Jordan O'BrienThree dimensional audio systems were one of the biggest stories in the CI space last year.
With Dolby Atmos, Auro 3D and now DTS:X all competing for attention and to gain titles and hardware partners, 3D audio will be a reality for commercial cinemas and more importantly home set up as well.
It’s not clear as yet whether we are looking at some sort of format war. Auro 3D is currently holding its own in terms of titles, commercial theatres and hardware manufacturers against the perhaps higher profile and more widely recognised Dolby Brand.
Its too early to say what impact DTS:X is going to have as it was only launched at this year’s CES, but brand strength, particularly in the home disc market and with several hardware makers already committed, it would seem it will have a major say.
Is it possible that several formats could co-exist of course, which would be no bad thing in many ways, they all have merits and its possible technology will move to a place where receivers will be able to decode all the formats.
This could cause issues of course for installers having to make a choice as to which speaker set up to use, the different format of course require different set ups.
One thing is for sure, 3D sound is a massive step up in an immersive experience and whatever happens format wise, should take cinema to a new level or a new age…