# Prepare Your Systems...Dobly Atmos is Primed to Invade on Blu-ray



## Todd Anderson

Dobly Atmos content for the home environment is less than a month away. Yesterday, Dolby Laboratories revealed that Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. would be the first two companies to release Dolby Atmos titles on Blu-ray and VUDU. VUDU is the first (currently only) streaming service to announce Dolby Atmos support.

Paramount’s first Atmos entry will come on September 30, 2014 with the release of _Transformers: Age of Extinction_. The film will be offered as a Blu-ray Combo Pack and 3D Combo Pack, both of which will carry a Dolby Atmos soundtrack encoded in Dolby TrueHD. If previous _Transformers_ Blu-ray releases are any barometer (_Dark of the Moon_, in particular) then home theater enthusiasts are in for quite an audio treat. The company is planning on announcing more Atmos enabled titles later this year. 









_Transformers: Age of Extinction is primed to be the first Dolby Atmos Blu-ray release._​

"If you've experienced _Transformers: Age of Extinction_ in Dolby Atmos in the cinema, you understand the power of sound to transport you right into the middle of the action," said Edward Hoxsie, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Product Production & Fulfillment, Paramount Pictures. "Soon, home theater enthusiasts will be able to experience Dolby Atmos movies the way they were meant to be heard, right in their living rooms."

Warner Bros. has yet to announce its first Atmos title, but has said it will also support Atmos films via online streaming and Blu-ray disc offerings.

"By leveraging new technologies like Dolby Atmos, we can deliver a more enriching and realistic experience that taps into the power and location of the audio, to draw fans deeper into the story unfolding on the screen," said Jim Wuthrich, President Of The Americas, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

Dolby Atmos is an audio format that is based on audio objects as opposed to channels, relying on new speaker positioning including speakers that are placed overhead. While it can be deployed in cinemas with up to 64 independent speakers, home environments are scaled down to a minimum of 7 speakers (with the possibility for as many as 34). Quite a few manufacturers (including Denon, Integra, Marantz, Onkyo, Pioneer, Steinway Lyngdorf, Trinnov Audio, and Yamaha) have announced receivers and pre-processors that are Atmos ready, while others (including Atlantic Technology, Definitive Technology, KEF, Onkyo, Pioneer USA, Teufel, and Triad Speakers) have revealed Dobly Atmos enabled speakers and add-on modules. If your current system isn’t Atmos compatible (and you aren’t planning on upgrading), don’t fret – Dolby Atmos titles are backwards compatible, meaning they’ll still play on your current system configuration.









_A Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 ceiling speaker configuration._​

Still not sold on Dolby Atmos? Perhaps a demo is in order. Beginning this October select Magnolia Home Theater and Design Centers will feature Dolby Atmos demonstrations. Later this fall, demos will be available at additional retailers including hhgregg, Future Shop, Best Buy Canada, Crutchfield, and Bjorn’s. Outside of the North American market, Dolby says that Sevenoaks Sound & Vision (United Kingdom), AVAC Corporation (Japan), and BIC Camera Inc (Japan) will also have demonstrations available.

_Image Credits: Paramount Pictures, Dolby Laboratories_


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## typ44q

I have to say I was sold on the idea from day one. I have no plans to run out and replace my receiver immediately but I do look forward to my next receiver/ pre amp that has Atmos built in which will probably be sometime next year.


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## Owen Bartley

Agreed, Mike. I was really excited to see my first Atmos film in the theatre... what, maybe 2 years ago with The Hobbit? (time flies with a baby at home). I'm really happy to see how quickly the manufacturers and content providers are moving to roll Atmos out for the public at home. I am definitely on board for this (eventually), and can't wait till I can see a demo in store locally. That's likely going to be a key sales boost.


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## Robert Zohn

We're hosting a Dolby Atmos party at our showroom on September 30th. Just competed the Atmos upgrade in our store theater and today we're working on upgrading our main showroom audio system so we will have two live Atmos demo rooms.

Of course we're playing Transformers: Age of Extinction and our two receivers are Pioneer's Elite SC-89 and Marantz SR7009.

Hope some of our HTS friends can attend.

-Robert


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## Owen Bartley

Robert that sounds like it would be a blast! Great idea, and I wish I was able to attend to experience it firsthand. Hope we can at least see some pics.


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## Skytrooper

Happy with my 7.2 system. I see no reason for me to upgrade.


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## mpyw

the new format will fits right into my home theater ... but needed four new ceiling speakers and new wiring....new receiver.....to make it 7.2.4

that's quite a lot to invest to enjoy the new format.....


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## Robert Zohn

Mike, Actually the cost to upgrade an existing surround sound system may not be as costly as you think. I like Denon's new AVR-X4100 Atmos enabled receiver for about $1,298 and adding two to four ceiling speakers, that should cost no more than $200 each, plus wire and labor. 

Atmos is the single most valuable audio upgrade anyone can do to greatly improve the immersive experience of Hollywood movies.

Enjoy!

-Robert


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## Owen Bartley

Robert, that's about as bold an endorsement as I've heard for Atmos. Not that I'd disagree, I'm thrilled to hear it from someone so respected in our hobby!


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## asarose247

Actually the Denon x4000 is NOT Atmos enabled. Think X4100 or X5200 and X7200.
While my 14.3 system is build to simply plug the 4 overheads into the right amp for 10.3.4, there is no debate about the fact that in spite of T4:AOE, there is NO other Content and TMK precious few announcments about any new content forth coming, 
I saw it in an ATMOS thearter 3D no less, but the movie? nevermind
however, The DSU possibilities for "could sound like ATMOS" is something to wait and see about what the early adopters report back on . . 
wiser money keeps one eyebrow raised and whispers, yeah, maybe 2nd gen will get it . .
standing by


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## Robert Zohn

Thanks for correcting my typo on the Denon model #, which I corrected in my post above. 

Regarding Atmos content, I would expect we'll see many of the 2012, 2013 and 20114 Atoms movies to be reissued with Atmos audio. The studios are motivated to re-encode for Atmos on existing titles to generate more disc sales. 

I also expect we'll see all new Hollywood Atmos movies to have Atmos on them as they release in BD. In my conversations with Dolby execs they tell me to also expect much of the streamed movies to include Atmos audio.

We have two of our showroom demo rooms upgraded to Atmos and we're expecting to receive today a few of Dolby's Atmos demo discs and Pioneer's CEDIA Atmos demo disc. So if all goes as planned we'll be enjoying some reference Atmos demo materials by the end of the day! 

Regarding the Atmos upgrade investment, it's a buyers choice. I would certainly have all new surround sound installations "Atmos ready" with at least the pre-wire run. We've done that for a few of our most recent clients. And to those who have existing systems; take it on a case by case evaluation to determine if the labor and speaker costs are reasonable. 

Content is defiantly coming and we should see a substantial surge of Atmos enabled content by the end of this year. 

-Robert


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## Robert Zohn

Still at work as I just can't go home and don't know if I can ever leave my store.... Dolby Atmos is in the house!

After a hard week of begging all of our suppliers to get all of the equipment and software upgrades, BD demo discs and pushing our staff to get two of our showroom demo rooms completely set up we are finally enjoying the amazing Dolby Atmos multidimensional audio in our theater and main showroom. 

The experience is very enveloping and engaging. One clip is Enrique Iglesias in a music video that has us all dancing and singling along. The rain forest had us all scrambling for umbrellas and rain coats. 

This is as much fun and serious entertainment that anyone can possibly ask for. 

Tomorrow is our first public Atmos demo day and we'll be inviting all of our walk in folks to experience the bleeding edge in real immersive movie theater and real life entertainment. 










Seeing our Marantz SR7009 light up with the words Dolby Atmos gave me a chill. 










Enjoy!

-Robert


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## Todd Anderson

Robert Zohn said:


> Still at work as I just can't go home and don't know if I can ever leave my store.... Dolby Atmos is in the house!
> 
> After a hard week of begging all of our suppliers to get all of the equipment and software upgrades, BD demo discs and pushing our staff to get two of our showroom demo rooms completely set up we are finally enjoying the amazing Dolby Atmos multidimensional audio in our theater and main showroom.
> 
> The experience is very enveloping and engaging. One clip is Enrique Iglesias in a music video that has us all dancing and singling along. The rain forest had us all scrambling for umbrellas and rain coats.
> 
> This is as much fun and serious entertainment that anyone can possibly ask for.
> 
> Tomorrow is our first public Atmos demo day and we'll be inviting all of our walk in folks to experience the bleeding edge in real immersive movie theater and real life entertainment.
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> 
> Seeing our Marantz SR7009 light up with the words Dolby Atmos gave me a chill.
> 
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> Enjoy!
> 
> -Robert


Very cool...

Can you detail the set-up? Do you have in-the-ceiling speakers? Or are you using atoms modules?


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## Robert Zohn

We have two Atmos demo rooms completed. The Atmos demo pictured above is in our main showroom and uses a combination of Atmos modules for our Def Tech BP8060 bi polar towers plus two in-ceiling 8" speakers and two wall mounted rear channels, plus the center channel. So in our main showroom we're literally "Bouncing off of the ceiling!"  All powered by Marantz's new flagship SR7009 and OPPO's BDP-103.

In our dedicated theater demo room we have four overhead 8" in-ceiling speakers, three in-wall front speakers, two sides, two surround backs and two rears, plus three subs. Denon's AVR-X5200 and OPPO's BDP-103 are the backbone.

Both Atmos systems deliver exceptional Atmos performance, but the dedicated theater is the better system.

This is very serious fun.

-Robert


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## davidylan

robert, how do we get the dolby atmos demo discs? I've been searching for them to no avail.


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## Robert Zohn

I got ours from Dolby at the CEDIA show. Sorry I don't have any extras left, but we're trying to get a few to give away at our media/public press conference event. Are you near Scarsdale, NY?

-Robert


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## davidylan

Robert, i'm about 2 hours away from scarsdale. Let me know when you might have some in store and i'll be sure to swing by. I tried it with the pioneer speaker setup at bestbuy... absolutely blown away! they didnt have a copy of the bluray to try at home though.


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