No Dolby Atmos on Disney+

rbecking13

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Just got a new soundbar that supports Atmos. Atmos works great using Netflix & Prime on Sony TV apps, also through Sky Q+ but I can't get any Atmos on Disney+, I've tried it on Sony Tv app, Firestick 4k and Sky Q and none outputting Atmos but Dolby Vision works ok. Any ideas?
 
I know that Disney had throttled down quality earlier in the year due to Covid as did Netflix with regards to picture and sound quality....not sure if they're still running under the same conditions though
 
I'm not a Disney + user so can't check unfortunately
 
I can attest no Atmos via Samsung QLED or a ROKU Stick + connected directly to the Denon AV. ATV app & Primevideo both do Atmos via DD+ on both the Samsung & ROKU via DD+. I think Atmos on Disney + is a bit of a fib frankly.

P.s. happy to stand corrected!
 
Just asked on Disney+ live chat and they said :

"I've checked in with a technician and while your Firestick 4k does support playback of Dolby Atmos, the LG Soundbar is not supported by Disney+ for the playback of Dolby Atmos, we apologize for the inconvenience"

"Our compatibility with Dolby Atmos is currently being expanded yes, as we're adding features to the app every day "
 
I asked why it didn't work on the Samsung app when ATV, Primevideo etc do pass via DD+ and was told it was different protocols, whatever that means!

Then I got someone else and asked about my ROKU Stick and was told this;

"in light of the concerns expressed by government officials regarding the use of broadband services in this challenging time, we have instituted measures to lower bandwidth utilization, and in some circumstances streaming content in HD and UHD formats will be limited or unavailable. Thank you for your patience and understanding."

So Disney plus are still limiting bandwidth by all accounts
 
Nope, not in the UK or else why is it that I can get Atmos while others cannot? Am I accessing the service from a server somewhere else in the world that sees my IP as being somewhere not being capped?????

Disney lifted the bandwidth cap in the UK some time back and the UK government have never requested that they throttle the bandwidth. The capping was done relative to requests from other countries within the EU.


Now, it seems the problem has either passed or never actually materialised, so Disney+ is back to full quality, including picture and sound: 4K, HDR, Dolby Atmos, it's all there.

… Restrictions were lifted on 29th June so given that it's now Cursed July, you shouldn't run into any problems at all. Which is handy, considering Friday is HAMILTON DAY.
 
Not anywhere as far as I was aware, very difficult to get any sense from their help desk
 
Ok so got a better agent just there, below is the complete list of ATMOS devices that they were aware of (it's not on their website of course). My kids have an Xbox S so I may try and connect that up to my system just to see whether it does pass Atmos just to prove a point.

LG webOS Smart TV Models 3.5 to 4.0

4K Roku TV (new in Q42019) with Minimum Firmware update 9.1.2 and above

Also, Xbox One S Xbox One S All-Digital Edition Xbox One X

You can also get ATMOS audio on Andoid TV, Android 10.0 and newer

Nvidia Shield (Some Models)
 
The 4k firestick Disney plus app plays dolby atmos with no problems
 
Lol, just goes to show, you just cannot rely on what Disney support tells you....
 
On the plus side I do have Disney plus sending full Dolby Atmos via the Xbox S, I just watched the battle at the end of infinity war and it's fantastic! have to put it back in the kids room though now but it was good to see & hear Atmos being passed on Disney plus
 
Doesn't the Apple TV 4K pass Atmos from Disney Plus, as well as Amazon and Netflix?
 
I don't know, Disney support is not very reliable. I can for sure say it works on XBox S connected directly to the receiver. It does not work on a 2018 Samsung QLED app or ROKU Streaming Stick Plus. That's all I know for sure...
 
As a matter of interest, is that full Atmos on the Firestick or via Dolby digital plus?
No streaming service netflix or amazon prime streams in lossless audio its DD+ with an atmos metadata track Thats why you don't need eARC to use the streaming services
 
As a matter of interest, is that full Atmos on the Firestick or via Dolby digital plus?


Full Atmos?

If asking whether Disney use TrueHD then the answer is no. No streaming service uses HD TrueHD due to the additional bandwidth required to do so. TrueHD is devoid of the backward compatibility measures integrated into Dolby Digital Plus and DD+ has a DD core which would be seen by older devices that aren't DD+ compliant or lack the DD+ codec. Atmos itself is simply metasata packaged with the audio. It would be the same metadata regardless of whether the audio itself is TrueHD or DD+ in nature.

Windows PCs, the XBox and the Apple TV device all need to use Dolby MAT to output Atmos. Dolby MAT allow the metadata to be streamed with multichannel PCM after the source device has decoded the TrueHD or DD+ audio package:

Dolby Atmos in Dolby MAT
The Dolby Metadata-enhanced Audio Transmission (Dolby MAT) encoder resides in a Blu-ray player to pack the variable bit-rate Dolby TrueHD bitstreams for transmission over the fixed bit-rate HDMI connections. A MAT decoder is subsequently employed in an AVR to unpack the Dolby TrueHD bitstreams. With the introduction of Dolby Atmos, we have expanded this technology to support encoding of Dolby Atmos content as lossless pulse-code modulation (PCM) audio.

A key benefit of Dolby MAT 2.0 is that Dolby Atmos object-based audio can be live encoded and transmitted from a source device with limited latency and processing complexity. Among the possible sources are broadcast set-top boxes, PCs, and game consoles. The Dolby MAT 2.0 decoder in an AVR outputs the object-based audio and its metadata for further processing. The Dolby MAT 2.0 container is scalable and leverages the full potential of the HDMI audio pipeline.


If not using one of those devices then you'd have to bitstream the TrueHD or the DD+ audio inclusive of the Atmos metadata to an AVR or soundbar able to decode it. Decoding it using the source device would simply result in just the multichannel PCM data being sent to the AVR or the soundbar and the Atmos metadata would be discarded:

Dolby Atmos in Dolby TrueHD
Dolby has expanded the Dolby TrueHD format to allow the format to support Dolby Atmos content on Blu-ray and ultra high definition Blu-ray Disc. Prior to Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD provided lossless support for channel-based audio, such as 5.1 and 7.1. Now we have added a fourth substream for Dolby Atmos sound in Dolby TrueHD codec to enable a support for a losslessly encoded object-based sound mix.

Dolby Atmos in Dolby TrueHD is transmitted from a Blu-ray player or Ultra HD Blu-ray player to your AVR via an HDMI connection. If your AVR supports Dolby Atmos, the Dolby TrueHD object-based audio and related metadata will be decoded, processed, scaled, and rendered to your specific speaker configuration. Dolby Atmos audio can be encoded with Dolby TrueHD at multiple sampling rates (including 48 and 96 kHz) and bit depths (16- and 24-bit).

Dolby Atmos enabled receivers will also support legacy Dolby TrueHD bitstreams at multiple sampling rates (including 48, 96, and 192 kHz) and bit depths (16-, 20-, and 24-bit) to provide full backward compatibility with legacy Blu-ray Disc media and Dolby TrueHD music files.

Dolby Atmos in Dolby Digital Plus
Dolby Digital Plus has been updated and features a new decoder capable of processing content encoded for Dolby Atmos. This module uses new bitstream metadata to extract Dolby Atmos object-based audio and outputs this information for further signal processing. The sampling rate for Dolby Atmos content is 48 kHz, the same sample rate as for Dolby Digital Pluscontent.

Both new audio decoders are designed to be fully backward compatible with legacy channel-based Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD soundtracks.


In the case of the home theater, every sound in the Atmos mix is represented as an audio object. When you set up your Dolby Atmos enabled AVR, you inform your receiver how many speakers you have, what type of speakers they are (large, small, overhead, and/or Dolby Atmos enabled), and where they’re located. Armed with this information, a processor in your AVR analyses the positional metadata and scales each audio object for optimal playback through the connected speaker system. This process include includes determining in real time exactly which speakers it needs to use from moment to moment in order to reproduce the sounds of the car careening across the screen and the child fleeing up the stairs etc.
 
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Is there a likelihood that at some point they'll be able to stream TrueHD etc in the near future? I think thats the only reason most of us stick with our BDPs and physical media.
 
I'd suggest it very unlikely that they'd start doing so. It causes too many issues, not just relative to the additional bandwidth required, but also in terms of providing backward compatibility for those who've not a setup and or equipment able to handle and or decode TrueHD. As I posted, DD+ includes backward compatatilibility for older setups devoid of access to DD+ codecs. TrueHD has no core it can revert to if someone hasn't a TrueHD compiant device or setup. The use of DD+ enables broadcasters and streaming services to cover many bases using just one single soundtrack. The same soundtrack can provide Atmos, DD+ or just DD. This is basically why all the streaming services use it.

There's nothing technically preventing them streaming TrueHD, but the bandwidth would be greater and not everyone has a setup that can deal with TrueHD encoded audio.
 
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Interesting. When testing the XBox S earlier it required downloading a Dolby App to enable Atmos within the Xbox settings, there were then three Bitstream output options in the XBox settings, DTS, Dolby Digital and Dolby Atmos. Interestingly Disney didn't send Atmos via Dolby Digital when connected directly to my receiver (an AVRX2300 with Atmos configuration) or when connected to the TV (which usually passes the lossy Atmos via DD+ with no issues ). Disney app showed movies with 5.1 sound in the description as I saw via the Samsung & ROKU apps. When connected to the TV the Atmos setting in XBox would not select (it noted the lack of Atmos capability ) but when connected directly to the receiver the Atmos setting worked like a charm, the movies all showed Atmos in the description hence why I wondered whether Disney Plus was sending the full Atmos soundtrack, may have helped explain why they are struggling to send Atmos on a number of devices. But as you rightly note, why would they do that when they can just pass it via DD+, it doesn't make sense. Anyway hopefully they figure it out before my annual subscription is up as I won't be renewing (my kids have no real interest in it and the content isn't there to justify just for me though the Atmos etc would helps justify this year!)
 
The XBox cannot bitstream Atmos. I've no idea on configuring one correctly for Atmos, but the XBox relies upon Dolby MAT for the output of Atmos and you cannot bitstream TrueHD or DD+ inclusive of Atmos metadata. The console has to decode the TrueHD or DD+ element of the audio and will then output this as multichannel PCM along with the associated Atmos metadata.

If getting Atmos on the AV receiver then it is in conjunction with multichannel PCM if the source is an XBox. The same is true if the source is an Apple TV 4K or a Windows PC.

Note that the TV would need to use eARC to convey multichannel PCM to an eARC compliant AV receiver if passing the Atmos audio through said TV to an AV receiver. Conventional ARC is limited to just 2 channels of PCM data.

The soundtrack Disney provide to those with an XBox is the exact same Atmos soundtrack (DD+) as that used for the Disney+ services on every other device. The only thing differentiating the XBox is its reliance upon Dolby MAT relative to its Atmos output capabilities.
 
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One things for sure; I've learnt a lot more about Dolby Atmos :smashin:
 
I have a 2020 Sony TV and get Atmos only on Netflix, via the inbuilt Sony TV app (Android TV 9), but the inbuilt Disney + and Amazon Prime App do not seem to send Atmos content to my receiver or to the TV's inbuilt speakers (which are supposedly Atmos capable, though obviously sound poor). Can anyone confirm that you can get Atmos on new Sony TVs/Android 9 TVs through the inbuilt apps for Prime and/or Disney +? According to dots999 (above) this will only be supported on Android 10 (if this ever comes to my TV), although the OP suggests that he/she is getting atmos via the Sony TV Prime App?
 

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