The technology company said Dolby Atmos offered “a hybrid approach to mixing and directs sound as dynamic objects enveloping the listener, in combination with channels for playback.” 

The initiative enables “adaptive rendering” to remain faithful to the creator’s original audio vision in any given environment, regardless of specific speaker configuration.

Dolby Atmos is designed to work with the same tools currently favored by sound designers and mixers and has the ability to transmit up to 128 simultaneous and lossless audio inputs and render from 5.1 up to 64 discrete speaker feeds.

The initial roll-out will target the US, Europe, China and Japan prior to a wider deployment in 2013.

“Dolby Atmos is our most significant innovation in years and represents the future for entertainment sound in cinema,” said Kevin Yeaman, president and CEO of Dolby Laboratories. “We have leveraged our deep insights into how people hear and experience sound, to empower filmmakers, studios, and exhibitors with new technology that transforms storytelling.”

“Dolby Atmos brings a completely new dimension to the motion picture sound track,” said Mike Hedges, Academy Award winning re-recording mixer of Park Road Post Production. “To be able to move sounds anywhere in the theatre, and to also create environments that surround and excite an audience, is extremely powerful.”

“China Film Group takes a keen interest in the development of Dolby’s new audio platform,” said Chen Fei, chief technology officer of China Film Group Corporation. “Our post production facilities are already well on the way for us to incorporate Dolby Atmos into our movies, and we plan to produce a movie this calendar year using the Dolby Atmos format.”

“We have been working with Dolby for more than a year on this initiative and we are very impressed with this new platform,” said Dan Huerta, vp of digital systems at AMC Theatres. “A solution like Dolby Atmos takes an innovative and practical approach to cinema sound, rivaling anything the industry had been able to accomplish in a movie theatre environment.”

  • Texas Instruments has announced its S2K chipset, optimised for screens up to 20ft wide for 2D presentations. The device features the same core technology that powers SLP Cinema’s 2K and 4K chipsets. Barco, Christie and NEC have agreed to develop digital projectors incorporating the S2K chipset.