When mail day comes, and it’s a new 4K Blu-ray, I’m usually a happy camper. Not only do I get the best resolution a home release can offer, but I also get vastly improved audio over what streaming has to offer. Audio is actually one of the reasons I get excited about a physical media release, and it’s one of the big things I look for when a movie gets an upgrade over its Blu-ray counterpart.
Interview with the Vampire recently received a 4K upgrade, and I jumped on the pre-order. I’m a fan of the movie’s older Blu-ray release, but I couldn’t pass up that Dolby Vision transfer and nice steelbook, even if I’m not always the biggest fan of steelbook special editions. In this case, the artwork is nice, and it comes with both Dolby Vision and Atmos. It’s always nice to see that combo, and it’s why I want to see everything eventually get a 4K upgrade.
When many Blu-ray discs came out, Interview with the Vampire included, there was no such thing as Dolby Atmos. This doesn’t mean the DTS-HD master audio that was typically included with Blu-ray discs of that era was bad, because it wasn’t. However, that format has largely been replaced by Dolby Atmos, and I can’t think of many scenarios where I wouldn’t rather use the newer format.
Dolby sound engineering
Trivia challenge
From noise reduction to immersive audio — how well do you really know the science behind Dolby sound?
HistoryTechnologyFormatsCinemaInnovation
In what year did Ray Dolby found Dolby Laboratories?
Correct! Ray Dolby founded Dolby Laboratories in 1965 in London, England. The company initially focused on professional recording studio equipment before expanding into consumer and cinema audio.
Not quite. Dolby Laboratories was founded in 1965 by Ray Dolby in London. He had previously worked at Ampex and developed his noise reduction ideas while studying at Cambridge University.
What was the primary purpose of the original Dolby A noise reduction system introduced in 1965?
Correct! Dolby A was designed to reduce the audible tape hiss that plagued professional studio recordings. It worked by encoding audio during recording and decoding it on playback, effectively masking the noise floor of magnetic tape.
Not quite. Dolby A was a noise reduction system aimed squarely at reducing tape hiss in professional studio environments. It used a compander approach — compressing audio on the way in and expanding it on the way out — to suppress background noise.
Which 1975 film was the first to be released with a Dolby-encoded stereo optical soundtrack?
Correct! Lisztomania (1975), directed by Ken Russell, was the first film released with a Dolby-encoded stereo optical soundtrack. This marked a major turning point in bringing high-quality stereo audio to cinema audiences.
Not quite. The first film with a Dolby-encoded stereo optical soundtrack was actually Lisztomania in 1975. While Star Wars (1977) and A Star Is Born (1976) were landmark Dolby films, Lisztomania holds the historical first.
Dolby Digital is also known by which technical designation used in industry documentation?
Correct! Dolby Digital is technically designated AC-3, which stands for Audio Codec 3. It was developed in the early 1990s and became the standard audio format for DVD video, digital broadcast, and cinema releases.
Not quite. Dolby Digital’s technical designation is AC-3. The AC stands for Audio Codec, and it was the third generation of Dolby’s perceptual audio coding technology, succeeding AC-1 and AC-2.
What audio object-based feature distinguishes Dolby Atmos from earlier surround sound formats like Dolby 7.1?
Correct! Dolby Atmos uses audio objects — individual sounds with positional metadata — rather than fixed channel assignments. This allows a renderer to place sounds anywhere in three-dimensional space and adapt the mix to any speaker configuration, from a home soundbar to a 64-speaker cinema.
Not quite. The key innovation in Dolby Atmos is object-based audio. Instead of assigning sounds to fixed channels, each sound element carries metadata describing its position, allowing the system to dynamically render it for whatever speaker layout is available.
Dolby Vision is a proprietary HDR format that competes directly with which open HDR standard commonly found on televisions and streaming services?
Correct! Dolby Vision competes most directly with HDR10 and its dynamic metadata extension HDR10+. While HDR10 is an open, royalty-free standard, Dolby Vision requires licensing and supports dynamic metadata for scene-by-scene brightness optimisation, often delivering superior results.
Not quite. Dolby Vision’s main competitors are HDR10 and HDR10+. HDR10 is the baseline open standard, while HDR10+ adds dynamic metadata — a feature Dolby Vision pioneered. Dolby Vision supports up to 12-bit color depth and 10,000 nits peak brightness in its specification.
What does Dolby MAT stand for, and what is its primary function in modern audio delivery?
Correct! Dolby MAT (Metadata-enhanced Audio Transport) is a lossless bitstream container that carries Dolby TrueHD audio along with Dolby Atmos object metadata over HDMI connections. It is what allows modern AV receivers and soundbars to receive full lossless Atmos signals from Blu-ray players and streaming devices.
Not quite. Dolby MAT stands for Metadata-enhanced Audio Transport. It is a lossless container format that wraps Dolby TrueHD audio and Dolby Atmos object metadata, enabling high-fidelity Atmos delivery over HDMI. Without MAT, devices can only receive a lossy Dolby Digital Plus version of an Atmos stream.
Which legendary rock concert film from 1978 is widely celebrated as a showcase for Dolby Stereo’s capabilities in cinema?
Correct! The Last Waltz (1978), Martin Scorsese’s documentary about The Band’s farewell concert, is frequently cited as a landmark demonstration of Dolby Stereo in cinemas. The film’s rich multi-track recording benefited enormously from the format’s improved dynamic range and channel separation.
Not quite. The Last Waltz (1978) is the celebrated Dolby Stereo showcase. Directed by Martin Scorsese, the film captured The Band’s final concert with exceptional audio quality that highlighted what Dolby Stereo could achieve over conventional mono and optical formats of the era.
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Atmos is a big reason to be excited
I get to flex my sound system
With every new Blu-ray to 4K Blu-ray upgrade, I immediately take a look at the upgraded soundtrack just to get a glimpse into what to expect. My typical source is a Blu-ray.com review, and I usually come away with a good idea of what to expect from a new disc. What I’m usually most interested in is how it compares to the old soundtrack, and whether it’s worth the price of admission. If the answer to that question is yes, I usually have no issues upgrading my older Blu-ray.
Something I’m always wary of is whether my Atmos soundtrack upgrade is going to sound radically different than what the movie is supposed to sound like. That’s why the best of both worlds would be to include the original track along with the upgraded Atmos one, something that many new releases, like Interview with the Vampire, do.
Interestingly enough, even when reviews mention that purists might prefer the old track, I don’t find myself going back to it. It’s good that it’s included, and 4K discs have plenty of space for that to be the case, but I still like using the shiny new toy that is Dolby Atmos. I haven’t found a situation where Dolby Atmos gets in the way of my enjoyment. I like hearing my height channels active over the course of a movie, even if it’s for a couple of seconds. I went above and beyond to get height speakers installed in my setup, so I’m going to use them.
Obviously, I have limitations. I did dabble with upscaling through my receiver, a process that took a regular surround sound mix, either 5.1 or 7.1, and upmixed it to include the height speakers. This did become distracting over time, so I’ve since stopped doing that, and I only use my Atmos speakers when I’m using an actual Atmos soundtrack.
I know a lot of people pick up a 4K disc just to get a look at the upgraded picture quality, and that’s a fair thing to do. I get excited about the 4K upgrade as well, especially if I’m coming from a DVD, but that’s not the only thing that should get you excited. Thanks to my sound system, I have a lot to look forward to with every 4K disc pickup, so I’m always excited to see the new announcements. I just wish the prices were a little lower.
4K Blu-ray releases continue to impress me, but prices don’t
It’s getting to be too expensive
The 4K Blu-ray format is my favorite, and that’s because of the quality that goes into most discs. Sure, there are some clunkers — cough, Terminator 2, cough — but outliers like that are far rarer. Usually, when I pick up a 4K disc, I can rest easy knowing that it’s better than what’s available on Blu-ray or DVD.
I used to add to my collection quite a bit over the course of a year, but I’ve slowed down significantly. This has coincided with a lot of the movies that are frequently on sale already being in my collection, but also the price of new releases is just too high for me to justify blind buys anymore. I’m not very interested in spending $35 on a new disc, and I usually wait around for something to hit $20 for me to actually buy it. I still partake in the half-off Criterion or Arrow sales, but that’s about it. I still have plenty of time to dig through my backlog of movies, but I miss the thrill of receiving three or four movies in a single order. Those times just don’t come as often as they used to.
