The Apple WWDC 2018 is upon us once more. And during today’s keynote speech, Apple announced that it’s going to be answering the prayers of serious movie fans by adding a key new feature to the Apple TV 4K: Support for Dolby Atmos sound.
Dolby Atmos, if you’re not familiar with it, doesn’t just steer sound effects around a set of surround sound speakers like typical Dolby Digital, DTS Master HD or Dolby Pro-Logic systems do. It actually creates a bubble of sound - helped out by extra speakers (real or virtual) above you - into which it precisely places effects to immerse you within a coherent three-dimensional audio space.
Adding a premium ‘object-based’ sound format such as Dolby Atmos fixes what’s long felt like a glaring omission on the Apple TV 4K. After all, on the picture side of its movie service, Apple's streaming box supports such premium features as native 4K resolution and high dynamic range video.
In more good news, Apple also confirmed during its keynote that all films you’ve bought in iTunes will automatically have their soundtracks upgraded to Dolby Atmos (where an Atmos mix is available) at no extra cost once the audio feature is introduced as part of tvOS 12 in the Fall.
Obviously, you will need to have a Dolby Atmos-capable sound system to take advantage of the Apple TV 4K ’s new movie-friendly feature. These used to be pretty prohibitively expensive and hard to install, but in recent years we’ve seen the arrival of some impressive, convenient and affordable new Dolby Atmos soundbar solutions.
Really serious fans of high-resolution movie sound should note that the version of Dolby Atmos supported by the Apple TV 4K is ‘DD+’ - a relatively compressed version designed to suit streaming compared with the full-bore Dolby TrueHD delivery system used on 4K Blu-rays. So the Dolby Atmos sound from the Apple TV 4K won’t sound as pristine and dynamic as a good 4K Blu-ray Dolby Atmos soundtrack can. But even a DD+ Dolby Atmos mix can still sound clearly superior to a regulation, non-object-based soundtrack.
The addition of Dolby Atmos to the Apple TV 4K’s specification makes it arguably the most serious movie streaming solution in town - especially when you take the ‘same as HD’ pricing of its iTunes 4K HDR movies into account.
In fact, the addition of Dolby Atmos sound arguably also makes it an even more potent potential challenger to the 4K Blu-ray disc format.
Look out for more news on Apple’s latest Apple TV 4K announcements soon.
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