Who to Call .... Dolby Atmos Samsung-Denon

If you are going to get into this world, you should spend 30 minutes and educate yourself on your setup.

Optical connection will not work. HDMI cables are super simple. all you do is use an HDMI cable to connect from the monitor output on the denon to the eARC HDMI input on the TV.

It might be that simple.

EDIT: Make sure you understand that 7.1 is not atmos. 7.1 means you have 7 base layer speakers and 1 subwoofer. Base layer speakers are front center/left/right (3 speakers) and surround left/right (2 speakers) and rear left/right (2) speakers to get to 7 speakers. Atmos speakers are indicated by a third number lik 7.1.2 (7 base speakers, 1 subwoofer and 2 atmos speakers). Atmos speakers are spatial speakers that will provide sound from above. Your denon will not be able to output atmos if you dont have any atmos speakers.

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I have a 7.1 setup and I feel like I'm not getting the Dolby Atmos sound.

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You're going to need overhead speakers to get proper placement of Atmos effects. So you'll have to convert your setup from 7.1 to 5.1.2. Move your two rear surrounds up high and then go into the menu and change the configuration to a 5.1.2 setup. There are different options for overhead speaker placement, so you'll need to figure out what works best for you and then choose the appropriate placement within the Denon menu.

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The Tv uses a separate hub to make the connections.

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What kind of hub and what connections do you have? You should just connect everything (Blu-ray player, streaming device, PS5 etc...) via HDMI to your Denon. Then use the HDMI out to connect to your TV.

This is super simple. Get rid of optical. If using apps on TV to stream then use HDMI via arc to receiver. If using another source that will go Into receiver via HDMI plug that I to receiver input and use out HDMI to tv. On denon remote at bottom it should have a list of audio choices. I think it might be a button named PURE. Press that until it says auto. Make sure your content has atmos encoding and it's turned on for that device. And like said above you need 7.1.2 . The .2 would be 1 set of height speakers.

I have front right, left and center speakers.
And then four in the ceiling, two forward and two to the rear. And a sub. Is this not good enough?

I've spent plenty time researching this but only recently found a note about having to use the HDMI cable. I know that I'm missing something that's why I called the Geek Squad.

Also, where is your dolby atmos coming from? Are you using a streaming device? Are you using TV internal apps? Some setups will provide atmos and some will not.

Well awhile back I had rear surrounds but they were an eye sore (not to me). We're getting older and downsized into a smaller house. So I got rid of my Klipsch Heresy's (bought new in 1975) that were in the front and moved the smaller rear speakers to the front. I'm just trying to make something work. The ceiling speakers are Polk RC80i's.

Thanks to all. I'm diving back in! Back in the day, I enjoyed this. It's just become so confusing and complicated that it's more of a chore.

I often lament many of the people coming in to HT by the droves as a result of the democratization of large screen TVs tend to just use soundbars. Then I read a thread like this and remember that the explosion of sound formats speaker setups and all the things associated with setting up an HT while simple to someone that has been part of the hobby for many years for someone just starting or coming back after a long hiatus the learning curve is near vertical.




On to the question. I know Denon receivers fairly well but admit I know more about the 4 digit ones vs the 3 digit ones.

I do not think the processor will decode a 3.1.4 stream, I am not sure any processor will. For Atmos the best you can do is 5.1.2 with the ceiling Atmos getting a signal designed for a middle of the ceiling (front to back) speaker setup. 5.1.2 is decoded for the LCR, 2 side surrounds and 2 Atmos speakers.


With the ceiling speakers already installed I am not sure I can even make a viable setup suggestion. Without the surrounds being down in the bed layer the spatial cues are going to get jumbled with the Atmos cues because they are both coming from above. I know some people use ceiling speakers for side and back surrounds and while not nearly ideal they don't generally try to run Atmos or Auro at the same time.

To be honest if this was my system and I was constrained to three fronts and 4 in-ceilings I would just do a conventional 7.1 setup and forget Atmos unless or until I was willing to get speakers in the correct positions.




Anyone reading this thinking about doing Atmos be aware you should not use the single graphic on the Dolby site to place your Atmos speakers. They show them in line with the L&R fronts and unless you have a specific sized room that is not where they belong. Use the Dolby PDF which gives specific angles both front to rear and left to right for locating Atmos speakers relative to the main listening position (MLP). Proper setup of the speakers is what turns a systems from meh to ohh I understand what the fuss is about now. Also don't just go buy basic in-ceiling speakers because Atmos is object based so you need the speakers pointing as closely at the MLP as possible. When you move off axis from a speaker you lose more and more of the high frequency energy (as a result of the dispersion characteristics of the speaker) and many of the Atmos cues are in that high frequency issue. While some speakers have 15 degree printable tweeters this is almost never enough but you can find round ceiling speakers where the mid-woofer is angled 15 degrees and the tweeter another 15 degrees which gets you "close enough" you can also find inexpensive speakers that have these characteristics: Monoprice has some that are "workable" if ~120 bucks a pair is your budget.



My whole point with this diatribe is you need the right speakers in the right positions to get proper envelopment with any surround processing codec. The more complex they are and especially object based codecs like DTS:X and Atmos really depend on speakers being properly placed to be immersive.

The problem 90% of the time is SAF (spousal acceptance factor) the rest is generally physical room limitations.




ETA I meant to add the link to the Dolby setup guide. It is designed for professional installers which is one of the reasons why they have a leg up doing a setup properly. People planning to setup a surround system should get this info down before ever buying a single piece of gear. There are also plenty of "shortcut" videos on YT and one good one is by Home Theater Gurus and entitled something like Dolby Atmos setup mistakes.

Dolby

Thinking about this post just further underlines why people just buy soundbars.

I am planning to do a temporary "budget" HT in our camp later this year. I'll be using a UST (new for me) and the audio side will be 7.2.4 using bits and bobs out of my "audio graveyard" and I might do a build thread with stuff like proper placement of speakers, proper low-budget room treatments (with before and after REW measurements), balancing and integrating multiple subs, etc.

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To be honest if this was my system and I was constrained to three fronts and 4 in-ceilings I would just do a conventional 7.1 setup and forget Atmos unless or until I was willing to get speakers in the correct positions.

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After reading all of this, and adding in the SAF, I'll do the 7.1 setup. My goal was only to watch an occasional Netflix movie in Dolby Atmos. I'll have to save that for another life.

Okay so with a front right left and center and then four in the ceiling, how do I label the ceiling speakers? Are the front height speakers?