Not much to choose from when it comes to dobly atmos ready avr's, the new integras & onkyo with atmos have the accuEq room coorection instead of audessey when tested to be inferior. seems that this new
Denon Avr X7200 is the best future proof avr for the moment, perhaps waiting a year or so would be a good idea until we see how everything pans out as the new standard in hdmi and between atmos or auro3d.
Current list of avrs available for purchase with atmos. Current as of black friday.
http://www.avsforum.com/index.php?page=BG-AV-receiverDTS-UHD is still speculative. No official announcements yet from DTS. Chip processor press release is the only teaser info so far.
AVF forum article was a fluff piece. No facts there.
DTS-UHD should be more solid come CES in just over a month.
I'd wait anyway. The current offerings are super pricey for the features, Atmos or not. 1 year from now you will have a lot more choices with more bells and whistles like improved room correction, or even Audyssey in line-ups that lost them with the current Atmos.
Since most people prefer the DTS-HD Master Audio over Dolby TrueHD, it would seem that it would be prudent to wait until the at least include the DTS-UHD in some flavor.
Funny how DTS announced their object based home system 1st, and then Dolby comes along and drops Atmos for the home. I would have thought that DTS would have had their stuff ready for CEDIA this past fall.
Auro 3D is not even really a player here. They have super cheap licensing which is why they are being included, but studios have decade long relationships with Dolby and DTS, they have no need to embrace a 3rd format from a virtually unknown player in the industry. They only have a couple (maybe 3 or 4) discs from what I was reading the other day, and those are somewhat obscure music disc, and certainly not movies.
The Denon has a MSRP of $3000 for a 9.2 receiver (unless you buy another amp on top of that for 11.2 processing, with 13.2 capable outputs). For $1000 less, you get a beefy 9.2 (again, 11.2 capable with separate amp) setup for 7.2.2 or 5.2.4 Atmos. Not sure that the 7200 is worth the $1000 more over the 5200.
It is a tough time to be in the receiver market with HDMI 2.0 issues needing sorted out, etc. It takes quite the pretty penny to get everything that people want at the moment.
I have 2 pairs of in-ceiling speakers on order but before I start making holes in my Ht room ceiling and passing new wiring I need to see how everything in the receiver formats pans out, auro 3d does have a few movie titles out;
http://www.auro-3d.com/consumer/ although atmos seems to be the bomb now I think i'll wait a year to convince myself of in-ceiling speaker placement and layout
I'm jumping into Atmos a LOT earlier then I normally do due to needing a new receiver anyways. The Denon X4100 is easily gotten here in Canada for 1299, and the 5200 is 1899. Don't pay MSRP. The 5200 is the one to get right now, and I think Yamaha has one as well (3030?)
I have the 4100, using it as a pre amp. That was as much money I was putting into a receiver for now until the format war has a clear winner. I've always preferred DTS myself.
Oh, I agree, never pay MSRP. You are still talking about almost $2000 to basically get Atmos vs. a sub $800 receiver that gets you almost pretty much everything else. That is still quite the premium.
As for Auro titles, where can you actually buy them? I was just mentioning that in a recent (2 week old) post on another forum, there were only 3 titles available, and none of them were "movies."
Then again, you can only get a couple of Atmos titles too I guess.
There's really nothing out there right now for either. Demo discs and the new transformers. Way too early to adopt to this yet.
And that's exactly what Denon is counting on. All those
suckers early adopters that just have to have the latest and greatest.
Cheap a$$ed buggers Frugal people like me are happiest when the technology is well ahead of the market.
There's really nothing out there right now for either. Demo discs and the new transformers. Way too early to adopt to this yet.
EXACTLY!
Dolby's plus is that they are already in the commercial cinema with Atmos, DTS's plus is that they are generally the preferred HD audio on blu-ray discs, Auro's plus is that they have a "3" layer system that costs a lot of money for all of the speaker repeats from layer 1 and 2, plus the V.O.G. speaker so that the ultra-high end people have something to throw their money at.
Ok, that was FILLED with (hopefully) obvious sarcasm towards Auro. I am sure that their system sounds great, but it will be an uphill battle for them to bump out Dolby and DTS.
And that's exactly what Denon is counting on. All those
suckers early adopters that just have to have the latest and greatest.
Cheap a$$ed buggers Frugal people like me are happiest when the technology is well ahead of the market.
2 years seems like a LONG time, but 2 years from now this will be settled, sound processors/receivers will all have Atmos/Auro/DTS-UHD and thus be cheaper, etc.
I look forward to HTIB Atmos systems. They will give people more speakers to line up on the mantel.
Damn, now I have to add a mantle to my shopping list.
Nick. At my age, 2 years is a blink of an eye. I could have sworn that I bought my now dying display just last year.
I'm starting to sound like Jack.
I look forward to HTIB Atmos systems. They will give people more speakers to line up on the mantel.
Actually there is supposed to be a HTIB Atmos system for something like $800 that uses the up-firing speakers. So no additional speakers, although the vision of more is funny.
I'm starting to sound like Jack.
When Jack was a kid, someone had to re-paint a canvas 24 times a second.
I'm starting to sound like Jack.
When Jack was a kid, someone had to re-paint a canvas 24 times a second.
My dad had one of those.
I look forward to HTIB Atmos systems. They will give people more speakers to line up on the mantel.
I thought he was rudely making fun of CatBrat until I noticed the "HTIB".
See. I got your back, Brian!
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Although I admit I did snicker.
Just a tiny bit.
More of a hiccup really.
A sniccup!!!
That's funny because I never made the connection myself.
Initial news out of CES is gen 1 ATMOS avrs will NOT be firmware upgradeable to include DTS:X!!!
DTS:X requires a harware chip not included in all current ATMOS avrs.
Still waiting on official reports. This news coming from attendees at CES from show floor.
I was thinking that would be the case. They were already cramming a lot of processing for Atmos into their existing chips per the people at CEDIA when I was there in the fall.
Good thing that I am waiting. I would like to see Gen 2 DTS:X before I upgrade, but I am not sure that I want to wait that long.
Thanks for the update.
Waiting for the AVS report to drop. They were supposed to have an exclusive meeting with DTS yesterday.
Yeah, but with no official announcement until March 2015, they might not get much info.
I love how in the video the guy talks about speakers in the floor. Interesting idea.
I remember years ago seeing some goofy speaker placement diagram with a full sphere of sound, which put speakers around the walls, in the ceiling, and in the floor. I thought it was totally silly, but with Atmos and Auro you have, technically, more than half of that sphere.
Like a hamster ball with orbiting speakers!
The DTS:X thread has devolved into the usual hyper speculation and nattering back and forth. How atypical!
Looks like the SC-85 ATMOS system I'm going to see tonight is already obsolete sitting on the store shelf.... Lol. Probably soon a steal of a deal for someone not wanting immersive but needing to upgrade. Keep your eyes peeled.
Chess, where you at?
I hope the release of DTS:X is presented with little to no fanfare. I want it to be released as a product that is just as it should be. Something that works properly out of the gate with substantial content available in the short term.
With DTS's existing tech and market share, I expect that will be the case.
I'd change my original post to a system with basic angles used from 2-7.1 systems, one above the other but with the top layer spun 180 degrees.
Then add 4 overheads for additional ambiance.
14.1(4).4?
The top layer wouldn't match up to the bottom it would be split/offset between the speakers on the bottom layer.
I'd want to try 14.1as well.
3 front and rear, 4 front heights 4 rear heights.
In a small room I don't think you'd need more.
Got it. I like it.
I think what I will experience tonight is that a very "realistic" experience can be had when ambience and spacial cues are not room dependent.
I think immersive media formats will lead to not only object steering, but a less demanding relationship between the room and the listener. More speakers will take the place of perfect setup and acoustic optimization, with pretty similar (if not better) results. I would think a system optimized for both immersive setup and acoustics would be surreal.
Nick, you lucky devil.
Anyone set up with Atmos? If so, are you using the in-ceiling M3's? Thinking of upgrading to Atmos and would love some feedback. Hard to read reviews onsite, as the link brings up the standard M3 review, without specific mention to the in-ceiling model.
Anyone set up with Atmos? If so, are you using the in-ceiling M3's? Thinking of upgrading to Atmos and would love some feedback. Hard to read reviews onsite, as the link brings up the standard M3 review, without specific mention to the in-ceiling model.
Can't tell you about the in-ceiling M3 but I recently set up a 5.2.2 (Dolby enabled front) in a small-medium room/10 foot ceiling with an Onkyo 636 and The Expendables 3 was amazing in Dolby Atmos. The new Dolby Surround feature that comes with Atmos receivers was quite impressive as well (crowd noise) when watching the football game.
Can't tell you about the in-ceiling M3 but I recently set up a 5.2.2 (Dolby enabled front) in a small-medium room/10 foot ceiling with an Onkyo 636 and The Expendables 3 was amazing in Dolby Atmos. The new Dolby Surround feature that comes with Atmos receivers was quite impressive as well (crowd noise) when watching the football game.
That's great to hear as I'm looking at a 5.2.2 as well. So even if the track isn't recorded in Atmos, the Dolby mix is still worth it? Nice!
Can't tell you about the in-ceiling M3 but I recently set up a 5.2.2 (Dolby enabled front) in a small-medium room/10 foot ceiling with an Onkyo 636 and The Expendables 3 was amazing in Dolby Atmos. The new Dolby Surround feature that comes with Atmos receivers was quite impressive as well (crowd noise) when watching the football game.
That's great to hear as I'm looking at a 5.2.2 as well. So even if the track isn't recorded in Atmos, the Dolby mix is still worth it? Nice!
Coming from an individual that never liked Dolby Pro Logic II (which Dolby Surround replaces) and other up-mixers, I am finding Dolby Surround can be a VERY useful feature that can definitely make improvements to soundtracks in your current collection.
Even with little Atmos content at the moment, Dolby Surround will put in-ceiling speakers to good use.
Got my Denon X5200W, gonna move the 4 Orb Audio speakers currently as surround speakers in the living room to the HT room as ceiling speakers, in a 7.2.4 format...
exciting times for this weekend....