Dolby Atmos^® Is Coming to Apple TV^® 4K

Movie lovers rejoice! Apple TV^® 4K now features Dolby Atmos^®. Apple shared the exciting news at its 2018 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), noting that iTunes^® would be carrying a huge selection of Dolby Atmos movies — a major enhancement to the nation’s fourth most popular streaming service.

Dolby Atmos is, of course, widely used in movie theaters. Many blockbusters, including Avengers: Infinity War and Incredibles 2, use this object-based audio technology to create sound effects that totally envelope you, making movie watching a thoroughly immersive experience.

How does Dolby Atmos translate to your home theater environment? Here are four reasons to be excited:

1. Most popular movies are in Dolby Atmos. In addition to past and present hits, a slew of theatrical releases now feature Dolby Atmos. Check out the release calendar on the Dolby website.

2. It’s more approachable than you’d think. You don’t need a room full of speakers to benefit from Dolby Atmos. (But you do need a Dolby Atmos-capable AV receiver such as a Yamaha AVENTAGE model or a sound bar such as the Yamaha TRUE X BAR 50A.) Whether your home theater is an AV receiver with nine speakers and a subwoofer, or just a sound bar, Dolby Atmos adjusts soundtracks to get the most enveloping surround sound from your speaker configuration.

3. It’s more than movies. Dolby Atmos content is available on Blu-ray Disc™, streaming services (soon including Apple TV) and video games, including popular games such as Gears of War 4 and Overwatch. Its combination of advanced spatial precision and immersive 3D surround sound lets you hear enemies approaching from behind you and soaring overhead, making your gaming experience more real than ever. Click here for more information about video games that support Dolby Atmos.

4. Existing content gets a boost too. Even your existing content that isn’t developed with Dolby Atmos will sound better, thanks to a new surround upmixer in Dolby Atmos AV receivers, which expands channel-based content created for stereo, 5.1- and 7.1-channel systems.

To take advantage of Dolby Atmos at home, all you have to do is connect your Apple TV 4K to a Dolby Atmos-capable AV receiver or sound bar for audio decoding.

Technological advancements are bringing the home theater experience closer to the movie theater experience than ever before, just without the sticky floors and the guy texting next to you!

Yamaha brought this game-changing technology to home theaters with the first sound bar to feature Dolby Atmos, the TRUE X BAR 50A. In addition, all Yamaha AVENTAGE AV receivers feature three-dimensional surround sound decoding with Dolby Atmos.

To learn more about the technology behind Dolby Atmos, see our blog article “What’s So Good About Dolby Atmos^® and DTS:X™?”