artto Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 I have a Dolby Atmos "Ready" A/V reciever (Onkyo NR-TX838). The firmware is updated to current version, so Atmos should now be enabled. With the drop in prices of UHD/4K BluRay players I decided it's time to get one to make full use of the Samsung 4K TV (UN55HU7200) I bought two years ago. I'm not a movie buff or videophile per se' but enjoy the higher quality picture and sound. For the UHD player I started out with a Samsung UBD-M7500 which apparently is not Dolby Atmos compatible. I now have a Samsung UBD-M8500 in my possession. In speaking with Samsung technical support, I've gotten conflicting answers as to the Dolby Atmos compatibility of both these units. I realize that regardless of these models or even the OPPO UDP-203 (also under consideration) that the player output must be set to "bitstream". However, there are 3 different bitstream choices (unprocessed, Re-encoded DTS and Re-encoded Dolbly D). Obviously "unprocessed" and Dolby D are candidates, but which one? In either case, when playing a BluRay 4K disc with Atmos, I don't see any indication on the A/V receiver that Dolby Atmos is engaged. The same Dolby TrueHD indicator lights up that also lights up on non-Atmos discs. Is this the usual thing to see, or should I be seeing some kind of Dolby Atmos indicator? I seems to me some kind of Atmos indicator should be on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 Choose unprocessed, then your receiver will do the decoding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted January 22, 2018 Author Share Posted January 22, 2018 Great. Thnx! What about a Dolby Atmos indicator on the receiver? Or do they all just show Dolby TrueHD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dimanata2007 Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 I don't know about Onkyo, but Denon receivers display "Dolby Atmos" when decoding Atmos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted January 24, 2018 Author Share Posted January 24, 2018 I was finally able to talk with Onkyo tech support. Since my TX-NR838 was introduced before Dolby Atmos was actually available ("Atmos Ready"), the display will not show "Dolby Atmos". Besides that, apparently Atmos is not a "Format". It's not decoded by the player. It is simply sent "bitstream" to the preamp/receiver. A spatially-coded substream is added to Dolby TrueHD (or Dolby Digital+). It uses this substream to move audio "objects" around to ANY channel. Hence, the first generation "Dolby Atmos Ready" receivers will all most likely just show Dolby TrueHD or Digital+ on their display even when decoding Atmos. Also, dummy me, didn't re-configure the receiver/speakers for Dolby-enabled height speakers. Duh. In fact I hadn't reconfigured anything, even after changing from the Klipsch Chorus/RC7 front speakers to RF7ii & RC64. DUH. No wonder things haven't sounded quite right. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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