We Test If Dolby Atmos Is Worth It For the Average Viewer

We watch 4 different movie clips in the home theater, twice per clip. Once with Dolby Atmos height speakers enabled, and once without. Then we discuss if they can tell the difference.
Follow-up video link
• Top 5 Reasons Why My D...
Movie clip timestamps
Bladerunner 2049
00:20:35
Midway
01:22:10
300
00:50:05
Ready Player One
00:11:53

[@AeroPR]

This is exactly what the Audiophile/HT space needs more: Blind tests with trained and regular people to help boil all the snake oil floating around down to reality. Amazing content and subscribed instantly. Hope to see more of these.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Thank you so much!! I’m glad to have you here and happy you enjoyed the video!

[@bombata151]

wrongly done blind test gives zero scientific data :) So it doesn't bring us "down to reality" (and Atmos is anything but Snake oil lol.. that's not fancy expensive cables to be wondering if the 2k cable gives you better sound). You can use such clip to do fake conspiracies , as they also use either wrong data to "prove the point" , or use only the first half that fits their ideas lol. There's no question if Atmos gives more. Yet there will be people who won't be impressed or won't notice it much since they dont care about movies. I upgraded my tv with 65" one , right in the middle of the room, and when my mom came to visit she was wondering why "the room looks smaller" . Took her 5 mins to realise there's a big TV in the middle lol . P.s. hat's off to the author to make a separate video to aknowledge and explain why he was wrong :) That's the adult behaviour we should have, and deserves a thumbs up for tha.

[@aurelienduplan9139]

You should watch A quiet place with a proper atmos setup ;) it has nothing to do with snake oil 😅

[@Coneman3]

Problem with negating is it’s almost impossible, since you can’t test every possible scenario (material, system, listener)

[@Asbiss]

Yeah, I'd like to see a blind test on a $3.000 vs $100 cd player. Doubt there would be any difference! 🙂

[@lenimbery7038]

The dog knew all along but decided not to say anything

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

She’s pretty perceptive 😉

[@josephlee6470]

Your kids are articulate and good communicators. There is no, "uh. I don't know. I thought it was cool?"

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Thank you 🙏!

[@mph6563]

I thought your panelists did a great job of thoughtfully articulating their observations and reasoning. Whether or not home theater is a big passion for them, it’s wonderful that they engaged so attentively and offered so many insights.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Thank you! And thanks for watching!

[@Albeno94]

I love your videos and how you come up with different test of your theater. Keep it up 👍🏾

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Thank you! So glad you’re enjoying them and to have you here.

[@SGIABC]

You can tell a movie that was made for Atmos vs a movie that was remastered in Atmos for sure. The audio engineers/producers really can showcase their attention to detail with their height effects placements to the mix. A great mix will add atmosphere to the scene. A great example of this is the first 20 minutes of "The Gray Man" on Netflix.

[@bobrocco1203]

A Quiet Place would have been a good text. It stands out more when there's less going on.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I like this idea. The cacophony of sounds on Midway apparently made it harder to distinguish directionality.

[@garretts431]

Yeah but atmos should be atmos on any disc that has it. It shouldnt be more “atmos-y” on one vs the other. The avg person should still be able to know when height is used.

[@bobrocco1203]

@garretts431 Yes, but it's easier when noise isn't coming from all the speakers at once

[@webseiter]

@@garretts431Yes and on. Atmos mixed for home cinema often lacks. Cost cutting you know.

[@bobrocco1203]

@garretts431 I agree. They need to mix movies better.

[@michaeloutlaw5157]

Great family interaction and video. What I'm hearing and what I've also experienced is that maybe they weren't honest about the height of the ceiling to separate the sounds even more. Maybe we need 12 to 14-foot ceilings to hear the separation.

[@chrishamilton5960]

It’s interesting that when they were really focusing on looking for discrete sounds instead of listening for the change in immersion. When your daughter decided to focus on the overall sound she locked into the differences. Rerun the test and see what experience they prefer.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Excellent point!

[@VandepoelM]

The one thing you clearly proved is that a good 5.1 setup is what you should be focussing on first.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Agreed 👍

[@joentell]

Cool experiment. Im curious if they could tell with our mixes.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I actually plan to test them using your mixes! I suspect it will be much easier given how distinct and separate the sounds are in them.

[@gab7344]

You're doing interesting content with this channel, Keep it up.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Thank you! Glad you enjoy it!

[@techsamurai11]

That's hilarious - it's great to see your family involved and having fun with it. Yeah, it's funny how people think that something is always better. I was accidentally watching with DTS instead of Dolby True HD and I was blown away by some movies. I switched to Dolby True HD and while more detailed, I wouldn't say it was better overall. The other crazy thing is HDR vs SDR - no one ever shows SDR and HDR on TVs with high nits.

[@TokeBoisen]

Kong Skull Island has some great Atmos-use, though it's still mostly static channel-use and not objects. One scene with a monster showing up behind and above a character has very distinct use of heights. Same for Thor Ragnarok with his meeting with Strange, where he calls on Mjolnir. There's a great use of heights for where the hammer is trampling the upstairs rooms before flying to his hand. And as others have said, A Quiet Place, or maybe Top Gun Maverick for great tests

[@kthx1138]

A great scene in Blade Runner for testing height channels is the overhead thunder when Deckard and Gaff are investigating Leon's apartment.

[@Woreyel]

Any chance you could give a time stamp for that? I would like to test that myself but I don't remember the movie well enough.

[@kovalveli]

23 minutes into the movie, the rain and thunder effect is outstanding

[@nonametofame]

This was a very fun, entertaining video. I appreciate the unvarnished, unbiased opinions. Even trained ears have a challenging time distinguishing. I think the best approximation of reference atmos is to have all identical speakers. Some tracks have full range frequency up top. I'd love to see someone attempt to mount towers as overheads, as that would match the range and output you would hear at the base layer.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

So glad you enjoyed it! I’m imagining mounting full range JTR’s to the ceiling 😆😆 My wife may take issue with that

[@CaptainTechReview]

​@@GeorgeTheaterAtHomeso would your ceiling 😂

[@keithfailmezger1596]

Atmos is absolutely worth it .. but you have to implement it properly ,you can absolutely ruin Atmos if it is done wrong

[@shaolin95]

Indeed and based on the results here, this is a clear example of a wrong setup

[@kris2384...]

Most people think atmos is just the addition of height rather than more accurate surround. Height is very hard to judge in real world too. Biggest limitation now to surround is our ears ability to absorb it. When we watch movies we are facing the screen so head mostly stays in one position. To get most from Atmos, you need to move your head around, which we don't while watching movies. All that said, I love my atmos setup

[@Clint3571]

Love this test! I have been into HT for 25 years and just got my first dedicated room done with 7.x.4 and it is hard to tell when Atmos is on. I am using bookshelf speakers mounted to a 9ft ceiling and angled directly towards the MLP. I think you might have to have a larger room for it to work better. Some people absolutely rave about Atmos.I think there are only a couple of scenes where it sounds good, but I honestly don't know if it is placebo.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Congrats on the new room! Even when it’s not super obvious, it really is more immersive. Thanks for watching!

[@bingobaz6402]

Nice to get your kids involved they clearly enjoyed the involvement :) I use atmos also but only got 2 channels in the ceiling. My room isnt huge though this said i am now looking at 5.2.4 av receivers. So means i will have one soon :) P.s. I wonder if the dog heard any difference 😂

[@MattyDaddy14]

I’m a new fan of yours no doubt!! However, I’m staring at those surround back speakers while listening to them discuss their feelings, and I can’t help but think that maybe there just isn’t enough separation between your base layer and height layer speakers. I’d be really curious if you were to temp lower those surrounds to be closer to ear level and run the test again. Also, goes to show how good your non atmos setup is! 🎉

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I’m glad you’re enjoying the videos! Yes, I agree about the physical separation between the sides and the heights. There are a few factors that constrain the placement. One is ceiling height. Very low ceiling. The other is the MLP being on a platform. The third factor is the bar behind the chairs. The speakers have to be high enough to be heard by the front row. If I were building the room from scratch, I would do only one row of seating. No platform and no bar. Then I could lower the sides and surrounds and get more separation. Unfortunately it’s an imperfect world so I go with what I got. Fortunately it still sounds great. But maybe someday I’ll build a new one from scratch 🤞. Thanks for watching!!

[@MichaelMolinaM]

I think a more true test would be the atmos mix vs. the 5.1 or 7.1 mix instead of just turning the height channels off on the same mix.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Ooooh, now that is a good idea. I’m gonna think on that. May have to run my experiment again. Thank for the suggestion and thanks for watching!

[@mikeortiz2139]

When I was building my bedroom setup, I just ran 7.1 with a Denon S760H and the Dolby Height Virtualizer did a really decent job. At creating height effects. Given that most Atmos movies have a real lack of height speaker involvement, I think for the average viewer would be totally okay with 7.1. I ended up installing my heights and getting a X4700H to cover 7.1.4 for Atmos and Auromatic duties.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Did you notice a significant difference after installing the Height channels?

[@mikeortiz2139]

@@GeorgeTheaterAtHome so anything with an upmixer sounds better than Atmos for me, because the soundstage shoots up. Between DSU, Neural:X, Auromatic, Auromatic for sure. Right now I do a lot of streaming, anything native Atmos, from Netflix, I'll leave native, but 5.1 content or Disney, I'll use Auromatic. I've A/B'ed scenes here and there and Auromatic is just better.

[@mikeortiz2139]

@@GeorgeTheaterAtHome I will also state that when I got the height speakers installed I only had the Audyssey phone app. The high frequency rolloff was killing the speaker directionally. After I got MultEQ X, things instantly sounded much better.

[@Antimonkat]

Other great movies to test this with, Mad Max Fury road, The Great Wall, Quiet Place, like someone said, The Matrix. And if you want a bass movie that will blow you away, especially the bass shakers, Super Mario, My couch was shaking almost the entire movie.

[@denniso9503]

Interesting test but i am not sure if its conclusive. Did you turn off the atmos speakers at the receiver/ processor or disconnect the speakers ? If you turned off the Atmos speakers at the receiver/ processor then all the sounds are still processed and produced on the other surround speakers. If you disconnect at the speakers then the sound is processed but does not play on the atmos speakers . A much better test. Atmos is more so an enhancement and as your daughter Samantha said it depends on how much you value it . I have a separate amplifier playing my atmos channels and sometimes do forget to turn it on as it does not have a trigger and tbh i dont notice sometimes . Your playback material is also important , some sounds that are enhanced by atmos speakers still reverberate on the other speakers so you don't miss them , they are just less pronounced. Good to see your whole family enjoy your passion ...

[@TokeBoisen]

Honestly, a four-clip test with three kids in a private room is never gonna be conclusive, but it's a fun little experiment

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Exactly. Hardly a robust experimental design, but still fun to do. Thanks for watching!

[@Antimonkat]

You're doing great things with this channel, Keep it up. Hey you should play the Technodad tracks with/without Atmos for them...THEN they can tell lol.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Thank you, I appreciate that! I’m glad you’re enjoying my videos. I definitely need to play the techno dad tracks for them. Those should be obvious! 😁

[@kaneserver]

There were such great points picked out by your family. One thing that resonated with me was scale. The increased scale was one of the first things that I noticed when I set up my Atmos system, there was just more sound in some scenes the score had more impact and my emotional response was heightened! Doesn't matter where the sound is coming from in those situations it's just more atmospheric ( Atmos! 🤔 ). I feel like the expectation bias was very well demonstrated in this test. With subjects trying too hard at times to listen for overhead effect rather than just experiencing the sound track. It was mentioned about the coins in ready player one. The expectation was that the sound of the coins being collected would emanate from overhead, if you think about it at the point the coins are collected, the car is on the road so I would expect the majority of sound in the base layer with of odd stray coin sound emanating from anywhere else in the sound field. This is a great video informative and reading between the lines and applying my own experience some of the negatives are actually positives for me. Your family really got involved and were really articulate, honest and informative with their responses and opinions. Honestly my fave is Atmos worth it video to date! Actually you placed yourself as one of my fave channels having only watched 2 or 3 videos so yeah keep it up 😊

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Thank you so much! So glad you enjoyed the video. I recently made a video where we tested the difference between 5.1 and Atmos. I won’t spoil the ending but let’s just say it was a better designed test. Thanks for watching!

[@VandepoelM]

A good test would be, watch a complete movie in 5.1, and ask them afterwards if they knew it wasnt in atmos. Or show them a clip after the same movie in atmos, and ask them, "do you notice something different?".

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Yeah, this is a good idea. After the test I wondered if maybe 4 very short clips just wasn’t enough material to evaluate.

[@inclinedesigns]

Are you doing the tests from physical media or streaming? Curious if the answers would be different.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Physical 4K discs

[@welderfixer]

Streaming sucks for Atmos at the moment. Netflix does the best that I have found. VUDU is worst for me. I've asked them why too many times now and never got an answer.

[@dxsloparr]

Cute video. How did you do the non atmos mix? Did you change your receiver settings or did you use a different DTS 5.1 mix? I’m curious if the DTS had more aggressive surrounds while the atmos had a more subtle envelopnent.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I disabled the Height speakers on my processor so the sounds were re-routed to other channels. Thanks for watching!

[@chrishansen5533]

I honestly think there are home theater enthusiasts that will notice all the effects of Atmos and then the person who just love movies and don't really care about what is happening with the sound system.

[@shaolin95]

With a properly setup atmos, there should be no reason for anyone not to hear the differences but sadly a lot of people just install speakers anywhere and think that is all there is to it

[@ChrisHVACguy]

Totally 100% percent agree

[@welderfixer]

"Oh, but, room correction will fix all of that." HAHAHAHA! I've heard that said too many times. On top of that stinking Dolby hasn't set the placement of speakers in stone for home installs. My system is as close to the Dolby studio layout as I can get. If I can hear it like the mixing engineer did, I think I'd be pretty close.

[@ChrisHVACguy]

@@welderfixer those people need to understand that room correction corrects the levels of frequencies and timing, not where the sound is coming from lol

[@welderfixer]

@@ChrisHVACguy Well Chris that's what the box says it will do - fix everything! Hahaha. How often does the AVR get those functions right? Close enough for most folks depending on the AVR or processor. Just like a race car/bike/boat or a heating system tuning is key to success. I bet you have some good stories to tell.

[@screamingeekmedia]

Fun discussion video! I don't have Atmos. Still rocking a 5.0 setup (no sub...not needed with my Klipsch Legend set). We don't have a home theater room, just a basic living room, nothing fancy. Small house. Would love to have a home cinema! But would need to win lottery first.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Thank, glad you enjoyed it! Sounds like you’ve got a great setup. Movies are so much more fun when the sound is good. Thanks for watching!

[@screamingeekmedia]

@@GeorgeTheaterAtHome I just love the ambience you get from a good sound mix. One of my favs is still Signs. The scene with him in cornfield gives me goosebumps everytime! Even though my setup is outdated, it still kicks! My Denon receiver is about 17 yrs old. I bought it when I upgraded to Blu-ray and HD-DVD. The speakers are full-range floor-standing speakers. I bought used on ebay back in 2004. I do need to replace a few of the 12 in woofers though. I have really abused them over the years. LOL

[@OG_G4m3r]

Ty for producing some top shelf content without asking for likes, subscribes, and comments every other minute.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed the video 👍👍

[@stumied1588]

Great concept and great video! However, maybe I missed it, or it's explained in another video (this is the first of yours I'm watching), but I don't know what the set-up is. I'm deducing that you have a 7.x.x. - but are there 2 atmos speakers, 4, how are they placed, etc - that's what I'm missing to possibly compare or make it fit for my own use case. Does that make sense?

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I have a 9.2.4 setup. I made a video tour explaining my equipment. Thanks for watching! kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4jag3WnoZ6cj68

[@stumied1588]

@@GeorgeTheaterAtHome I saw after I commented, thanks! But some sort of intro, or “see description” info would be great for future references! Keep it up!👍

[@lewisjohnson3320]

Simply put most so called atmos movies are just not mixed properly. In most cases you might get one or two scenes that actually stand out. Most of what you hear is coming from the bed layer speakers which often have more volume.

[@TheReverendSlim]

Fun test, but looking at where your surrounds are located, part of the problem is that you already have an issue with angular separation between the ear-level and height layers. But we do what we can with what we have.

[@twistacatz]

I have to second this. It might be hard for a listener to differentiate the difference because of the close proximity of your height and bed layer speakers. If it’s an effect like rain that’s localized at the height speakers it’s easy to tell. If objects are panning around room that’s where that speaker distance really comes into play. In terms of switching between tracks how exactly were you limiting Atmos? And while disabling Atmos did you disable up-mixing? And lastly I thought your daughter nailed the answer in regard to is it worth it.

[@twistacatz]

@@Echo-jg8is of course I am. That’s the whole point of this experiment, right?

[@twistacatz]

@@Echo-jg8is bro… that’s exactly with this video is all about. I’m not sure what you’re asking me?

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

@twistacatz I have an Anthem AVM70 processor. It has the functionality to set different speaker configurations. So I set Profile 1 for all speakers, and Profile 2 to all speakers except the Height channels. I will pass your comment on to my daughter. She will appreciate it! Thanks for watching!

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

@thereverendslim yep, speaker placement isn’t ideal, but best I could do with the room I had. As in all things, it’s not perfect but it does alright 👍

[@Derek_AZ]

Too much info not provided. Su h as speaker placement. The spacing and angles really matter. Another is the avr and its internal room correction program is it running. For example, i had the same speakers setuo with a Denon x3700. It was a very nice avr but I did notice that I felt the need to run my top speakers a little hot to "feel" more of the atmos. When I upgraded to an Anthem avm 70 and it's arc room correction, the channel superstition was so much better and the atmos channels were much more pronounced

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I’m also running the Avm70 with ARC. Love it! Such a great processor. Thanks for watching!

[@JayJay-jx3zg]

I hate that I have to listen so intently for atmos. I wish the audio engineers would be more intentional on scenes that seem like it should be more impactful. Did I hear it? Did I not? Was that it? I'm running 7.2.4 and I'm still wondering if it was worth it. Movies need to make it worth it by being a little more intentional with it. Maybe we need to bump the db's in the height channels and the rest down, but that's giving up on the purity of the setup or something to that effect.

[@Gillietalls]

This is exactly what I do. I run my center channel and in-ceiling speakers about 3 or 4 db hotter than all the other speakers.

[@JayJay-jx3zg]

@@Gillietalls I didn't want to, but if I don't, then I've wasted a bunch of time, energy and money on my 4 height speakers and the 2 channel amp I bought to make them work, right? Hopefully movies get better with the atmos channels.

[@Gillietalls]

@@JayJay-jx3zg Amen to that brother!

[@twistacatz]

@@Gillietalls That's a bad idea. To have full immersion all speakers need to be at the same level at the MLP. Have you measured all of your speakers at the MLP?

[@JayJay-jx3zg]

@@twistacatz that's why Dolby themselves recommend a full range speaker for overhead/ height speakers. I'm still looking for something too. Mine are ON my ceiling. I found a Def Tech procinema set and am using the 4 satellites from it. They have passive radiators to complete the mid to lower end of the frequency range. It says they are rated at 8ohms, 88 dB, 35Hz-30kHz up to 100 watts. I might throw my Polk S10 bookshelves up there instead, but I'll try these for a bit for now.

[@Linkone7]

Atmos is woth it...but maybe Height Speakers are better than overhead. An Auro3D soeaker setup is actually better than a Dolby setup.

[@Gshiznit74]

I'm curious to know if the non Atmos tracks were upscaled to the height channels with DD and DTS upscaleing.. therefore, the height channels would be producing information regardless..

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

It was the same Atmos track for both clips. I just disabled the Height speakers for one of the clips.

[@Gshiznit74]

@wewatchmovies6739 Hmmmm, okay.. the signal is still running at a higher bit rate.. before I upgraded to Atmos, I would still choose the atmos track as it would always be more robust and detailed.. an interesting experiment nonetheless. What made it was how well everyone articulated their experience. That's not always easy to do. Thanks for this video

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!

[@oszkarhathazi2305]

There are very few Atmos efects mixed in the movies. This is why I use the Auromatic upmixer

[@matoflynn]

Love the idea of blind tests asking which they like better

[@MuenchenBob]

The chair backs are high enough to block some sound from the rear. I wonder if that made much of a difference. Although I have a 9.2.4 system I’m surprised at how well the 5.1 system we have in another room does. When we were watching the 5.1 system and something landed on the roof in the movie, several people in our room looked up at our ceiling. The visual cues they got from the movie made them think there was a height aspect to the sound when there were no height speakers!

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I’ve seen multiple comments regarding the quality of 5.1 and 7.1 systems. I’m thinking I may have underrated them.

[@Antimonkat]

Did you just "turn off"/unplug the atmos so that sound was missing, or did you actually go in and disable them in your layout so that sound was re-routed to the other speakers?

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I disabled them in the layout so the sounds were re-routed to other speakers. I didn’t want to make it too easy for them 😄

[@Antimonkat]

​@@GeorgeTheaterAtHome cool, yeah that's a much more fair way to test it. I played the Matrix once, and I forgot to turn on my 2nd amp, so I was missing my rears and heights, didn't notice until more than halfway through the movie, mostly because of the rear speakers, not the heights, it really made me think, was this worth it? :P

[@welderfixer]

@@GeorgeTheaterAtHome If you haven't yet - unplug all of the other speakers except the ceiling. Doing that tells you the ceiling/Atmos speakers aren't used much at all in most soundtracks, but should be. Have fun!

[@haukionkannel]

That is what happens when you down mix atmos in anyway if you ”only” have 5.1. But all in all speaker quality is more important than the amouth of them. The more you have the more likely is that there is some much interference between speakers that … it becomes muddy.

[@donovanstewart1028]

Does he explain anywhere what media he actually used for these clips? In my experience I notice a huge difference when I stream something with so called Atmos compared to a 4k disk with Atmos.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I used the 4k discs

[@troymcdonald]

I watched because of the title, but didn't get an answer from watching the video. I just saw 3 people guessing what was what and why, etc. So if I consider myself average, I'm still stumped. I'm looking to do a surround sytem without the height options, because it seems that if all can't agree, then it's not worth the extra expense... ???

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I would recommend buying the best possible speakers for a 5.1 setup. Buy an AVR that does at least 9 channels of processing so you can add heights and/or Surrounds in the future if you decide to go that route.

[@troymcdonald]

@@GeorgeTheaterAtHome makes sense. Thanks

[@Bikes-guitars]

I’ve had Atmos for a couple of months now and my initial impressions were very disappointing, one expects to hear lots of height effects and in reality there are very few overhead effects, Stop the FOMO has a great video on this basically suggesting the problem is with lazy sound engineers just doing a poor job with Dolby Atmos, I will say however the more I have listened to discs with Atmos the difference isn’t necessarily with height effects but in general just a more immersive soundtrack. I have 2 discs encoded with DTSX and both of these discs have way more height effects than Atmos encoded discs and I feel a greater dynamic range to the soundtrack, perhaps it’s the sound engineers that did a better job 🤷‍♂️, would I recommend investing the time and money into height channels, well no, for the majority of people it is a waste of money, or certainly that’s my perception with the Atmos discs I have watched.

[@georgewilliams482]

This was very interesting video. I was thinking should I have the atmos or not. What's the size of your room.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

14.5’ W, 22’ L, 7’8” H. Thanks for watching!

[@tek9058]

speakers could be too close to each other and the wall speakers seem to be too high. atmos speakers too big, too close. not sure if the wall speakers are dipols, this will ruin everything. is it worth it? sometimes, mostly they do a bad job and skip most szenes to save money. you can use neural x. but for gaming, different story, that's where atmos shines (if supported)

[@hofmarskal]

This is surprising. You probably have 4-6 hight speakers. I only have 2 hight speakers, so I can understand if some people dont know when they are on. But knowing what to listen for im confident I can hear it. For me its just more of a larger sound stage vertically.

[@melraine919]

Well done 👏🏼 👍🏼 you guy’s and gals 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧

[@pinchopaxtonsgreatestminds9591]

How were you playing the clips, because i just found out that my PC isn't sending any hight information when using Atmos. You only get 7.1 without heights.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I played the clips on my 4k player, and the sound and picture was then routed thru my Anthem AVM70 processor.

[@pinchopaxtonsgreatestminds9591]

@@GeorgeTheaterAtHome I'm just watching the video that came after that one, and yes the height speakers are close to the rear speakers. That's probably why.

[@Gillietalls]

Do you have timestamps for the demos scenes you ran? Especially interested in the 300 one. Was it the first arrow scene or the arrow scene at the end that ended the battle?

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I don’t have the time stamps written down. I’ll see if I can get them. It’s the first arrow scene.

[@Gillietalls]

@@GeorgeTheaterAtHome Ok cool. That’s good enough. I’m in the process of creating my own demo clips from my 4K rips. The more the better.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Timestamps Bladerunner 2049 00:20:35 Midway 01:22:10 300 00:50:05 Ready Player One 00:11:53

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Bladerunner 2049 00:20:35 Midway 01:22:10 300 00:50:05 Ready Player One 00:11:53

[@Gillietalls]

@@GeorgeTheaterAtHome Perfect! You're the man! Thank you,sir!

[@helmiabdat6427]

I may have missed it but was an spl used to make sure the volume stays the same? Because wouldn't disabling the atmos speakers mean that you have more power for the surround speakers which would mean they would sound louder which would fool any listener to thinking that Atmos is there?

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I used an SPL to check it but there wasn’t much of a difference

[@housbinpharteen7445]

WELL HERE IS MY TAKE ... IF THE ROOM IS SMALL WITH A GOOD AMOUNT OF SIDE SURROUNDS, THE ATMOS WILL BE HARD TO HEAR ... NOW WITH SAY A BIGGER ROOM WHERE EVERYTHING IS MORE SPACED OUT ... I CAN SAY YOU WILL HEAR MORE SEPERATION ..

[@jdx4174]

I prefer having atmos, but i am the by far the minority. I am just a home theater enthusiast. My girlfriend also didn't hear any difference in a blind test. The biggest impact is made with a decent 5.1 system, regardless of the brand. Sadly with Audio components, after the mid-tier, small increases in sound quality start costing the listener significantly more money.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Totally agree. Thanks for watching!

[@joshuagardner894]

I took a different approach. This might be blasphemous, but I use a high end sound bar (HT7000) with the two wireless rears (RS5) and wireless sub (SW5). I used to be into setting up home theater stuff but in my old age, I just want simplicity, and this does that for me. Much of Dolby Atmos requires good mixing, and many sound engineers barely know how to mix in Atmos. In a large room, it can be effective, but in a smaller room, not so much. I find many Atmos mixes to be overly complex and muddy. It's almost as if they push too much to the surround channels all at once, instead of using them more like salt and pepper. Surround channels should exist for ambiance, or, very specific effects, but I feel like, sound engineers dump too much into the rears and it takes away from the overall experience, making the audio muddy, convoluted, and difficult to feel immersed in. It's almost like audio engineers are trying to use a "shock and awe" method of thinking, rather than choosing to use the surrounds for special and key moments. I write orchestral music, I mix in Dolby Atmos, so my usecase on the production side is much different as generally speaking, the surrounds for me are meant to capture room ambiance, to make the room sound bigger than it really is, and I do not overdo the surrounds. They are there in my mixes, but not pronounced.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Sometimes less is more. There are some great examples in The Quiet Place where there are very few sounds, but they create a massive impact. Thanks for watching!

[@Shift4g]

Could it be that the more immersive the experience is, the less you notice the degree of the immersion? When it's more realistic (and not super exaggerated), you tend not to think about it as being different in my experience.

[@jamesianv]

you didnt say if its object based Atmos. Needs 4 height speakers and the amps start at 2 grand.

[@markp4044]

Interesting. Atmos for home sucks. I prefer Auro-3d. Even the up mixed is better in my opinion.

[@greatpix]

What I want to know is - 4 people - 3 recliners - who gets the folding chair? ☺ ☺

[@michaelkreisel3573]

I could argue your system needs calibration. And what avr? I upgraded from marantz 7012 to anthem 1140 and the anthem is 100 x’s better. Your daughter nailed it. Time and money matter

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I have the Anthem AVM70. I have run the calibration. However, while shooting my latest video I discovered things may not be working quite as expected. I’m going to do some more investigating to figure out what’s going on. Thanks for watching!

[@michaelkreisel3573]

Nice that wa not in my budget. With that being said I might just have to do what you did and shut off my heights​@@GeorgeTheaterAtHome

[@michaelkreisel3573]

@@GeorgeTheaterAtHome I’m sure your aware Dune 2 today. Guess what I’m doin for 3 hours today? 😅 Not sure if you have it but Tron Legacy has turned into my favorite movie. It’s not only visually spectacular but also my favorite audio score. Daft Punk nailed it

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Nice! It will be 3 hours well-spent. I don’t own Tron but my friend loaned it to me and it was so cool in my theater. I can see why everyone has been wanting a 4k Atmos version.

[@michaelkreisel3573]

@@GeorgeTheaterAtHome I watched another one of your videos. Yeah you have an impressive set up. Nice job Not sure if you seen this one but Techno dad has his own theory on atmos. kzbin.info/www/bejne/anSxn5iPa6-nirc&ab_channel=TechnoDad

[@jamesm568]

For me to overhead speakers on the left and right of my couch in the ceiling are perfectly fine for me.

[@tyleigh4309]

I'd say even my Samsung Atmos soundbar offers noticeable dynamic improvement over my standard 5.1 soundbar. It's 5.1.2 my next upgrade will be 7.1.4

[@Hossmcpizza]

This is so dork but i love it

[@TheCdM1981]

The answer is no. It has a louder, clearer overall sound stage so in that way, yes. But when it comes to hearing “heights.” No it’s not worth it. Unless you have multiple speakers installed on your ceilings it’s not really worth it over a 5.1. You can’t just effortlessly hear it unless there’s a more expensive install involved.

[@Bork0r]

Good job! Interesting topic

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

[@Saturn2888]

Can I get the timecodes you used?

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Bladerunner 2049 00:20:35 Midway 01:22:10 300 00:50:05 Ready Player One 00:11:53

[@Saturn2888]

​@@GeorgeTheaterAtHome one other question. Did you disable heights and leave Atmos enabled or did you use the 5.1 mix-down track?

[@Saturn2888]

​@@GeorgeTheaterAtHome Thanks! Did you disable heights in your AVR or use the mixdown track?

[@Saturn2888]

@@GeorgeTheaterAtHome After looking these over, I did some research and found that Ready Player One does some weird thing with the heights. It only uses 2 of them: the middle two. If you have 4 heights, it will image that audio data, but with 6, only the middle two are used. Depending on where you sit, you might hear these sounds differently because of that. I also saw a video showing an Atmos rendering of Alita (random movie). The issue I noticed is most objects are floating down between the bed layer and tops. Unless they put those objects 100% at the top, it will images those objects between the tops and bed layer. So I wonder how many of these clips had that problem. I'm looking into some software myself to find out, and I want to duplicate your experiment with my family to see. With more data, we can get better findings. Basically, I'm not satisfied with the notion that people couldn't tell when height channels were enabled. How did you disable those channels btw? Did you turn them off on your receiver and let Atmos emulate heights in the bed layer?

[@welderfixer]

Atmos is very close NOT worth the effort due to the fact that good quality mixes out there are so few. The best system demo media I have found is the band Yello's album "Point". So much going on a all of the speakers. Ready Player One is my best movie for Atmos and/or soundtrack content. The Star Wars Atmos remixes are sorely lacking! The people who are responsible for that should be embarrassed.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I think this is a major factor. All 3 of them confidently picked the correct track for the arrow scene in 300. And it’s because the sounds coming from the Height channels are so distinct and unmistakable. I think if mixed correctly, Atmos can be a significant improvement over bed layer speakers only.

[@keithfailmezger1596]

point is amazing . proaganda X is great too.. also try peter gabrile newest album , it is in atmos

[@welderfixer]

@@keithfailmezger1596 Awesome - thanks for the suggestions!

[@PIPERBOYWILLIAMS]

I have atmos speakers. I don't think it's worth it

[@thomasferguson139]

Should've tried a quiet place and John wick

[@Niberspace]

You don't really buy atmos for movies, it's more of a video-games thing (the way you move the camera-aim up and down in games makes it a bit more worth while), but even then yeah it really is snake oil

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Video games do sound unbelievably good in Atmos. I’ve always been a movie buff so movies will always be my go-to theater activity. Thanks for watching!

[@Hi-levels]

Surround 5.1 >>> atmos >>> 2.0 any day any time

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I’m planning a video where I test 5.1 vs Atmos to see if my family can spot the difference and which one they prefer. Thanks for watching!

[@Hi-levels]

@@GeorgeTheaterAtHome welcome

[@RandyBandit37]

So basicly its worth it if it matters to you

[@therealhard8times]

Dolby Atmos is absolutely worth it and I won't listen to anybody who says it isn't

[@vanderhoff66fu]

You're doing this in a home theater room... everyone can tell the difference but put this test in an average living room in a house

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

It’s true. But Atmos can elevate even a living room setup.

[@garyharper2943]

Average person watches movies on their phone …so probably not worth it.

[@mauriciob8260]

Thanks for this video but I think you choose the wrong audience for testing

[@elfishpresleybarbiebreath1116]

It was exactly the right audience. I'm an audio nerd, and would get atmos for the heck of it. But those kids couldn't care less 😛

[@Echo-jg8is]

What, people are the wrong choice 🤔 what are you on?

[@VandepoelM]

I disagree, he tried to test if normal people hear the difference.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Haha, my wife at one point did say I should take the test myself. At this point I’m kinda scared to 😄

[@TheoM-bx3lx]

I think your setup is wrong no wonder you’re family couldn’t pick out the difference.