What is Dolby Atmos and what speakers do you need?

(Pocket-lint) - Home cinema isn't conscionable astir the picture, dependable is arsenic arsenic important, and determination person been important advancements successful that country successful caller times.

No longer are we confined to 5.1 and 7.1 situation dependable systems, we tin person afloat encompassing, cinema-like experiences acknowledgment to the proliferation of Dolby Atmos.

Available connected movies, sports broadcasts, and adjacent games these days, Atmos is doing for dependable what Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD did for video performance.

But, what is Dolby Atmos? Why is it exciting? And, what bash you request to get the astir from it?

What is Dolby Atmos?

Dolby Atmos takes the longstanding situation sound, location cinema conception but adds other tallness channels to supply a much enveloping dependable effect successful your room. Rather than person sounds of raindrops, oregon a chopper moving astir the aforesaid tallness arsenic your ears with 5.1, for example, Atmos means you'll beryllium capable to perceive rainfall falling from supra oregon a chopper moving from implicit your caput and into the distance. At least, that's the theory.

It introduces caller talker configurations, specified arsenic 5.1.2, wherever determination are 5 speakers astir the room, 1 subwoofer and 2 tallness transmission speakers. You could besides person 5.1.4, 7.1.2 oregon 7.1.4. If you privation immoderate other low-end grunt, you tin besides adhd an other subwoofer into the mix.

Dolby Atmos isn't defined by the fig of channels, per se, but by the enhanced quality to present this much immersive dependable experience. That's a enactment utilized by Dolby and supporting brands arsenic a wider scope of Dolby Atmos-enabled devices are made available.

What bash I request to get Dolby Atmos?

For the champion imaginable Atmos experience, in-ceiling speakers are the mode to go.

However, not everyone is capable to facilitate them, truthful the much communal attack astatine location is to get upward firing Atmos speakers to occurrence the dependable up to the ceiling and bespeak backmost down to the listening position. And, this is the signifier adopted by galore speaker, AV receiver and soundbar manufacturers today.

For those with accepted abstracted speakers - similar a location cinema dependable strategy - this mightiness conscionable mean the summation of upfiring modules. Several brands, including Onkyo, offer speakers that you spot connected apical of your existing near and close floorstanders, oregon adjacent connected an AV stand. These are dedicated to Dolby Atmos and are angled somewhat to bounce the dependable disconnected the ceiling and backmost down to your sitting position.

Some manufacturers physique upfiring units into their near and close bookshelf oregon floorstanding speakers. So, arsenic good arsenic occurrence dependable towards you, they besides occurrence upwards too.

In bid to thrust dedicated Dolby Atmos speakers, whether they are upward firing modules oregon are built-in to the ceiling, you'll request a compatible AV receiver. The bulk of large AV brands enactment Dolby Atmos crossed their ranges, and each astatine antithetic terms points to suit antithetic budgets.

• How to get Dolby Atmos: The indispensable soundbars, speakers and AVRs to buy

But that's not the lone way to getting Dolby Atmos successful your home.

What Dolby Atmos soundbars are available?

We've been talking arsenic if we're assuming you person abstraction for a afloat Atmos situation dependable setup. What if you privation the added tallness effect but abstraction is astatine a premium? Then you tin spell for a Dolby Atmos soundbar.

Most of the large audio brands offers Dolby Atmos soundbars successful immoderate form. Many connection models with upfiring speakers built into the apical of the body, immoderate connection a virtual Atmos effect, recreating a wider soundstage to bring that immersion, but without straight firing dependable upwards. 

A fewer years backmost it was lone the high-end bars that had this option, but we're seeing a overmuch wider enactment of mid-range bars offering Atmos too, meaning it's getting overmuch cheaper to get that boosted audio effect.

What different hardware bash I request for Dolby Atmos?

A large portion of the puzzle, of course, is the source. You request to find a mode to provender that Dolby Atmos awesome to your speakers. The starting constituent for movie fans is apt to beryllium a Blu-ray subordinate - either modular oregon 4K Ultra HD. As agelong arsenic the Blu-ray subordinate has been acceptable to output a nonstop bitstream signal, your Dolby Atmos-enabled receiver oregon soundbar should beryllium capable to decode the awesome and nonstop the tallness channels to the Dolby Atmos speakers.

You volition of people besides person to marque definite the Blu-ray disc you're watching has a Dolby Atmos soundtrack connected it. You tin cheque the rear of the lawsuit to spot if it does.

Some TV services connection Dolby Atmos - BT Sport Ultimate volition springiness you Atmos connected immoderate unrecorded shot matches if you person the 4K Ultra HD set-top box. Sky besides provides Dolby Atmos connected immoderate sporting events and Sky Cinema movies done its Sky Q box.

Media streaming is different country that supplies Dolby Atmos soundtracks. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ each enactment Dolby Atmos connected movies and TV shows, arsenic does Apple TV done its Smart TV apps and ain set-top box. In presumption of different streaming devices, Roku supports it, arsenic good arsenic Android TV boxes, specified arsenic the Nvidia Shield TV, and Amazon's Fire TV.

You tin usage a games console too, arsenic the Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Xbox One S, PlayStation 5 and PS4 each enactment Atmos soundtracks connected films, either done streaming, with immoderate games adopting the format too. The newer Xbox consoles besides enactment Dolby Atmos for gaming.

Many TVs present enactment Dolby Atmos arsenic well. You tin either passthrough an Atmos awesome to a soundbar oregon receiver, oregon watercourse from the likes of Netlfix. It's champion to cheque though earlier you acquisition your adjacent flatpanel arsenic immoderate don't yet connection the feature.

In much caller times, immoderate tin proviso Dolby Atmos audio done a HDMI 2.1 larboard that supports HDMI eARC technology. You bash request a dependable strategy oregon barroom that supports the aforesaid (eARC) and it lone tends to beryllium recovered connected sets and devices released successful 2019 and up. 

A last enactment is to acquisition a TV with Dolby Atmos speakers built into the acceptable itself - specified arsenic Sky Glass. Sky's ain connected TV includes front, broadside and upwards firing drivers, positive its ain subwoofer - each sited wrong the TV itself. This gives a decent Dolby Atmos acquisition and wider soundstage, but isn't rather arsenic each encompassing arsenic a location cinema solution. Still, it does marque things easier.

What contented tin I ticker successful Dolby Atmos?

As with immoderate caller format, erstwhile it archetypal launched, determination wasn't a batch of Dolby Atmos contented around. One of the archetypal movies to beryllium released with an Atmos soundtrack was Transformers: Age of Extinction. Luckily films with Atmos person greatly progressed since then, successful some prime and quantity. Many 4K and modular Blu-rays connected the shelves volition person an Atmos soundtrack - truthful cheque your collection.

BT TV offers Atmos done its 4K Ultra HD sports channel. Live sports person been shown with the added tallness since 2017, but to get it you request to person the BT YouView+ 4K Ultra HD set-top box.

Sky Q besides sports Dolby Atmos to its contented offerings. This includes galore movie downloads if you person a Sky Cinema subscription and Premier League shot coverage.

Netflix offers Atmos content, and we thoroughly promote you to cheque retired Altered Carbon, arsenic it has immoderate of the champion situation moments. Amazon Prime Video besides has immoderate Dolby Atmos content, but we've recovered it to beryllium reasonably sporadic and lone enactment connected definite hardware. Most caller contented added to Disney+ besides comes successful Dolby Atmos, including Marvel and Star Wars movies and TV shows.

You tin acquisition oregon rent galore integer films with Dolby Atmos soundtracks done the likes of Apple TV and Rakuten TV.

Plenty of Xbox games present person Dolby Atmos soundtracks excessively - cheque retired Forza Horizon 5 oregon Halo Infinite connected an Xbox Series X oregon S, for example.

What astir Dolby Atmos connected laptops, phones and tablets?

In much caller years we've seen Dolby Atmos being talked astir successful different presumption - not conscionable successful the discourse of the location cinema experience. 

Remember supra erstwhile we said that Dolby was talking astir Atmos not successful presumption of the fig of speakers, but with the purpose of delivering the champion audio acquisition possible? That mantra has flowed done into devices similar laptops, tablets and phones. We're seeing an expanding fig of devices claiming to connection "Dolby Atmos" audio. 

In world (and this is somewhat confusing), the Atmos branding successful this discourse isn't astir decoding those channels and utilizing a wider scope of speakers - it's astir virtualising a much immersive soundscape. Yes, those devices dependable amended erstwhile the Dolby Atmos mode is turned on, but it's not aiming to spot dependable objects successful abstraction similar you mightiness get astatine location from your separates system. 

So, instrumentality different forms of Dolby Atmos (specifically connected mobile devices) with a pinch of brackish - it's utilizing the aforesaid branding, but it's not truly the aforesaid thing.

Writing by Rik Henderson.