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Topic: Dolby's new sound system
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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 05-08-2012 10:38 AM
This thread has done more to increase my understanding of Atmos than any of the Dolby materials have, so many thanks to the people that provided good information...
As much as I am a sound guy and I welcome this development, I fear that reality of the situation is that it won't get past the initial burst phase.
At the risk of sounding like a wet blanket, I'm cynical about the willingness of theaters to adopt it, the willingness of studios to mix for it, the ability of any of the involved parties to market it effectively, and the ability of theaters to keep their equipment calibrated so that it actually means something to the viewer and over the long haul.
I love the idea that a theater could install as many speakers as they are able, and then the processor just deals with it to deliver the end result. Wonderful idea! However, wouldn't this mean that there potentially would be lots and lots of amps for all those discrete speakers?
If I understand it correctly, each speaker in the auditorium should be sourced and driven independently. So, in a conservative installation that's worth doing, let's say that we have the normal front three "channels", three "channels" on each side and in the back, and let's toss three up on/near the ceiling to keep things symmetrical.
That's fifteen discrete sources and amps, without counting bi-amping or dedicated subs. Let's round that up to 20 for the sake of discussion.
That's 20 amps that need to be checked, calibrated, and tuned. Each speaker has one or more drivers that need to be checked for proper operation. How practical is it to believe that the equipment will be checked, maintained, calibrated, and tuned on a regular basis?
Something like this screams for the processor to have a microphone input so that one or more microphones can be placed in the auditorium and a series of test tones generated by the processor can be checked by that same processor to automate the process of checking, calibrating, and tuning the auditorium. Basically, a commercial version of the Audyssey or YPAO technologies. (Yes, I'm sure there are sound techs who could run circles around this stuff in their sleep, but unless such a tech can serve every theater out there, such a tool could be very useful.)
I think the worry that this will turn into another THX debacle is very warranted. The only way to combat that is for Dolby to use the power of the Internet to provide a transparent system for tracking Atmos installations. Keeping a database of what each theater has and when it was last checked, calibrated, and tuned is any easy application that any decent web developer could create.
Even if all the behind-the-scenes work is done correctly (which is an obstacle that would make Pikes Peak look diminutive), how does this get marketed? How does Theater A that decked out its auditorium with speakers covering every inch of wall space differentiate itself from Theater B, which added a single speaker on the ceiling and called it good?
That aforementioned processor should be able to assign a resolution number to the theater for how well it can resolve a standardized Atmos test file. Some objective measurement is needed, akin to putting an engine on a dyno, so that theaters can measure their progress when they make changes, and people should be able to know that Theater A scored a 75 while Theater B only scored a 40.
Of course, all that could be covered by an Atmos theater being THX certified...
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 05-08-2012 02:48 PM
quote: Scott Jentsch
At the risk of sounding like a wet blanket, I'm cynical about the willingness of theaters to adopt it, the willingness of studios to mix for it, the ability of any of the involved parties to market it effectively, and the ability of theaters to keep their equipment calibrated so that it actually means something to the viewer and over the long haul.
Dolby Atmos will give sound designers far greater control over how sound effects are positioned and panned through the listening space. Like you, Scott, I am skeptical it will achieve the installation screen counts of other processes that reached mass market success like 35mm Dolby Digital or standard 2K digital cinema. It might get install numbers more like 70mm and THX did back in the 1980's.
It shouldn't be difficult for movie post production units to mix audio for Dolby Atmos. A few computer software changes are all that's needed.
The big difficulties of Atmos lies 100% with the movie theaters.
First, there's the installation cost. I still run into people who don't really care all that much about surround sound. They could take it or leave it. Atmos must be marketed to audiences effectively. The customers first need to know specifically which theaters have it and are playing movies mixed in the format. This wasn't communicated well with SDDS-8, Dolby-EX and even the recent 7.1 offerings. Many theater chains have cut way back on newspaper advertising. Online directories often don't mention sound/projection format information or those web-based details could be misleading or outright wrong. On top of that, audiences must give enough of a damn to choose an Atmos equipped house over another theater playing the same movie in LPCM 5.1. With those hurdles to overcome I can easily see lots of theater owners balking at the $20K-$30K installation cost.
Dolby Atmos doesn't appear to be stadium seated friendly. Dolby's marketing materials and white papers on Atmos show diagrams and renderings of standard sloped auditoriums. Subwoofers are placed in all four corners of the room. Side surround speaker arrays are on an even level all around the room. Either one of those design ideas seem problematic for a stadium seated house. Add to that the ceiling height in some stadium seated rooms. Atmos would have been fantastic for the long gone General Cinemas Northpark #1 theater in Dallas. I don't think it will work quite so well in a lot of stadium seated builds at least not without some modifications in the auditorium.
Where are all those extra amps going to be placed? Some booths are pretty cramped already. Then there's some theaters actually hanging digital projectors from the ceiling in the auditorium.
On-going maintenance is perhaps the biggest bug-a-boo. Too many theaters are already doing a crappy job keeping standard 5.1 sound systems properly operational. An Atmos configuration would need quite a bit more attention, especially if the sound system was pushed at proper levels. How are regular theater staffers going to change out a blown ceiling surround driver 30' or 40' above rows of seats on a steep slope? Crawl through HVAC ducts above the ceiling Mission: Impossible style?
An Atmos-equipped theater certainly would need to get a handle on the outrageous volume levels of movie trailers so they're not threatening speaker drivers anymore than the main feature would.
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