Surround Sound Q/A

[biferi]

I am looking at the Marantz NR1607 AV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkjU2aX0xFA

It says it can Decode Doby Atmos and DTSX.

But say I am watching a DVD Encoded with just 5.1 Surround Sound.
And I am just setup for 5.1 Speakers.

Can it do this or will it sound Funny because it is trying to do Doby Atmos?

And the same for just DTS.
If I just go to use DTS will it sound Funny because it will try to do DTSX?

Or how does this whole thing work?
Thanks for the time.

[Cornucopia]

The beauty of Dolby Atmos, and most positional/object-oriented audio formats, is that they are DESIGNED to give an optimal panorama as possible for any given speaker layout - as long as you tell the playback system exactly how you have the speakers laid out.

IOW, it won't sound as exact and clearly defined as a 22.2 system, but it ought to give the best that a 5.1 system can give (assuming great producer skills).

It works by describing sound items positionally (e.g. snd fx 1=3 meters distant, 30degrees left of center, 60degrees above horizon), and then the Atmos player/processor steers the sound to that (phantom) location IN REALTIME during playback, by a certain combination of mix levels, phases, equalizations, and delays, disbursed into the proper speaker channel combinations that exist in YOUR room's system layout. As the layout gets more encompassing, the sounds become less of a phantom approximation and more of an exact discreet assignment, thus more solid imaging.

Scott

[biferi]

Well you say as long as I tell the AV System what Speaker Setup I have it will be ok.

But this is what I mean.
If the System just has Dolby Atmos and DTSX and I have 5. Speakers.
I have to Select Dolby True but it just has Dolby Atmos it says.

Or if it does Dolby Atmos it will do everything before that?

[Cornucopia]

Part of your (Atmos) receiver setup is supposed to be telling it what kind of layout you have (distances, 1 spkr vs 2 spkr vs 4 spkr vs 5.1 etc, full range vs satellites+sub, placement wide vs narrow, surround side vs back vs both etc...).
This is something that EVERY decent receiver has in its menus along with spkr level balance & eq. stuff.

Once that is done, IT SHOULD do the proper processing for you, whether it is stereo source, 5.1 surround source, pure atmos positional-type source, or atmos positional + regular channel hybrid source.

Have you done that setup?

Scott

[amaipaipai]

I've developed a sound processor on my own and from my perspective, you don't need Dolby Atmos, this is a gimmick. I got myself a 7.1 system from Onkyo at the time this was "the new thing" right when it started, today, there isn't much titles with 7.1 sound, same for Dolby Atmos, all they did was to create a "new thing" so people would upgrade their gear.

Look at 3D movies, you have a hand full of studios that know how to extract the best of the technology, the rest is garbage, tricks. The best I've seen so far was Avatar, Need for Speed and Top Gun. For 7.1 audio, the best so far it's Star Trek and Pacific Rim.

There was a Dolby Atmos THX IMAX theater in my town, 13.000W RMS power, speakers from top to bottom, 128 channels... Today they are using standard 7.1 channels, people didn't heard the difference so they dropped Atmos. I never saw anything that justified an Atmos System, ever.
You can get impressed with one or other effects but it's another gimmick.

This is just my personal impression by the way.