To be honest, I agree with you that they've created a lot of confusion, but I divide that blame equally between Dolby and all of us.
To answer your first question.... I've not seen a single actual specific definition about what "a pinned disc" is.
Here's the way Atmos works in a theater.
You start with a bunch of speakers (for many theaters that would be 32 of them).
Each speaker has an individual assigned number/location.
Many speakers are also assigned to "bed zones" (so, for example, speakers #4, #5, #6, #7, and #8 may all be part of the "front left bed".
(If you think visually - the two sets of assignments are superimposed.... a speaker has its own number but can also be part of a bed group).
The bed zones are equivalent to the original channels in something like TrueHD.
When I master a sound track.....
I can assign an audio track to a bed... and I can pan between beds.
So, for example, I could assign the orchestra to the front left, front center, and front right beds, and adjust the levels so that the orchestra is spread across the front of the room.
Now, if I want Tinkerbell to fly around the room playing her triangle, I can assign her to an object... and I can then assign that object a position in space and potentially move it around.
NOTE that I could put the orchestra into one or more objects if I choose to...
And I could put Tinkerbell into the front beds, and zoom her around by panning the signal, just as I could with TrueHD.
The difference is FUNCTIONAL.
Since the orchestra isn't going to move, and I want them playing through all the speakers in the front of the room, it's easier to put them into a set of bed channels.
(That way I can control them with a few level sliders and perhaps a pan-pot... and they will be played out of "most of the speakers across the front of the theater".)
Since I want Tinkerbell to flit back and forth, and zoom around, and I want to be able to easily adjust her "volume" and "size", it's more sensible to assign her to an object.
(As an object, I can control her position with a 3D joystick, and visualize her position as a red ball, which changes size and color to indicate size and loudness, which is a lot easier than trying to keep track of where she is using a pan-pot.)
However, if I wanted to, I COULD assign Tinkerbell to a set of bed channels, and I COULD assign the orchestra to two or three objects, or one big fat stereo object, and then place those objects where the bed channels are now.
(The main difference is that the left front bed will ALWAYS be made up of the same set of speakers... while objects can be assigned to different speakers, and even to one or several speakers, depending on what the renderer decides.)
Notice how this is all very important in terms of how I control the mix - but less important in terms of where stuff actually plays from.
Also notice how, for example, being able to decide which five speakers to assign to the "LF bed", is important in a theater that has 32 or 64 speakers, but how it seems less important in a home theater.
(In that home theater, you probably have one LF bed speaker and one LF object speaker - and they're probably the same speaker anyway.)
Now, when I master that sound track, there are several things I could do to "pin the sound" in one way or another.
- I could simply use the bed channels alone and not even use any objects.
- I could assign three or four objects, and simply not move them or change their size.
(If your "LF bed" and your "LF object speaker" are the same speaker then the sound is going to come from the same speaker either way.)
- There are also specific options in the authoring software that can lock position.
(For example, in Dolby's authoring software I can check a box that specifies that a certain object will always play from a single speaker, as a configuration option for that object.)
- For example, if I have two tracks of "rain falling from overhead", I could simply create two large objects overhead, and assign one of those channels to each of them.
(Or I could assign both as the left and right channels of a big stereo object.)
(How do you differentiate between "they are pinned" and "they simply sit there and don't move"? The difference is really just a choice of words.)
- I don't doubt that there are other options which can be used to restrict or control how the information is rendered.
(I've been quoting from the manual that goes with the Dolby Authoring software.... there are other programs and I'm sure they have slightly different options.)
As for DTS:X Pro....
It is my understanding that the current limitation on DTS:X involves the number of output channels the current renderer supports... and not the number of OBJECTS it supports.
The current version is simply not using certain output channels (speakers) when deciding where to render/place objects.
Therefore, since the new DTS:X Pro renderer supports those additional output channels, I would expect it to do so with existing content.
(Unless some content actually contains intentional restrictions; and I am not aware of that being the case.)
I personally believe that the single biggest cause of the current angst and confusion is that too much information is often provided.
For example, the label on some Disney discs reads "7.1.4 Atmos", which seems to have been a serious tactical error.
Instead, they should simply have said: "This is an Atmos disc. If you play it on an Atmos compatible system it will play as we intended it to."
Or, better yet, they should have settled for including the Dolby Atmos logo.
(I suspect that their intention was to suggest that you would get the most benefit if you played that disc on an Atmos system with at least 7.1.4 channels and to encourage you to do so.)
Do you really WANT to have to consult a "compatibility and options matrix" every time you want to play a movie?
How about a detailed chart showing what specific settings you should use for each movie on your particular system?
(I'm reminded of little old ladies who insist on consulting their astrological charts before deciding what restaurant to eat at and what to order.)
I should also point out that it is up to Dolby Labs and DTS what options THEY enable on their decoders...
It's their choice whether they configure their decoder to allow you to override a particular setting that was used when that disc was mastered...
Just as it's their choice whether their upmixer chooses to put stuff in the wide channels when decoding a disc that originally had nothing there...
(And, yes, sometimes it's their choice to make it optional, and leave it up to the vendor whether we wish to offer certain options or not.)
And, yes, this is all "negotiable".... so the next version of the Dolby Atmos DSU or DTS:X Pro may well offer different options than this week's version.
The bottom line is that whoever masters the movie will use whatever features they choose to use... and impose whatever restrictions they choose to.
Is Disney "locking you out from upscaling to six height channels" or are they simply "not bothering to use more than four height channels on their discs"?
And, as long as the movie ends up sounding the way they wanted it to, does it really matter?
Do you really want to expend a lot of effort fighting with them so you can override their intent and make it sound different?
I suggest that, if some idiot hadn't actually printed "7.1.4" on those discs, we'd now all be saying:
"Ahh, well... I think I noticed that some of my height channels aren't doing much with some Disney discs... but they still sound pretty good."
But we'd still be enjoying the movie.
To be quite honest, when I sit down to watch a movie, I often don't even notice whether it's using Dolby Atmos or DTS:X.....
As a vendor who supports those products we will always comply with the requirements of the various licenses involved...
And we will update our gear to offer the mandatory updates...
And we will continue to implement the optional features when we can do so and it seems to make sense...
Also bear in mind that the standard itself has already been updated and will surely see more updates in the future.
This means that, even if the current version of the Dolby Atmos home renderer has a certain limitation, the next updated version may well support more speakers.
And, because Atmos objects occupy a position in space, rather than being assigned to a speaker, current Atmos recordings WILL be able to utilize those additional channels once the updated renderer supports them.
Whether certain current "pinned" discs can override those extra capabilities, or the other way around, is something I wouldn't even claim to know....
However, you can bet that future discs will come along that do....
And, as consumers of those discs, rather than producers....
All we can do is to hope the changes come soon and lots of producers take advantage of them....
Would you REALLY not buy a new movie you've been looking forward to seeing simply because it didn't use all your speakers?
That would be like refusing to watch your favorite classic movie because it displayed black bars on your new wide-screen TV.
What are actually pinned discs? Are the atmos track still using xyz coordinates or are these tracks mastered to locked channel positions?
If still objects then it should be ”easy” for the atmos renderer to unlock these pinned masterings to use more speakers if the setup has it.
It’s then just upto Dolby to unlock the pinning in the hardware..
To me these ”features” of atmos is just causing confusion. They should never have added the possibility of pinning..
Just simply render to as many speakers the setup has (upto the format limit 24.1.10).. One format!
What’s the benefit of pinned ”atmos”? Is it file size? Then surely it cannot be true objects anymore..
How is pinned atmos handled if you have different setups than normal 7.1.4? For example wides+top middle instead of normal top front+top rear? Do you get playback from wides+top middle? Like you do from DTS:X just as long as you keep within the 11 ch limit.
Here’s another question.. If a DTS:X bluray is mastered with objects, when DTS:X Pro arrives will it unlock use of more channels?
If I understood DTS:X Pro correctly it’s not a ”new format” but rather an unlock of the channel limit..
Btw does the ”limit” of DSU still exist in the latest updates? Not playing sound from speakers direct outside of LR (wides) and direct inside of LR
and center back? As I understood by reading the pdf it’s not a limit per say but a design choice because how they extract sound from
channels. It would sound bad if wides were used. They don’t matrix between two channels as I understand it.