What is Dolby Atmos? Here’s Everything You Need to Know.

This blog has now been updated; you can view this updated post here.

Multi-channel soundtracks for film have come a long, long way in the past 25 years.

In the 1980s, Dolby Laboratories developed the Dolby Surround sound format, and it began by taking stereo soundtracks and “matrixing” sound for dialog and effects to the center channel and surround speakers by some clever processing. It was followed by Dolby Pro Logic, which took that technology a step further, allowing the stereo left and right channels to have additional audio information that with the proper equipment could direct those specific sounds to center and rear speakers. 

Dolby Pro Logic was good for its time, and because most movies were still on VHS videotape, tape could only handle a certain amount of audio bandwidth.  Dolby Digital 5.1, also called AC-3, was the first digital surround format and birthed the modern era of digital audio in video soundtracks.  First used on Laserdiscs, a predecessor to the DVD that never quite went mainstream, Dolby Digital became the standard for DVD and also for high definition broadcast TV. 

Today, the original Dolby Digital has been thoroughly reworked and enhanced over time.  Each successive version – like Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD – has brought increases in audio quality and the precision of placing sounds in a sound field for more realistic and immersive entertainment.   The culmination of this development is Dolby Atmos. 

So at this point, you may have heard of Dolby Atmos (or not) and wonder what all the fuss is about.  You may be wondering why you’d want it for your home cinema in the Alpharetta area and what changes it might mean to your home theater layout. 

We thought the best way to do this would be to do a little FAQ (frequently asked questions).  Read on as we cover the basics of Dolby Atmos and to see if it’s right for your home theater.