is expensive in its own right, but you also need high quality speakers and individual amplification to power all of those channels of sound, all meeting a set level of specification. On top of it, you need a Dolby licensed engineer to supervise the installation onsite and make sure it meets all the specs to carry the Atmos name. A typical installation can be in the low "six figure" range. Given these facts, not many theaters have installed it, outside of big cities.
So Dolby, having invested a lot of money into the Atmos brand name, apparently started trying to recoup their investment by slapping the name on anything from home speakers to headphones to (now) audio content. They have taken a "pro" brand name and turned it into a "consumer" one. Obviously, they now have no control over the type of equipment (especially the speakers) that these new disks will be played on, so how they can talk about the "3-D immersiveness" of the sound is pretty baffling. It looks like all you need is a standard Blu-ray player to play these disks on, so you could connect it to a stereo boombox and enjoy amazing Atmos immersive sound!! I don't think so.
Bottom line, it's just another way to squeeze some more dollars out of these well-worn titles.
Dolby has diluted the "Atmos" brand so much as to render it basically meaningless. It started out as a theatrical sound format which debuted somewhere around 2017. In the Atmos theatrical system, a movie soundtrack is not rendered in individual channels the way it is on a standard soundtrack. Instead, the Atmos processor "maps" the surround sound to each specific auditorium the system is installed in, sending the appropriate sound to the "area" it's meant for, rather than the individual speaker channel. To make this happen, an Atmos-specific mix of the sound is required. The system is scalable up to 128 channels. The system channels the surround sounds on the fly to the specific number of speakers in the auditorium, according to how each individual system is configured, with more speakers being better, obviously. Therefore, you could really hear a race-car zoom around the room with pinpoint accuracy. When done right, and used with the right kind of content, it is very impressive.
As you can imagine, this system was (and still is) horrendously expensive. You not only need the Atmos processor, which is expensive in its own right, but you also need high quality speakers and individual amplification to power all of those channels of sound, all meeting a set level of specification. On top of it, you need a Dolby licensed engineer to supervise the installation onsite and make sure it meets all the specs to carry the Atmos name. A typical installation can be in the low "six figure" range. Given these facts, not many theaters have installed it, outside of big cities.
So Dolby, having invested a lot of money into the Atmos brand name, apparently started trying to recoup their investment by slapping the name on anything from home speakers to headphones to (now) audio content. They have taken a "pro" brand name and turned it into a "consumer" one. Obviously, they now have no control over the type of equipment (especially the speakers) that these new disks will be played on, so how they can talk about the "3-D immersiveness" of the sound is pretty baffling. It looks like all you need is a standard Blu-ray player to play these disks on, so you could connect it to a stereo boombox and enjoy amazing Atmos immersive sound!! I don't think so.
Bottom line, it's just another way to squeeze some more dollars out of these well-worn titles.
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I appreciate those whose hobby is sitting in the middle of a ton of speakers and being wowed by the sound coming from all around them. I went through that phase in the 5.1 era when I lived up north. My current Florida home doesn't really lend itself to surround-type setups, so I'm perfectly happy having downsized to just plain-old-stereo.
Electroliner
Well-Known Member
All the Blu Ray Audio Atmos mixes will fold down to 5.1 surround if that is what the A/V receiver is only capable of. Hi Rez Stereo mixes are included that are not brickwalled and compressed to death for playback on tiny earbuds. The 5.1 DVD Audio/ SACD format battle sunk Multichannel music to a less than Niche status two decades ago.
Audio Fidelity released very limited edition 4.0 SACD pressings [2000 copies] of vintage quad mixes 10 years ago. Ebay prices are now through the roof for those titles.
Paul Sinclair of Super Deluxe edition and Michael Dutton of Dutton Vocalon really are the ones responsible for resurrecting limited release multichannel disc sales.
Business cases for small numbers of pressings are now possible.
Releases don’t to be part super high priced box set. [Although many still are unfortunately
.]
Rhino started their 4 channel Quadio series over a decade ago. Recently, vintage 4 channel Warner/Electra/Atlantic mixes were finally seeing the light of day after 50 years.
Now Rhino and others are releasing limited edition High Rez Stereo / 5.1/ Atmos titles.
I like a Phil Spector wall of sound stereo mix as the next person. The fact that the Blu-ray Atmos mixes are backward compatible with 5.1 surround systems is a wonderful thing.
Audio Fidelity released very limited edition 4.0 SACD pressings [2000 copies] of vintage quad mixes 10 years ago. Ebay prices are now through the roof for those titles.
Paul Sinclair of Super Deluxe edition and Michael Dutton of Dutton Vocalon really are the ones responsible for resurrecting limited release multichannel disc sales.
Business cases for small numbers of pressings are now possible.
Releases don’t to be part super high priced box set. [Although many still are unfortunately
.]Rhino started their 4 channel Quadio series over a decade ago. Recently, vintage 4 channel Warner/Electra/Atlantic mixes were finally seeing the light of day after 50 years.
Now Rhino and others are releasing limited edition High Rez Stereo / 5.1/ Atmos titles.
I like a Phil Spector wall of sound stereo mix as the next person. The fact that the Blu-ray Atmos mixes are backward compatible with 5.1 surround systems is a wonderful thing.
I'm starting to feel the same way...
Once we got into our new house here in Waco and I started setting up my home entertainment area (AKA Man Cave) I discovered that all the new TV and Disc formats were no longer equipped with RCA Audio connections... So my old set up in San Diego where I had EVERYTHiNG (turntable, DVD, LaserDisc, Cassette, CD player, 8-Track [yes -- don't judge], VHS, Blu-Ray) ALL wired into my receiver (via RCA) for glorious surround through my Bose Acoustimass system was no longer an option...
Exploring "breakout" options for those of us insisting on hanging on to our old ways has been daunting and hit-or-miss to say the least. My 75" TV (a decent TCL) does have a composite input via 3-mini-plug (V-L-R) but but it refuses to sense an input from the connection whenever I try it and wherever I try it (LD, VHS or old school RCA plug-equipped DVD player).
I've been looking at some of the more expensive HDMI to RCA breakout boxes (and vice-versa), but it's a lot of $ to waste for just "''sperimentin'" in the hope something works... In the "Audio World" all is well. And in the "Video World" all is well... but the joint area between the two that was so copacetic in the 90's and early 2000s seems to no longer exist...
--Mr. Bill
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