#DOLBY ATMOS DEMO DISC AMAZON FULL#

However in amongst all this chaos the dialogue remains clear, allowing you to remain engaged with the characters even as the film puts you as close to the summit of Everest as you'll probably ever want to be. Not only do all the channels get a thorough workout but so will your subwoofer, with plenty of bass extension to rattle your room. However once the storm arrives, the sound design goes into overdrive, utilising all the speakers and totally immersing you in both the environment and the climbers' ordeal. As the climbers ascend the mountain, so the soundtrack builds, adding more audio cues from the wind constantly moving around the entire soundstage to the footsteps crunching snow to the ice creaking and cracking. Like the narrative itself, the sound design slowly builds creating an utterly believable sense of location that works perfectly with the equally impressive visuals.

#DOLBY ATMOS DEMO DISC AMAZON FULL#

The sound designers take full advantage of the object-based capabilities of Atmos to create a completely believable soundstage that really adds to the veracity of the film. Having seen Everest at the cinema, we knew we were in for a treat and the Dolby Atmos-encoded Blu-ray certainly didn't disappoint. However it's the climatic sandstorm that makes American Sniper such a stand-out Atmos soundtrack, as all the speakers and the subs burst into life, completely enveloping you and making the entire sequence remarkably visceral. Even though the guns sometimes have suppressors on them, there's still a low-end kick to remind you how powerful the ordinance is and their affect on the human body. The bass extension is also impressive, not just with obvious effects like tanks and explosions but also with the gunfire. The general sense of the acoustical space of an environment is also wonderfully captured, making each location feel completely real. It's a subtle but highly effective approach, as is the deliberate use of dynamic range as scenes cut from Iraq to the US and back again. This is especially true of the sniper sequences when the POV moves to Kyle's scope and the audio almost tunnels around you, as if you're inside the scope. The sound designers are getting better at creating mixes that completely immerse the viewer by moving objects around in three-dimensional space, drawing you into the movie. We have reviewed the majority of Dolby Atmos encoded Blu-rays released to date and here is a list of the best so far.Īmerican Sniper was nominated for Academy Awards in both Sound Mixing and Sound Editing and it quite deservedly won for the latter.

However in the home cinema we use for reviewing Dolby Atmos encoded Blu-rays and testing Dolby Atmos capable AV receivers and processors we have a full 7.2.4 setup with three speakers at the front, two subwoofers at the front, two speakers at the side, two speakers at the rear and four downward-firing speakers overhead. Since Dolby realise that installing two or four downward-firing speakers to the ceiling might be difficult, they also offer the choice of upward-firing speakers that bounce sounds off the ceiling. There is the choice of either a 5.1 or 7.1 surround configuration with two or four speakers positioned overhead and you can find out more here. The domestic version was launched in 2014 and follows the same basic principles but reduces the number of speakers to something that is more practical for use in the home. Dolby Atmos is an object-based system and in the cinema utilises more speakers around the sides and rear, additional subwoofers and two rows of overhead speakers. It was initially launched in the cinema over four years ago and to date there are more than 200 film titles mixed using the format. For those that may be unfamiliar with Dolby Atmos, it is one of three competing audio formats that use additional speakers to create a more immersive surround experience.

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