Do I lose the height speakers with the Atmos metadata?

[scofield]

Hi guys, i have read some stuff here on the Atmos topic, still have an open question.

James wrote this:

@james

The one thing that gets lost with TrueHD is the Atmos metadata. This won’t affect the actual audio track (you’ll still get full 5.1 or 7.1), but will affect placement of some sounds (EG overhead sounds).

What exactly does this mean:
“… but will affect placement of some sounds (EG overhead sounds)”

Does it mean the height speakers stay completely muted or does it mean the height speakers will still play something, just a little different than what is intended?

Sorry if I missed the answer to this somewhere.

[munpip214]

Without Atmos metadata, height speakers may or may not be active depending on the setting of the receiver. You can have it upmix the audio to put sound into the height speakers (that’s what I do) but it won’t necessarily be the same because the receiver just has to guess at what sounds go overhead. But Atmos mix isn’t just about height effects. It also affects placement of other sounds and channels. You will have all the sounds, but the placement might differ without the Atmos metadata.

[ozmbie]

I have a 5.1.2 system so I can offer some insight here.

Playing back a 7.1 TrueHD Atmos file through Infuse, my receiver registers 7.1 PCM input (“Multi Channel In”). No Atmos detected (since the metadata is stripped). The atmos metadata would tell the receiver which sounds to “extract” from that 7.1 layer and place elsewhere.

It’s up to my receiver is to process the 7.1 PCM stream how I tell it to. I can either listen to it with no height speaker audio, or choose to “upmix” it to my height speakers with Dolby Surround or DTS Neural X modes on the receiver. However, this upmixing is just the receiver is trying to figure out what to put in those speakers by itself. It generally does a good job, but it’s “fake” since it’s not using the atmos metadata to decide.

[scofield]

thanks for your experience. a little annoying that sound is such a problem and not only with infuse. ordered a Sonos setup, but this does not support DTS:X. do not understand why it is so hard to just have a standard that all use and all devices support.

[munpip214]

@scofield

do not understand why it is so hard to just have a standard that all use and all devices support

It’s not hard, but companies don’t want to pay for licensing

[ozmbie]

Unless you have dedicated speakers in your ceiling, you’re not missing anything. Upfiring or virtualised atmos is a waste of time in my experience.

[munpip214]

@ozmbie

Unless you have dedicated speakers in your ceiling, you’re not missing anything

Not completely true. Atmos can provide more detailed channeling even with 5.1 than without. But the biggest difference is having real in-ceiling speakers.