Doing some research this week, I’ve seen that mainly (only?) Safari and Microsoft edge can successfully playback Atmos files.
While I found this to be true with testing a converted ADM file to a Dolby Digital Plus MP4, it appears the limit is 5.1 through a browser? With testing playback in the Dolby Reference player vs Safari of the same converted MP4, so far, I haven’t heard a playback from a browser containing the Top Speakers.
My question is, has anyone ever tested playback through Safari or Microsoft edge and heard the overhead speakers? I can’t seem to find a definitive answer on if this is a limitation, so I figured I’d ask the group!
from what I know, the playback of Dolby-Atmos including sound from the top-speakers from the Windows Desktop works only with …
… a proper player (is to include the Atmos decoder) and
… the Asio4All driver as it is the only solution (I know) which can provide more than the Windows-Limit of 8-Channel-Output-per-Device by “device aggregation = two audio output devices in parallel”.
An this is, what the Dolby Atmos REference Player is capable of.
Recently I have seen a Dolby-Atmos-Decoder (python script) which outputs e.g. 12x WAV-Files if selecting “7.1.4”. If you have player, which supports 12 Wav-Files over two 8-Channel Audio-Devices, a playback may be possible in a 2-step-mode.
If it is the same script, then you need the Reference Player and the DEE.
Sounds like the browser is ignoring the Atmos information.
There is an application called Dolby Access. It allows you to play Atmos on your PC. But I think it costs money.
It does though that might just be for the headphone part. You get it from the Windows store. You can get the app for free, but then the unlock you buy in it for like $15. I can’t remember if you need that for speakers or just for headphones (I know you need it for headphones).
It seems that Dolby Access is not only suitable for headphones, but also for connection via HDMI (e.g. for a soundbar). And if I understand correctly, you only have to pay for the “Dolby Atmos for headphones” feature .
Honestly, this Dolby-Access thing on Windows is (to me) one of those things, which is close to Accoustic Smoke&Mirrors.
It just pimps sound a bit by adding some roomy reverb and makes people jump around saying “… got Dolby Atmos. Damn, this is great …”. SCNR
@MAS, did not quite understand your comment about the script, and still requiring DRP and DEE.
What I was trying to say is, that if you want to play the 12x from Dolby-Atmos (mlp) decoded WAV-Files from the browser, you would need a proper player software capable of handling those 12 files and playing them to a proper sound card (12 channels).
Sure, could use again DEE and DRP, but then you are turning in circles.
There is a Python script that will convert an Atmos consumer file into (up to) 16 WAV files using the Reference Player and Encoding Engine. I don’t know of any other Python script.
