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Samsung develops new audio format

Oddball

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If anyone is big enough to challenge Dolby's near-monopoly on spatial audio it's Samsung, but this press release is a bit vague on details. Sounds like all they're sure about this year is Youtube support, and some TVs supporting it, but what about, you know, any actual multichannel gear?
 
Not much details that I am aware of at this point. They just came out of the closet with another format war.
 
Searches led me to this nice summary on current (Jan 2024) spatial audio formats. Guess they gotta add another one?

So for home theater it is Dolby Atmos, maybe Sony 360, and now Samsung/Harman/JBL throw their hat into the ring?

Existing Forms of Spatial Audio

 
It seems this is a Google project more so than Samsung. And the two are partnering to get it onto some hardware. Along with Google making it available for youtube. I hope it works. Pretty sick of the Dolby tax and total cluster Dolby has made of immersive audio trying to extract money every step of the way. I blame Dolby for the state of MCH audio and video being such a pain in the a$$ that few will do it.

Would be nice if it becomes a software solution we just feed to however many channels of speakers we have. Those only requiring an amp and a signal.
 
If anyone is big enough to challenge Dolby's near-monopoly on spatial audio it's Samsung
True... Samsung just won't pay Dolby license fees for anything though. Even their top tier QD-OLED TV doesn't have Dolby Vision, only their HDR10 & +, which just isn't as good as DV. So I don't expect this to be better or more refined that Dolby Atmos.


JSmith
 
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The above is largely true but I see more and more units coming out with USB C than ever before

HDMI 2.2 is also developed so soon AVRs are outdated again
 
It is under the umbrella of the Alliance for Open Media which was created by Google for the AV1 video codec.

Eclipsa is the "Alliance for Open Media" "Immersive Audio Model & Format"


Word it is coming to YouTube in 2025 probably through Chrome for playback. CES is only once a year. CES was a good place to announce it even through the whole ecosystem is not there yet.

The members would be potential adopters - https://aomedia.org/about/members/

The Dolby Atmos Renderer is the competition for authoring, and it is not that expensive. It works with Ableton Live, Apple Logic Pro, Avid Pro Tools, Blackmagic Designs Resolve, Merging Pyramix, PreSonus Studio One, Steinberg Nuendo and possibly others.
 
HDMI 2.2 is also developed so soon AVRs are outdated again
In order for that to happen there'd have to be a large uptick in people buying equipment that needs anything HDMI 2.2 offers over HDMI 2.1, namely 8k TVs. That's not going to happen anytime in the near future, I don't think. Also, eARC makes it easy to just bypass the AVR for video and feed it the uncompressed multichannel audio (as I did for a number of years with my outdated Denon receiver before recently upgrading).
 
In order for that to happen there'd have to be a large uptick in people buying equipment that needs anything HDMI 2.2 offers over HDMI 2.1, namely 8k TVs. That's not going to happen anytime in the near future, I don't think. Also, eARC makes it easy to just bypass the AVR for video and feed it the uncompressed multichannel audio (as I did for a number of years with my outdated Denon receiver before recently upgrading).
I'm fairly sure the marketing will kick in at one point where 4k is not enough and you just gotta have 8k. I also expect 8k on the next gen consoles, because the higher the number...the better it is right?
 
8k might be useful for 150" screens... maybe, someday, but I have doubts.
 
8k might be useful for 150" screens... maybe, someday, but I have doubts.
8K will become mainstream one day, but I agree, not for long. Immersive audio will never become mainstream.
It seems, in this digital domain, that the more resolution and more audio channels develop, it takes longer to take hold. Many people still enjoy 1080p and don't think 4K brings much to the table. Not to mention immersive audio.
 
Word it is coming to YouTube in 2025 probably through Chrome for playback. CES is only once a year. CES was a good place to announce it even through the whole ecosystem is not there yet.
If Google's previous push of AV1 hardware acceleration is anything to go by, it'll probably become mandatory for any new devices advertising Chromecast or YouTube as a feature. Google-powered TVs too, so more than just Samsung.
 
and/or high framerates for gaming? Still very niche though.
Sure, but that's limited largely to the PC space. Consoles are generally 60FPS or less, even if TVs can do 120Hz. Though granted, using small-ish TVs as PC monitors is becoming more popular.
 
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