Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1152266
you may not get work from the larger streaming services. Doug Kent feels "it is critical that our stages be compliant, as the Atmos Home Entertainment spec will be the standard deliverable for most of our clients going forward." Scott suggested that you should go over your room dimensions to make sure you are falling within the correct ratios. There is often a height-to-width ratio problem for Theatrical. This was completely evidenced by the fact that at Periscope, the construction was con- strained by the ceiling height of 11 feet and the other dimensions of the room had to be made smaller to fall within Dolby's ratios. And at Signature Post, they had to raise the ceiling of their Theatrical room to meet those ratios. Finally at Westwind, they were able to employ relatively small adjustments to fit the necessary ratios into their existing spaces. Doug explains why: "There are unique challenges with every existing room to affect the changes necessary to meet this spec. In our case, we've been lucky, and the adjustments needed have been fairly minimal. Westwind was founded by television content creators to expand their creative storytelling tools with sound, so we have always been exclusively focused on the home entertainment experience. The size and scope of our rooms were designed accordingly so, for us, the conversion has not been a structural undertaking." The basic difference between Theatrical and Home Entertainment requirements is best summed up by this quote from Scott Oyster: "IN THEATRICAL, YOU MEASURE YOUR ROOM. IN HOME ENTERTAINMENT, YOU MEASURE THE DISTANCE BETWEEN SPEAKERS AND, IN FACT, YOU MEASURE THE ANGLES FROM THE MIX POSITION TO THE SPEAKERS." Doug Kent of Westwind Media In Theatrical, the DARDT lays out your speaker positions. In Home Entertainment, the DARDT specifies the angles of speakers to your mix position. So, essentially, what you need to worry about early on are room dimension ratios for Theatrical and staying within a maximum distance and achieving the angles specified in the DARDT for Home Entertainment. If your Home Entertainment room is long, you can still move your rear speakers forward so that they conform to the correct angles. The back of the room that is behind the rear speakers is not a critical listening position. All speakers are angled toward the mix position. There are a couple of other differences as well. For instance, only Theatrical has bass managed rear sub woofers. In fact, Mix 2 at Signature Post, which is set up for Home Entertainment certification, was much longer than it needed to be so the rear speakers were moved to the correct position for Dolby specs. The area that was left behind the rear speakers, that would not be a critical listening position, could support a big back field during playbacks. There is a one-time fee for being Dolby Atmos certified and then a yearly inspection and renewal fee. Dolby Atmos brings us new ways to increase our enjoyment and enhance what is on the screen. As Ben Benedetti summarizes, "We're here to support storytelling." • One of Westwind Media's Atmos certified dub stages.