Apple says Dolby Atmos surround sound coming to Apple TV 4K in later update

AppleInsider

Although the shipping version of the Apple TV 4K is missing Dolby Atmos surround sound, support should be coming in a future tvOS update, according to Apple.

The lack of Atmos isn't due to a hardware restriction, and support for the standard is on the roadmap, the company told The Verge. Unlike most surround formats, Atmos asks speakers to simulate sounds in 3D space, instead of simply pumping audio to separate channels.

Apple's decision to ship without Atmos was presumably due to time constraints, since the format is already compatible in one way or another with devices like Roku players and the Xbox One S, as well as streaming services such as Netflix and Vudu. The first Netflix title to offer Atmos was this summer's "Okja."

The Apple TV is one of the few devices to support Dolby Vision, an HDR (high dynamic range) video format. It also offers HDR10.

The update is the second Apple has had to promise ahead of shipping new products on Friday. On Wednesday it admitted to a problem with Wi-Fi and LTE on the Apple Watch Series 3, and said it was working on a watchOS fix.

The Apple TV 4K starts at $179, and also features the same A10X processor found in this year's iPad Pros, which should in theory be more than powerful enough to support 4K, HDR, and 3D audio.

rfrmac

Now you see it, now you don't.  What time constraint?  This update has been years in the making.

d_2

rfrmac said:

Now you see it, now you don't.  What time constraint?  This update has been years in the making.

What? Apple never promised Atmos.

Very glad to read this news in advance of buying 4k aTV’s.

avieshek

Rec.2100 with 12-bit Colour Gamut support is what I want for the price.

edited September 2017

cali

sog35 said:

Here we go again TIMOTHY JAMES COOK.

I mean seriously!!!

WTF are all your workers doing!!!

First the Watch is missing its #1 key feature.

Now the ATV is missing its #2 key feature?

How screwed up is this place?  Did Timmy have 100% of the staff work on the iPhoneX?  WTF.

1. Apple Watch has LTE problems

2. ATV does not support Dolby Atmos

3. iPhoneX is delayed over 6 weeks

4. iPhone 8 came out on time.......because its basically the iPhone 6ss.  How to screw that up.

Why are you complaining about problems they’re fixing?

This is awesome news! Most people were bashing Apple TV for lack of Atmos support now they’ll have to run to the next pettty problem. 

cali

Avieshek said:

Rec.2100 with 12-bit Colour Gamut support is what I want for the price.

It’ll be 2020 by the time affordable true 12-bit displays are on the market.

WHY?

lkrupp

I swear the techie wannabes on this site are messed up in the head. First they praise the ATV5 for having 4K and HDR. Now they find out that Dolby Atmos is coming later and suddenly the ATV5 is a piece of crap. And they find out that 4K Google content isn’t supported because Google uses some open source video format and suddenly that format is the be-all, en-all of codecs and Apple is a shitty company. Wow, just wow.

emig647

I agree Lkrupp. Not to mention it takes time for R&D, time for testing and possible certification from Dolby. As someone that isn't ready for Atmos, I would have been upset to find out they delayed the AppleTV for Atmost. Just be glad it's coming for free. I'd rather they release a 95% complete product where those features work well and have free feature updates later than have to wait. Tech companies (and Apple) do this all the time. Apple has done this many times in the past, as recent as the portrait mode on the plus. 

I'm glad for the ignore button on this site, that's for sure

edited September 2017

mike wuerthele

sog35 said:

Here we go again TIMOTHY JAMES COOK.

I mean seriously!!!

WTF are all your workers doing!!!

First the Watch is missing its #1 key feature.

Now the ATV is missing its #2 key feature?

How screwed up is this place?  Did Timmy have 100% of the staff work on the iPhoneX?  WTF.

1. Apple Watch has LTE problems

2. ATV does not support Dolby Atmos

3. iPhoneX is delayed over 6 weeks

4. iPhone 8 came out on time.......because its basically the iPhone 6ss.  How to screw that up.

1: The problem is not LTE. The problem is how iOS deals with wi-fi and connections to same.
2: This was NOT promised by Apple during the keynote, nor is it in any materials about the device. You may be thinking of a HomePod firmware examination in August.
3: It is shipping later than historical precedent suggests it should, so I'll give you half credit for this.
4: Your assessment is totally false here, and based on zero facts.

Like I've said, I don't mind a rant, but stick to the facts to back it up.

strangedays

sog35 said:

d_2 said:

rfrmac said:

Now you see it, now you don't.  What time constraint?  This update has been years in the making.

What? Apple never promised Atmos.

Very glad to read this news in advance of buying 4k aTV’s.

Yes they did.

In the keynote they promised Atmos

Bullshit. Cite the timestamp.

strangedays

sog35 said:

cali said:

sog35 said:

Here we go again TIMOTHY JAMES COOK.

I mean seriously!!!

WTF are all your workers doing!!!

First the Watch is missing its #1 key feature.

Now the ATV is missing its #2 key feature?

How screwed up is this place?  Did Timmy have 100% of the staff work on the iPhoneX?  WTF.

1. Apple Watch has LTE problems

2. ATV does not support Dolby Atmos

3. iPhoneX is delayed over 6 weeks

4. iPhone 8 came out on time.......because its basically the iPhone 6ss.  How to screw that up.

Why are you complaining about problems they’re fixing?

This is awesome news! Most people were bashing Apple TV for lack of Atmos support now they’ll have to run to the next pettty problem. 

Would it not be better if the problems were fixed BEFORE the items are released?

Its as if they didn't even test the product.

You still don't get Apple. You were probably one of the whiners complaining about 4K two years ago. Here's the deal -- as a techie I'd never even heard of Atmos before a week ago, so I know normals aren't worried about it. Apple makes products for the mass market of normals. They don't care about leading with specs.

This has dick to do with testing.

thrang

Hopefully DTS:X will be added as well, unless the streaming versions of DTS:X movies will be re-encoded at Atmos...

macplusplus

sog35 said:

cali said:

sog35 said:

Here we go again TIMOTHY JAMES COOK.

I mean seriously!!!

WTF are all your workers doing!!!

First the Watch is missing its #1 key feature.

Now the ATV is missing its #2 key feature?

How screwed up is this place?  Did Timmy have 100% of the staff work on the iPhoneX?  WTF.

1. Apple Watch has LTE problems

2. ATV does not support Dolby Atmos

3. iPhoneX is delayed over 6 weeks

4. iPhone 8 came out on time.......because its basically the iPhone 6ss.  How to screw that up.

Why are you complaining about problems they’re fixing?

This is awesome news! Most people were bashing Apple TV for lack of Atmos support now they’ll have to run to the next pettty problem. 

Would it not be better if the problems were fixed BEFORE the items are released?

Its as if they didn't even test the product.

That's all because of your favorite OLED phone 

hmurchison

Re: Atmos

This thread reminds me of Louis CK 

https://youtu.be/TviGil-U2HE

macplusplus

sog35 said:

Here we go again TIMOTHY JAMES COOK.
...
4. iPhone 8 came out on time.......because its basically the iPhone 6ss.  How to screw that up.

That's because this is their flagship product. The X is just vanity. So it is being postponed again and again. Long live the iPhone 8...

Edit: forgot the angelism
  

edited September 2017

carole lennox

Atmos is a scam. Like most technological improvements for sound, Dolby was the "last cab off the rank", with NHK 22.2, Auro3D, DTS-X, and MPEG-H all technologically superior. Dolby didn't even INVENT this technology but instead bought a French audio company in order to play catch-up. Standards for these immersive sound formats are mostly non-existent. And despite Steve Jobs hiring audio charlatan Tomlinson Holman as sound system designer for his $60million yacht (that he never lived to ride in), Apple's audio decision making has always been poor. Dolby is only interested in application of their logo to products - there is NO WAY a 60+ speaker immersive format can do anything but bullshit audio manipulation on a cell phone (to which Dolby has inserted "Atmos"). I applaud Apple for delaying implementation of Atmos, along with their slow-walking High Dynamic Range television (which also still has no standards released).

thrang

carole lennox said:

Atmos is a scam. Like most technological improvements for sound, Dolby was the "last cab off the rank", with NHK 22.2, Auro3D, DTS-X, and MPEG-H all technologically superior. Dolby didn't even INVENT this technology but instead bought a French audio company in order to play catch-up. Standards for these immersive sound formats are mostly non-existent. And despite Steve Jobs hiring audio charlatan Tomlinson Holman as sound system designer for his $60million yacht (that he never lived to ride in), Apple's audio decision making has always been poor. Dolby is only interested in application of their logo to products - there is NO WAY a 60+ speaker immersive format can do anything but bullshit audio manipulation on a cell phone (to which Dolby has inserted "Atmos"). I applaud Apple for delaying implementation of Atmos, along with their slow-walking High Dynamic Range television (which also still has no standards released).

A bit kooky...without quantifying which is "best" Atmos works extremely well, as does DTS:X.

Who did Dolby buy to create the technology?

jdgaz

Atmos may be wonderful, but most will never experience it at home. Way too much in the way of speakers and costs for the typical family. 5.1 is even a hard sell to the millennials.

rob55

jdgaz said:

Atmos may be wonderful, but most will never experience it at home. Way too much in the way of speakers and costs for the typical family. 5.1 is even a hard sell to the millennials.

You hit the nail on the head with that comment. I'll go one further and say that a good stereo setup is a hard sell to most millennials. Most of them that I encounter or have to interact with think their Beats headphones or their EarPods are the pinnacle of audio fidelity.

edited September 2017

lkrupp

So okay, I did a little research. Like the squealing over 4K and HDR, Dolby Atmos is a solution looking for a problem. Sure, it will be nice to have the feature but millions upon millions of people will have no use for it because their AVRs don’t support it. Dolby released the home theater version of Atmos in 2014. Newer AVRs and Sound Bars may support it but I’m one of the millions upon millions. My Yamaha 7.1 AVR is only a few years old and I’m not about to chuck it just to get Dolby Atmos, just like I’m not about to chuck my relatively new 1080p HDTV just to get 4K. Add to that the fact that the content is lagging and not nearly what it should be in order to motivate people to upgrade. If the ATV5 doesn’t sell all that well it will certainly NOT be because it doesn’t support Dolby Atmos. It will be because not enough people need it yet. In my social circle not a single one has upgraded to a 4K TV yet let alone their home theater receivers to Dolby Atmos. This is once more the tail wagging the dog by those who use specs alone as the arbiter of what is satisfactory or not. 

lkrupp

hmurchison said:

Re: Atmos

This thread reminds me of Louis CK 

https://youtu.be/TviGil-U2HE

That video should be required to be posted at the top of every tech blog site and users must watch it before they can access the site and start bitching about what feature, or lack thereof, is a “deal killer” for them. Not kidding.