At a panel discussion at CE Week in New York City, representatives from DTS, Dolby and Auro Technologies gathered to give the latest updates on their respective immersive sound formats. Immersive sound, sometimes referred to as "3D Sound" or "3D Audio" is an enhancement to surround sound which adds height elements to the traditional 5.1 or 7.1 channel mix in order to create a more realistic, more immersive soundfield for movies and music. Movie viewers can check out immersive sound in theaters today in Dolby Atmos, IMAX and AURO-3D with DTS:X expected in theaters soon. Dolby, AURO-3D and DTS:X are also available (or soon will be) in select consumer electronics gear so consumers can bring immersive sound to their home theaters and living rooms. The panel on immersive sound was moderated by Scott Wilkinson of AVS Forum.
Brett Crockett from Dolby discussed the latest updates in Dolby Atmos. The company now claims over 275 titles have been released or announced in the format in theaters - an impressive feat considering the first Dolby Atmos title (Disney/Pixar's "Brave") only hit theaters about three years ago. For the home market, Dolby boasts 40 Atmos-encoded Blu-ray titles that have been announced or are available worldwide with 14 of these titles in the US market. This year, the second generation of Dolby Atmos-enabled home receivers, preamp/processors and speakers are beginning to ship, with price points starting at about $599 for a Dolby Atmos-capable receiver. The Pioneer VSX-1130-K, Onkyo TX-NR646 and Denon AVR-X1200W are all priced at just under $600.
Geir Skaaden from DTS offered some new details on the recently announced DTS:X immersive sound format. Like Dolby Atmos, DTS:X is an object-based surround format. Object-based surround sound is more flexible than the older channel-based systems as object-based systems can support a wider number of speaker configurations. They can scale from simple 5.1-channel systems with 2 added height speakers for a small room all the way up to several dozen speakers for a large theater. So far, only one title has been announced for Blu-ray: the SciFi thriller "Ex Machina," which will hit stores next month. Several A/V makers have announced receivers and processors which will support DTS:X decoding later this year. As with Dolby, the price point starts at $599 for a DTS:X-capable receiver such as the Onkyo TX-NR646 or Denon AVR-X1200W.
Sven Mevissen from Auro Technologies gave a brief spiel about AURO-3D and said that while the current implementation of AURO-3D is a hard-coded channel-based system, they are also working on an object-based version of AURO-3D. Unlike DTS:X and Dolby Atmos, the current AURO-3D system uses two distinct layers of overhead speakers: a height layer which uses speakers mounted above the main speakers at the front and back of the room (higher than the main speakers, but not directly overhead) as well as a single top speaker for sounds to come from directly above the listener. Auro says that the top layer is optional for most home systems (and the home products we've seen so far do not support it).
Auro says there are over 100 films that have been encoded in AURO-3D for theaters, but so far no theatrical titles have been released or even announced for the home market. The only content you can currently buy for AURO-3D is a few music titles on Blu-ray. I spoke with Sven after the panel discussion and he said that discussions with the studios are "ongoing." And he hoped they would have news about upcoming Blu-ray Discs with AURO-3D encoding soon. AURO-3D is available now in select high-end receivers and preamp/processors, starting at $1399 for the Denon AVRX4100W (plus a $50 fee for the Auro-3D upgrade).
If you want an AURO-compatible receiver which also supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, that will cost you a bit more. The least expensive receiver we've seen that will support all three immersive audio formats is the Denon AVRX7200W ($2999.99). It is available now and already supports Dolby Atmos (built-in) and AURO-3D (with a $50 upgrade). Denon announced that the AVRX7200W will be getting a firmware upgrade later this summer to support DTS:X decoding at no extra charge.
One Speaker Layout to Rule Them All
When asked whether it would be possible to do a single speaker layout that would support all three immersive sound formats, all three of the company reps agreed that it could work, but did not elaborate. I drilled down on that question with Brett Crockett after the event and he said Dolby does support a wide array of height speaker configurations, some of which could also be compatible with AURO-3D and DTS:X. I asked him specifically about a 5.1.4 or 7.1.4 system where the 4 height channels are placed high on the front and rear walls, above the front and rear main speaker pairs, firing down toward the listener (which is consistent with AURO-3D recommendations) and he said this could work for Dolby Atmos as well.
DTS has already gone on record saying that they would support either the AURO or Dolby Atmos recommended speaker layouts for DTS:X. They've even gone so far as to say that DTS:X could work with Dolby's "Atmos elevation modules." Dolby Atmos-enabled speakers, available from companies such as Pioneer, KEF and Definitive Technology, are designed to sit on top of, or be integrated into, standard tower or bookshelf speakers and bounce sound off the ceiling for the height effects. The appeal for consumers is that this gives you an overhead speaker effect without having to run speaker wires up or inside your walls or install additional speakers on your walls or in your ceiling.
We've been testing KEF's version of these Atmos speakers (the KEF R50) and they do an excellent job of reproducing Dolby Atmos height effects. Brett from Dolby confirmed that it would be possible for other immersive sound formats (namely DTS:X) to use Atmos speakers as their height channels as well. All of the sonic magic that allows these speakers to produce the illusion of overhead sound is contained in the speakers themselves, not in the Dolby Atmos processor. However, AURO has said previously that they have no intention of supporting this type of "virtual" height speaker for AURO-3D. So if you want to put together a format-agnostic system that will work with all three flavors of immersive sound, you'll probably be best to go with real in-ceiling or on-wall/on-ceiling height speakers.
As with many new formats, content is still the limiting factor. Dolby currently leads the pack with 14 Blu-ray titles encoded in Dolby Atmos for the US market (40 worldwide). You can even get Dolby Atmos content online via the VUDU streaming service. So far, that online content is limited to Dolby Atmos trailers, short films and animated logos, but it shows that Dolby Atmos can be delivered via a streaming service, not just on physical media. DTS:X was only officially announced in April, but it didn't take long for the first DTS:X-compatible Blu-ray to be announced ("Ex Machina"). AURO is arguably the oldest of the immersive sound formats - initially shown to the public in 2006 - but it's the only one without any actual movies available for the home. We're optimistic that the software selection will improve over time.
As to which format will get the most love from the studios, it's too early to tell. If you're interested in immersive sound, we'd recommend getting a system that supports all three formats, or at least Dolby Atmos and DTS:X as those two companies have a proven track record of bringing software to the home market. If you can afford the extra investment to bring home all three formats, then that's your safest bet.
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