Support over HDMI ARC
In 2016, when we started developing our Shockwafe DTS:X soundbar series, our vision was to eventually incorporate Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision support into our soundbars. Back then, outputting Dolby Atmos through HDMI ARC (in Dolby Digital Plus) was still in its infancy and there were numerous HDMI ARC communication and compatibility issues amongst TVs, receivers and soundbars. Also, licensing terms were complex and partial as content providers tried to favor certain audio formats over others.
Taking everything into consideration, we felt that we would be able to offer the best price-to-performance ratio if we did not include Dolby Digital Plus (DD+) through HDMI ARC. Therefore, we chose a HDMI solution that will only support Dolby Digital 5.1. While our new firmware will output DD+ content in Dolby Digital 5.1 over HDMI ARC, users will still get the same number of audio channels when streaming content on their TV (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, etc.), because the original DD+ content from these streaming apps is actually encoded in 5.1 channels, the same number of audio channels in Dolby Digital 5.1.
With our SSE technology, the system will upmix the Dolby Digital 5.1 signal to 9.2.4, 7.2.4 and 7.1.4 for the Shockwafe Ultra 9.2, Elite 7.2 and Pro 7.1 soundbars respectively.
Instead, we believed that the Dolby Atmos-capable audio formats – Dolby TrueHD, DD+ and Dolby Atmos MAT – would be best experienced using a dedicated media device connected via HDMI 2.0 (not HDMI ARC) to the soundbar.
Across the industry, this has always been the most robust mode of connection to experience Dolby Atmos due to the sufficient bandwidth present in a standard HDMI 2.0 connection (up to 25 Mbps) as compared to HDMI ARC (up to 1 Mbps). See Dolby’s recommendations here: https://developer.dolby.com/blog/dolby-audio-over-hdmi-part-3-reality/
This is also one of the reasons our Shockwafe DTS:X soundbars each come with 3 HDMI inputs – more than 90% of all soundbars in the market – allowing multi-device home theater users to connect all their media devices to our soundbars to experience Dolby Atmos in its authentic, non-compressed quality (Dolby TrueHD or DD+ 7.1).
While more Smart TV apps today support Dolby Atmos, the limited bandwidth of HDMI ARC only allows a lossy/compressed Dolby Atmos audio signal (DD+) to be outputted. At the same time, compatibility issues between TVs and sound systems in relation to outputting DD+ via HDMI ARC have remained ever-present. Hence, to ensure the most stable user experience, our latest firmware will output all DD+ content received over HDMI ARC in Dolby Digital 5.1 as mentioned earlier.
When streaming content on your Smart TV (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, etc.), users will still get the same number of audio channels because the original DD+ content from these streaming apps is actually encoded in 5.1 channels, the same number of audio channels in Dolby Digital 5.1.
To get the true Dolby Atmos experience in Dolby TrueHD or DD+ 7.1, we recommend using a dedicated content device with a HDMI 2.0 connection to the soundbar. This way, the soundbar will promptly receive, decode, process and reproduce the full lossless Dolby Atmos audio signal, resulting in a true, high-resolution Dolby Atmos soundfield intended by the movie directors.
