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Dolby Atmos

Thank you so much for your recommendations. As I have just recently added Dolby Atmos capability to my theater, I was very interested in your recommendations. I have been reading that the Dolby Atmos soundtrack has only been added to the 4K versions of most of the movies now being released and that sometimes downloaded movies will not always include the Dolby Atmos soundtrack. Have you or can someone from Kaleidescape verify that there is a Dolby Atmos soundtrack on each of these movies downloaded from the Kaleidescape movie store?
 
I can definitely confirm that all of the movies purchased from Kaleidescape store feature the Dolby Atmos soundtrack. (Well, I'm not sure about Dracula....I don't know which version of they film they have.) When you play back the movie under Audio Info it says Dolby TrueHD: Atmos. They used to have a collection titles Dolby Atmos which sorted out all the films for you.

If you buy only one title, definitely get Mad Max first. Amazing audio and video and just a super entertaining film. If you get two, then add Gravity. If three, then add San Andreas. Those would be my top 3 recs (so far) for audio. Game of Thrones Seasons 1, 2 and 5 have also been released with DA audio. I haven't watched 5 yet (on Blu-ray) but 1 and 2 both look and sound terrific. Sadly not available from K.

While not listed on my review list, American Sniper is by far the most disappointing Atmos release so far. There are literally only like 5 or 6 moments in the entire film that utilize the overhead speakers. You can read my review here: http://www.residentialsystems.com/blogentry/992

Also if your receiver/pre-pro can decode DTS:X I can confirm that American Ultra purchased from the store definitely includes this soundtrack.

Happy listening!
John Sciacca
 
Thanks John for responding and providing the additional information. Just to confirm that you are referring to the Blu-ray downloads from the store and not the 4K downloads that have the Dolby Atmos soundtracks.

I actually have Mad Max, Gravity and San Andreas on Blu-ray discs, but the only one of those I have watched yet was Gravity. I have been meaning to watch the other two and now I have an additional reason to put them higher on my list.
 
5th Wave and Atmos

Does anybody know if the just-added 5th Wave (UHD version) in the Kaleidescape store includes the Atmos soundtrack?

The Kaleidescape movie store lists the audio as Dolby DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.

The Blu-Ray version of 5th Wave is Dolby DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.

The 4K Blu-Ray version of 5th Wave is Dolby Atmos.
 
SShearer: Definitely the Blu-ray (quality) download

RAV: I can confirm that the UHD discs of these titles have a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, but don't know about the Kaleidescape UHD version. If it lists it as DTS then I'd say no... Perhaps Mike Kobb or someone else from K can weigh in on this.....? Would certainly be great -- and reasonable to expect -- if the UHD downloads featured the same object based audio as the disc....
 
I see this as an extremely important point. Kaleidescape is a high-end system, and for many people (myself included), for action films, the audio is as important as the video.

So yes - I would love to hear Mike or someone else from Kaleidescape weigh in on this.

My expectation is that this movie will be Atmos (like the disc version) since Kaleidescape is supposed to be "bit for bit" when it comes to discs. If so - this should be marked in the movie store so we know. If not - well that is a whole other conversation!
 
So I just received some pretty disturbing news from Kaleidescape. Apparently 4K movies in the movie store are not capable of Atmos at this time and there is no ETA on when this will be rectified.

So things I am waiting for:

- 4K movies with Atmos (no ETA)
- Being able to use my disc server (delayed)
- Being able to use my full 2.40 screen to select movies (delayed)
- Being able to have any audio beyond compressed 5.1 (delayed)
- 3D (feature dropped)
- Paramount (was told imminent months ago - no updates since then)
- Fox 4K (announced three months ago - no updates since then)
 
So I just received some pretty disturbing news from Kaleidescape. Apparently 4K movies in the movie store are not capable of Atmos at this time and there is no ETA on when this will be rectified.

So things I am waiting for:

- 4K movies with Atmos (no ETA)
- Being able to use my disc server (delayed)
- Being able to use my full 2.40 screen to select movies (delayed)
- Being able to have any audio beyond compressed 5.1 (delayed)
- 3D (feature dropped)
- Paramount (was told imminent months ago - no updates since then)
- Fox 4K (announced three months ago - no updates since then)
This is all very disappointing. Hopefully, many of the functionality items will be addressed in the next two KOS updates, now reported to be coming in May and June, respectively. I will be holding off on buying any additional Kscape UHD downloads until they start offering them with the same audio that comes on the UHD Blu-ray disc of the title.
 
I thought we already knew that the Strato could not play lossless audio until the codecs are update with the new KOS coming in June.

John
 
I thought we already knew that the Strato could not play lossless audio until the codecs are update with the new KOS coming in June.

John

Nope. I was told today that this was something different.

I called Kaleidescape to specifically ask about a new Sony 4K movie that was recently posted in the Kaleidescape Movie Store. I wanted to make sure it included Dolby Atmos. Sony has been differentiating their 4K Blu-ray discs from their HD Blu-ray discs by upgrading the audio to Dolby Atmos.

I was told that Dolby Atmos is not currently supported for 4K movies and that this was a limitation of the Kaleidescape Movie Store with no ETA for when it will be fixed. I questioned this and the technical support representative checked with someone else and confirmed the information. They said they would call me back if they had any further information.

This makes no sense to me. It means I am better off right now (by far) with 4K discs than with the Strato. I will post again if I hear any updates.

In this case - I would like nothing better than to be wrong!
 
When I look at the audio tracks for "The 5th Wave 4K" blu-ray disc I see the following:

English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1

So if the store had the same sound tracks as the disc, then there would be no English sound track to listen to on the Strato.

Taking the most optimistic position: K store currently supplies versions that will play on the Strato and will back fill later on with the lossless audio (including Atmos) versions once the codecs have been updated.

Taking a pessimistic position: Sony isn't supplying the Atmos versions to K and has not yet committed to do so. Since the Premiere systems get Atmos, there should be no reason the Strato can't do Atmos after the upgrades.

One side bit of speculation: Does K need the KOS upgrade for lossless bitstream in order to add Fox 4K titles? The Fox 4K titles I have been following do not have lossy English sound tracks either and it would be a lot of work to get them supplies instead of waiting on the Strato capability to be upgraded.

I am waiting to see what happens after the KOS upgrades.

John

Edit: I don't have a Strato so I am assuming that the Strato will not output TrueHD or DTS-MA. However, it is possible that it would output a loosy version of these two formats. Let me know if I am wrong on this.
 
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My understanding is the 5th Wave 4K (UHD) version in the Kaleidescape Movie Store uses the same audio track as the regular Blu-ray (Dolby 5.1 instead of Atmos).

I really wish that Kaleidescape was much better and more transparent about their communication on these types of issues. I only found out because I called and explicitly asked (before purchasing the movie).

In my opinion, being told there is no ETA on Dolby Atmos for 4K content is simply not an acceptable answer for people that purchased the Strato with certain quality/experience expectations.
 
I own a Strato and from my understanding the Strato will play atmos and dts:x titles but only in 1080p, correct ? Of course that is when the new KOS update happens this month. Once the update happens it will also decode DTS HD and true Hd among others, right. If not I made a big mistake with this purchase. Thank you
 
Hello all!

Let me clear up some misconceptions that have cropped up. Strato certainly has the ability to output Dolby Atmos and DTS:X for 4K Ultra HD content (pending the software update for bitstream audio).

The process for building the 4K Ultra HD download packages for the Movie Store is different from the process for Blu-ray quality and DVD quality. We’re working with the studios now to develop the workflow to digitally distribute this kind of package. We expect that the first such packages will be available on the Movie Store soon (i.e., 4K + HDR + Dolby Atmos).

We aim to have the workflows in place such that all of our new 4K releases will include HDR and Dolby Atmos or DTS:X audio, provided that the studio has produced a version with those features. The workflow needs to be specialized for each content owner so it might not all happen at the same time, but this is the plan.
 
Hello all!

Let me clear up some misconceptions that have cropped up. Strato certainly has the ability to output Dolby Atmos and DTS:X for 4K Ultra HD content (pending the software update for bitstream audio).

The process for building the 4K Ultra HD download packages for the Movie Store is different from the process for Blu-ray quality and DVD quality. We’re working with the studios now to develop the workflow to digitally distribute this kind of package. We expect that the first such packages will be available on the Movie Store soon (i.e., 4K + HDR + Dolby Atmos).

We aim to have the workflows in place such that all of our new 4K releases will include HDR and Dolby Atmos or DTS:X audio, provided that the studio has produced a version with those features. The workflow needs to be specialized for each content owner so it might not all happen at the same time, but this is the plan.
Thanks for the update, Mike. Are you still looking at a May 2016 software update for bitstream audio from the Strato?
 
Thanks very much for the clarifications! Communication is so important and I, as well as I am sure others, really appreciate the efforts you make to keep us informed. It's really great news that some packages will be available on the Movie Store soon with 4K + Dolby Atmos.

Will there be an option to manually defeat HDR?

This is actually very important for projectors, because the current generations of most projectors don't have anywhere near the light output of TVs. As a result, some projectors (e.g., JVC DLA-RS600) report that they are HDR-capable but don't do a very good job of handling HDR content.

Sticking with the Blu-Ray version is not a good option since some studios (e.g., Sony) are only including upgraded audio (like Atmos) with the UHD Blu-Ray version.

This is an article that talks about projector HDR issues in the context of the Panasonic DMP-UB900 Ultra HD player, which handles this issue particularly well:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/panasonic-dmp-ub900-review
 
Hello all!

Let me clear up some misconceptions that have cropped up. Strato certainly has the ability to output Dolby Atmos and DTS:X for 4K Ultra HD content (pending the software update for bitstream audio).

The process for building the 4K Ultra HD download packages for the Movie Store is different from the process for Blu-ray quality and DVD quality. We’re working with the studios now to develop the workflow to digitally distribute this kind of package. We expect that the first such packages will be available on the Movie Store soon (i.e., 4K + HDR + Dolby Atmos).

We aim to have the workflows in place such that all of our new 4K releases will include HDR and Dolby Atmos or DTS:X audio, provided that the studio has produced a version with those features. The workflow needs to be specialized for each content owner so it might not all happen at the same time, but this is the plan.

Hello, I'm a new Kscape owner (2 months) and this is my first post/reply (yahoo!). I had a question regarding the last statement made above. When you refer to all of the new 4K releases having HDR and Dolby Atmos or DTS:X audio, does that mean that current purchased 4K content from the store won't have that? If so, will you be allowing us to re-download 4K movies we already own with the HDR, Atmos, etc.?

Thanks and I hope for bright things in Kscape's future!
 
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