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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Author
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Topic: DTS announces DTS:X Object-Based Codec
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 05-26-2015 09:46 PM
quote: Daniel Schulz
As I understand it, we will not see movies releasing with something called DTS:X audio, as there will just be the SMPTE-standardized, immersive soundtrack (I'm actually quite curious to see how Dolby tries to maintain the Atmos brand for soundtracks that are an interoperable bitstream).
The problem is with as much money as it costs to install a properly equipped & configured immersive sound system the theater will need some way to brand it. After spending all that money they need a simple way to tell the public, "this isn't plain surround sound; this is something a whole lot better."
Dolby Atmos at least has that kind of branding. The Atmos logo is finally showing up on end credits of Atmos-mixed movies on a consistent basis, it has a home theater tie-in, at least some movie theaters are advertising they have Atmos. Finally it is a component of Dolby Cinema, which could give IMAX some challenges at least in some higher end markets.
If the technology is going to be handled in a generic manner the movie theater operator will have little if any reason to install something other than conventional 5.1 or 7.1. There is even a lot of premium priced theaters, like the aforementioned Carmike Big D houses, that are just plain 7.1. Out of nearly 30 Big D houses Carmike has only 1 Atmos equipped Big D house and only 1 with Auro.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 12-09-2015 09:36 AM
quote: Matt Russell
I never understood why Universal wouldn't give their big-budget tentpoles an Atmos mix, like Jurassic World and Furious 7 as said but instead give smaller (in terms of budget and genre) films like Minions and Crimson Peak the full package.
I agree it's pretty screwy Universal released high profile titles like Furious 7 and Jurassic World only with "plain" 5.1/7.1 audio. No Atmos, Auro, etc. But they could always come back and do double dip releases with an updated DTS:X and/or Dolby Atmos track for home theater.
Crimson Peak didn't have an immersive audio mix in its theatrical release. In the case of Minions, Dreamworks Animation has lately been creating Atmos and Auro mixes for all their releases.
quote: Daniel Schulz
I dunno if I'd call 4 titles (Ex Machina, American Ultra, The Last Witch Hunter and now Crimson Peak) a quick start, especially since there is still no hardware available that can decode these soundtracks (firmware updates for Denon and Marantz AVRs to enable DTS:X decoding is supposed to be released starting in January).
Nevertheless, DTS:X is appearing to do more in home theater than it is doing in commercial cinemas. Right off the bat Ex Machina was a home theater only release for DTS:X. That movie only had conventional audio in its theatrical release. DTS:X compatible hardware may be lagging behind the release of Blu-ray discs with DTS:X, but the receivers will be coming. Unlike the very murky situation of just what DTS:X could be in a commercial movie theater there at least appears to be some level of suggested speaker configuration standard in a home theater setup (and it looks a bit like an Auro 3D setup to me).
Dolby Atmos in home theater is a mixed bag. A lot of movies that had Atmos mixes in theatrical release have had Blu-ray discs with DTS-HD Master Audio instead, even after Atmos for home theater became available. I wonder if the lack of Windows-compatible Atmos encoding software has anything to do with that. All commercial Blu-ray discs are authored on PCs running Windows-based software. Dolby's audio encoding software is Mac-only. DTS' audio encoding software supports Mac & Windows platforms.
The Gunman is the only recent American movie release I can think of that didn't appear to have an Atmos mix in theatrical release, but it has an Atmos track on Blu-ray. Lately Sony has been reissuing older movies on Blu-ray with new Atmos mixes. It's pretty unusual for HBO Home Video to re-release Game of Thrones on Blu-ray with new Atmos mixes. That could be a game changer and put more attention on the home theater side of things, especially with how painfully slow Atmos adoption in commercial theaters is going. The lack of Atmos-equipped screens makes it pretty difficult, if not impossible, for many people to watch a movie presented in Atmos in a commercial theater. So in a lot of cases the only way people are going to see some movies in Atmos is by doing so with a home theater setup.
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Connor Wilson
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 190
From: Sterling, VA, USA
Registered: Jan 2011
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posted 12-26-2015 12:40 PM
I don't know if this is relevant or can stand on its own in a different topic but I'd like to report that the DTS:X mix on the Ex Machina Blu-ray is mainly one of the examples of when people here talk negatively about near-field mixes. I don't have a DTS:X setup, but I have a 7.1 + Back Surround Sub-Bass system at home to listen with. Thankfully, the theatrical 5.1 mix of the film is also available on the same disc, albeit 768 kbps lossy DTS, so I was able to compare the two.
A couple of examples. In the beginning of the movie, when Domhnall Gleeson approaches the entrance of the research facility, the outdoor ambiance has sort of a treble cut in the DTS:X mix whereas in the theatrical it's more flat. I had my THX Re-EQ and Cinema filters on for both tracks (as well as my manual EQ settings) and the DTS:X is stereotypically near-field in that respect. Also later in the film, when Gleeson and Isaac discuss Ava's sexuality, the ambiance is much louder in the DTS:X, leveling with the dialogue, whereas the ambiance is quieter in the theatrical. Overall, the DTS:X mix feels hollow, and ironically, the theatrical DTS has more channel separation.
When I saw Ex Machina in the theaters twice, I took notice of the incredibly dynamic 5.1 mix and its deep low-end crawling all the way to the surrounds. It's mostly a very quiet movie, and usually the loudest moments are musical cues and the helicopter fly-by in the very beginning. I was hoping those aspects of the theatrical mix would be retained in the DTS:X remix, but I wasn't surprised they'd eventually dumb it down. A lossless version of the theatrical mix should be on the UK Blu-ray.
Now this raises my anxieties of Sicario's inevitable DTS:X mix on the upcoming Blu-ray. I should have less anxieties as Sicario did feature a DTS:X mix theatrically, as well as a Dolby Atmos mix, but the standard 5.1 in theaters was still incredible, and perhaps one of the best-sounding movies of its year.
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