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Why are there so many different software applications for a single purpose in A/V...?

Xulonn

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and that purpose for the average consumer is to get good, "illusion supporting" multichannel sound - and for videophiles, a system that is configurable, does room correction, and is sonically accurate. I have to believe that most people would like to buy a plug-and-play A/V receiver that works the first time, and all of the time afterwards...without having to jump through hoops, or power down and go through a slow and tedious reboot every time something changes.

Could there not be a single "master" modular app designed to run efficiently on a relatively inexpensive CPU with a decent amount of RAM? Or is this already what the Trinnov16 A/V preamp already does for $17,000? It looks like Trinnov is the current SOTA leader. Is there any hope of getting similar performance and reliability from a sub-$10K A/V receiver or preamp?

It seems, after reading @amirm 's reviews and the discussions that follow them, that there is a hodge-podge of approaches to implement the different proprietary and non-proprietary software technologies, many of them implemented by hardware companies that do not hire truly competent software engineers. Currently, reliably implementing everything necessary to include all of the HT multichannel audio technologies, and send them to amps and/or loudsepakers that has been through a room-correction process, seems to be beyond everyone except Trinnov.

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Background:

Although I am fascinated by continuing innovation in audio and video, I am, for practical reasons, a video Luddite. As a 78 y/o American retiree living in a mountain resort town in western Panama, with age-related hearing that leaves me with perception of 10kHz maximum (which is actually quite good for my age), I will not be jumping into multi-channel or immersive sound systems. Although I use my small second bedroom without a bed as a dedicated office and A/V, my limited pension-based budget precludes having a multichannel system, but I thoroughly enjoy watching video and listening to music on my "sonically accurate" A/V system.

Last night, I watched "Jumanji: The Next Level" on my "bare-bones" 2-channel system - a 40" Samsung 2018 LED TV, a pair of Paradigm Atom v6 Monitors (stands required for best performance) loudspeakers and no subs, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I like the way the Jumanji franchise story-line has morphed from a board game to a strategy-based video game as its basis. The inclusion of two "old guys" who are clueless about strategy-based video games - played by Danny Glover and Danny - was a fun component of the story for me. I am also a video-game Luddite who only plays games such as Snood, Bubbleshooter, Kyodai Mahjongg, backgammon and Freecell - however, I am familiar with the basics of strategy games.

As far as movies go, my favorite genres are serious dramas and intelligent comedies (like the dark comedy "Parasite"), documentaries, and science fiction. However, I also enjoy some animated films (including anime), as well as high-production value "fluff" and pop-culture movies like Jumanji and other "action" movies that often have a good soundtrack, one that would probably sound much better on a multi-channel audio system. But multi-channel does little for me with dramas and documentaries - although a center channel might add clarity to dialogue. (I am not into movies with wanton and gratuitous death, destruction and horror.)
 

Sancus

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For the non-proprietary formats(standard 5.1 and 7.1) everything you said is already possible, it can be decoded and upmixed with any PC, and if you want to upmix music there's various pro software designed for that. There is free software too, but it's not very good, and that's probably just because the interest in upmixing outside of the pro audio market is very small.

Pretty much all the expensive parts are due to proprietary software, as usual. Atmos is proprietary, Dirac is proprietary, they all want their piece of the pie and a bunch of restrictions on what devices their software is implemented in... There is, of course, plenty of cheap/free room correction software, but people want Dirac because it's effective and easy to use especially when it's integrated in a single box. There's plenty of equivalent free software approaches like REW/Acourate/Audiolens + Multi Sub Optimizer etc.

If you want Atmos decoded and mixed to 16+ channels you have to go where the proprietary boxes are...and Dolby's not going to license their codec to a $100 box with digital outputs because all that would accomplish from their perspective is make it easier to pirate stuff.
 

Doodski

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and that purpose for the average consumer is to get good, "illusion supporting" multichannel sound - and for videophiles, a system that is configurable, does room correction, and is sonically accurate. I have to believe that most people would like to buy a plug-and-play A/V receiver that works the first time, and all of the time afterwards...without having to jump through hoops, or power down and go through a slow and tedious reboot every time something changes.

Could there not be a single "master" modular app designed to run efficiently on a relatively inexpensive CPU with a decent amount of RAM? Or is this already what the Trinnov16 A/V preamp already does for $17,000? It looks like Trinnov is the current SOTA leader. Is there any hope of getting similar performance and reliability from a sub-$10K A/V receiver or preamp?

It seems, after reading @amirm 's reviews and the discussions that follow them, that there is a hodge-podge of approaches to implement the different proprietary and non-proprietary software technologies, many of them implemented by hardware companies that do not hire truly competent software engineers. Currently, reliably implementing everything necessary to include all of the HT multichannel audio technologies, and send them to amps and/or loudsepakers that has been through a room-correction process, seems to be beyond everyone except Trinnov.

----------------------------
Background:

Although I am fascinated by continuing innovation in audio and video, I am, for practical reasons, a video Luddite. As a 78 y/o American retiree living in a mountain resort town in western Panama, with age-related hearing that leaves me with perception of 10kHz maximum (which is actually quite good for my age), I will not be jumping into multi-channel or immersive sound systems. Although I use my small second bedroom without a bed as a dedicated office and A/V, my limited pension-based budget precludes having a multichannel system, but I thoroughly enjoy watching video and listening to music on my "sonically accurate" A/V system.

Last night, I watched "Jumanji: The Next Level" on my "bare-bones" 2-channel system - a 40" Samsung 2018 LED TV, a pair of Paradigm Atom v6 Monitors (stands required for best performance) loudspeakers and no subs, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I like the way the Jumanji franchise story-line has morphed from a board game to a strategy-based video game as its basis. The inclusion of two "old guys" who are clueless about strategy-based video games - played by Danny Glover and Danny - was a fun component of the story for me. I am also a video-game Luddite who only plays games such as Snood, Bubbleshooter, Kyodai Mahjongg, backgammon and Freecell - however, I am familiar with the basics of strategy games.

As far as movies go, my favorite genres are serious dramas and intelligent comedies (like the dark comedy "Parasite"), documentaries, and science fiction. However, I also enjoy some animated films (including anime), as well as high-production value "fluff" and pop-culture movies like Jumanji and other "action" movies that often have a good soundtrack, one that would probably sound much better on a multi-channel audio system. But multi-channel does little for me with dramas and documentaries - although a center channel might add clarity to dialogue. (I am not into movies with wanton and gratuitous death, destruction and horror.)
Ahhh, Kyodai Mahjongg and Spider Solitaire... I've settled many internal and external issues relaxing and playing those games. Excellent games. :cool:
 
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