Apple Vision Pro the Future of Home Theater? Dolby Atmos in TV Speakers? | You Asked Ep. 24

Summary

This video features a TV tech expert answering audience questions about home entertainment. Topics include checking display resolution, the complications of accessing Dolby Atmos music streaming, evaluating Apple Vision AR glasses as an alternative to home theaters, the decline of universal remotes, and misleading Dolby Atmos branding on TV speakers. The host shares tips, critiques industry practices, and aims to help viewers get the most out of their home theater setups.

Takeaways

• 😕 It's frustrating that many TVs no longer have an easy way to see the resolution and format of the video input signal.
• 😃 You can force YouTube to play at a specific resolution and see nerdy codec details.
• 🎧 Dolby Atmos music is needlessly difficult to get working across platforms.
• 👍 Apple TV continues to be the most reliable streamer for accessing premium features.
• ☹️ Universal remotes are basically extinct after Logitech stopped making Harmony devices.
• 😠 Putting 'Dolby Atmos' badges on TVs with weak built-in speakers waters down the brand.
• 📺 An Apple Vision Pro could provide an incredible personal viewing experience.
• 🤝 It can't replicate the shared experience of watching with others.
• 💡 Questions from viewers drive the topics covered on this YouTube series.
• 👐 More viewer questions are always welcome!

Q & A

What are some ways to check the resolution and format of the video signal on a modern TV?

Some ways are: using an AV receiver that can read EDID data, looking for on-screen indicators like HDR badges, checking settings in streaming apps like YouTube and Netflix, and using display tools like the 'stats for nerds' section on YouTube.

Why is it difficult to get Dolby Atmos music working, even when the devices claim to support it?

Compatibility issues between devices and services lead to problems getting Dolby Atmos music working properly. For example, the Tidal app may support Atmos music but not on all platforms like Roku. This forces consumers to buy certain hardware like Apple TV to ensure Atmos music works.

Could Apple Vision Pro replace a traditional home theater setup?

No, Apple Vision Pro cannot fully replace a traditional home theater. While it may provide amazing visual and audio quality for a single user, it lacks the shared experience of watching movies together that many consumers value.

Are there any good universal TV remotes left after Logitech stopped making Harmony remotes?

Not really. Logitech's Harmony remotes were the leader in universal remotes, and no major consumer electronics company has stepped in to fill their void. New startups are trying but unproven.

Do TVs actually have Dolby Atmos built-in speakers?

No, most TVs do not have true Dolby Atmos speaker systems built-in. Dolby has licensed the Atmos name to TVs with better-than-average sound, but tiny TV speakers cannot deliver a real Atmos experience.

How can HDMI-CEC allow controlling multiple devices with one remote?

HDMI-CEC enables connected devices to communicate and be controlled over HDMI. So a TV remote can control a Blu-ray player, cable box, etc. connected via HDMI without needing multiple remotes.

What are some reasons universal remotes declined in popularity?

Improvements in HDMI-CEC allowing device control from one TV remote reduced the need for separate universal remotes. Also, remotes for integrated home automation systems serve advanced users.

Why did the host recommend Apple TV for easiest media streaming?

The host said Apple TV consistently has the fewest compatibility issues and need for workarounds. So it supports Dolby Atmos music and other features out-of-box better than other platforms.

How can you force higher streaming resolutions on services like YouTube and Netflix?

On YouTube, you can select video resolution under Settings > Quality. For Netflix, you can set Playback Settings on the account to always stream at High quality.

What are some of the host's criticisms regarding Dolby Atmos branding?

The host felt Dolby Atmos was watered down by being applied to TV speakers that don't deliver a real Atmos experience. He thinks it may hurt the brand long-term.

Outlines

00:00

📺 How to check video resolution and format on your Sony TV

John asked how to check the resolution and format of video signals on his new Sony X90L TV. Caleb explains that most TVs no longer have dedicated buttons or menu options to show this information. He suggests using the HDR indicator, YouTube stats, and streaming service settings to get clues. There are also advanced receivers and professional gear that can detect signals, but they are expensive. Caleb reached out to Sony to ask if they have any hidden tricks to access this info.

05:01

😕 Why Dolby Atmos music is so difficult to get working

Richie bought new AV gear hoping to play Dolby Atmos music, but had to buy an Apple TV because it didn't work easily. Caleb agrees it's frustrating that Atmos music isn't better supported across devices. He thinks it's partly platform limitations and partly business decisions. But the Apple TV consistently works well, which is why Caleb recommends it. People will pay more for fewer headaches.

10:03

🎥 Could Apple Vision Pro replace home theaters?

Chad asked if the Apple Vision Pro could replace a home theater. Caleb believes it could provide amazing picture and sound quality through AirPods. However, he doesn't think it can replicate the shared experience of watching movies with others, which is core to home entertainment. The Vision Pro may complement but likely not replace traditional home theaters.

Keywords

💡resolution

Resolution refers to the number of pixels that comprise a digital image or video. The script mentions resolution in the context of figuring out if a TV is displaying content in 4K resolution. 4K resolution contains approximately 4,000 pixels horizontally, resulting in images with more detail compared to lower resolutions like 1080p. Knowing the resolution is important for assessing the picture quality. The script suggests checking the YouTube video stats and forcing a specific resolution to confirm what you're viewing.

💡codec

A codec is a computer program that compresses and decompresses digital video. Different codecs have different levels of compression and video quality. The script recommends checking the 'stats for nerds' section on YouTube to see codec information. This helps determine what type of compression is being used and hints at the video quality.

💡HDR

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and refers to video formats that have enhanced contrast and colors. It provides brighter whites and darker blacks. The script discusses how to check if a TV is displaying HDR content by looking for indicators in the picture settings menu. HDR is frequently mentioned as a key format to enable a quality viewing experience.

💡HDMI

HDMI is the interface used to connect devices like Blu-ray players, game consoles, and streaming boxes to a TV. The script implies issues with getting devices to properly communicate resolution, HDR, and other format details over HDMI. HDMI CEC, which allows controlling multiple devices via one remote, is also discussed.

💡streaming

Streaming refers to watching video content delivered over the internet rather than via cable/satellite or disc. The script talks about checking streaming services like Netflix and YouTube to determine the resolution and other technical details of what you're viewing. Ease of accessing content from streaming apps is mentioned as a factor in choosing devices like Apple TV.

💡soundbar

A soundbar is a speaker designed to improve audio quality from a TV. The script critiques soundbars branded with Dolby Atmos, implying the audio quality doesn't live up to the Dolby Atmos standards. This highlights confusion around licensing of the Dolby Atmos name compared to true multichannel Dolby Atmos setups.

💡Apple TV

The Apple TV box is repeatedly recommended in the script as the most reliable single device for getting features to work properly, like Dolby Atmos music. The convenience and integration of the Apple ecosystem is cited as justification for choosing Apple TV over other streaming boxes, Roku, etc.

💡remote

The script examines options for universal remotes that can control multiple devices, questioning if this is still viable in the age of HDMI CEC. Several specific remote models are discussed. Ease of use from consolidated control is weighed against integration issues.

💡home theater

Home theater refers to systems and rooms designed to recreate a cinematic experience at home. The script looks at projectors and other emerging options as potential home theater disruptors but concludes communal viewing is an enduring differentiator.

💡Dolby Atmos

Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology that enables immersive, multidirectional audio by using overhead speakers. Confusion around Dolby Atmos implementations is a recurring theme. Music mixed in Dolby Atmos is called out as difficult to access across devices compared to Dolby Atmos on movies.

Highlights

There is no button on Sony TVs to check resolution and format like there used to be

You can force YouTube to play certain resolutions and see stats in the nerd screen

LG TVs show the format when you start watching content which is really useful

ATMOS music is hard to get working even though ATMOS is everywhere now for movies

Apple TV is the most consistent device for getting features like ATMOS music working

Apple Vision could offer amazing HDR video but lacks shared experience of home theater

No good universal remotes exist now that Logitech Harmony is gone

HDMI-CEC allows one remote to control multiple devices now

Sales of universal remotes declined due to HDMI-CEC remote integration

Dolby licensing ATMOS brand to tech that doesn't really deliver ATMOS experience

ATMOS badge on TVs with small speakers is disingenuous

Licensing weakens ATMOS brand which should be for real ATMOS experience

Stats for nerds on YouTube provides resolution and codec info

Netflix allows changing default resolution for better quality

ATMOS music availability fragmented across devices despite app support

Transcripts

On today's episode of You Asked how can you find  out if you're getting 4K or HDR on your TV why is  

Dolby Atmos music so hard to get are there any  decent universal remotes anymore all of that  

and more coming right up welcome back everyone I'm  Caleb Denison and this is You Asked the show where  

I answer questions that you asked in hopes that  I can help you and others who have similar Tech  

question questions if you've got a question for  me please send it to [email protected]  

and let's see if your question gets picked to be  answered on the show and let me just emphasize  

real quick here that your question has its best  shot of getting answered if you send it to that  

us asked email because my email and DMS are  absolutely overwhelmed and it's hard to filter  

through those increasingly I'm just relying on  that email box to find questions to answer I love  

talking with you all on social media when I can  but when it comes to this show when it's time to  

sit down and find the questions I'm going straight  to that inbox so please use it tell a friend in  

need and guys thanks for sending the questions  I wish I could answer all of them but we can  

only fit so many in a show speaking of I'm wasting  valuable time so let's get to it we'll start with  

one that came in from John Angstrom who John is  this your second time getting a question answered  

that's like VIP status my dude anyway John writes  just got a Sony X90L and was wondering how to get  

the TV to show me the resolution and the format of  the input signal HDMI or streaming app is there a  

button on the remote that will show me that info  or possibly somewhere in the menu I haven't found  

it yet but it seems like it has to be there  somewhere John you would think that button or  

menu item exists because those kinds of buttons  and info screens used to be fairly common but to  

the best of my knowledge it does not anymore at  least not on Sony TVs and honestly anecdotally  

I feel like most TV manufacturers have stopped  making that kind of information available or if  

they do it's buried deep in a menu somewhere as  with all things tech though there are sometimes  

hacks we can use to figure it out or at least give  ourselves some assurances that we're getting the  

signal that we want one of them involves having  an AV receiver that can read the eded that's short  

for extended display identification data and  would provide you that info or you could spend  

thousands on a device like the ones merido makes  for video professionals I'm assuming you're not  

interested in any of that so for the format SDR,  HDR, HDR10, Dolby Vision, HLG all that stuff the best  

way to find out what you're getting is to click  this wrench icon on your Sony remote then click  

picture and sound scroll down to picture and click  that and then look in the upper right if it's HDR  

it'll say HDR if it's SDR it will say nothing  as for resolution I don't have anything there  

for you I mean if you're on YouTube you can check  the resolution and even force it to the one that  

you want by clicking up then going over to the  settings cog icon and selecting the resolution  

and then there's also the stats for nerd section  which you can access if you scroll down a bit  

further this will tell you the resolution as  well as the codec in use the color space Etc  

sometimes apps will give you some control over  the default video resolution you get for instance  

you can sign into your Netflix account on their  website click account then click on your profile  

icon then scroll down to playback settings and  choose high as opposed to Auto or some of the  

others and this makes it such that you may get  some buffering at first but Netflix will play at  

the highest available quality not a great idea  for those of you out there with bandwidth caps  

by the way often 1080p HDR can be IND discernible  from 4K HDR when all their factors are equal but  

I digress each streaming service is going to be  different but this reminds me of something that  

I really like about LG's TVs they have a Graphic  that pops up when you start watching content that  

tells you quite clearly what the format is even if  it doesn't tell you what the resolution is anyway  

I hope that is of some help and I've reached out  to Sony to find out if they'll share any secret  

tips on how to access this info on their modern  TVs I haven't found it yet I'll pin a comment  

down below if I do get anything on that Richie  writes I recently bought an encho AVR and some  

new ceiling speakers and I thought I could be up  and running with Dolby atos music but it was not  

that easy I thought because my receiver had title  built in it would work easy but no I have a Roku  

Ultra with the title app and it won't work long  story short I had to buy an Apple TV in order to  

get Dolby Atmos music to work why is it so hard  to get Dolby Atmos music to work especially since  

Dolby Atmos support seems to be everywhere I feel  like with phone casting and AirPlay it should be  

easy what's the deal with Atmos music being so  hard to listen to to Richie what can I say but  

I know right it's kind of ridiculous Apple Tidal  and Amazon music unlimited all offer Atmos music  

as a feature you would think that any device with  apps for those Services would offer the full Suite  

of features but they don't I mean not even close  I can understand if say the title app in an AV  

receiver is just not powerful enough to be coded  to coordinate with tidle in a way that authorizes  

and receives the atos music encoded string okay  but when you're talking about Roku and Google  

tv/ Android TV platforms where the devices that  run those platforms are super powerful I think  

it should be a no-brainer I think the reason why  say the title app on Roku doesn't work for Atmos  

music is probably a little different for why the  title app on an Amazon Fire TV Cube might not work  

I can also see Amazon keeping its best features  for its own Hardware but at the end of the day as  

consumers we don't really care about that right  guys this is just one more reason that I keep  

recommending the Apple TV box it is consistently  the one device and platform where the most amount  

of stuff just works it requires the least amount  of workarounds it's just the safest bet and I  

think all that counts for a lot in the Consumer  Electronics market look if you can get Atmos  

music over Wi-Fi using the Sonos app controlling  a Sonos Atmos sound system but you can't get the  

same sort of experience using say a Samsung Atmos  Soundbar with a Samsung TV without also jumping  

through a bunch of Hoops well then I understand  why folks might pay more for Sonos I think people  

are willing to pay a premium for fewer Hoops fewer  questions and fewer frustrations anyway I'm sorry  

getting Dolby Atmos music is hard and I think it's  dumb especially when Dolby Atmos for movies and  

TV is at least relatively speaking so incredibly  easy now now I mean it's stupid and I hate it too  

Chad asks what are the pros and cons to using an  Apple Vision Pro as a home movie theater instead  

of buying a large project Dolby Surround Sound  Etc is it possible that this is the home theater  

of the future can this approach be cheaper and  better quality than what the traditional home  

movie theater offers so Chad I'm glad you asked  because I'm going to do a whole video about this  

for everyone who doesn't tune into this particular  show I've been thinking about it for a while and  

I have a lot to say about it but here's the short  version I think the Apple Vision Pro will provide  

amazing picture quality I mean if the pixel  density is right we're talking about close  

range video where no light intensity is lost over  long distances perfectly controlled ambient light  

levels in other words total darkness The Vision  Pro could offer the ultimate HDR video experience  

and through noise cancelling computational audio  enabled Apple airpods Pro or airpods Max we  

already know we can get an incredible Dolby atos  uh and spatial audio experience the quality will  

probably be outstanding here's the thing though  this is the one thing that will prevent the Apple  

Vision Pro from ever meaningfully compete with  a home entertainment space that little Apple  

Vision Pro home theater it's a theater for one  you're all by yourself now there's nothing wrong  

with enjoying content on your own in fact it  sounds awesome in some instances but just like  

watching a big sporting event with friends or  in a crowd is often more exciting and to some  

of us more meaningful than watching alone so  too is watching movies and TV there's something  

awesome about experiencing a movie together with  friends or family speaking personally some of my  

favorite life memories come from those shared  experiences Apple Vision Pro will never be able  

to fully replace those shared experiences sure  maybe you can look to your left and right and  

see avatars or even real life representations of  your friends or family family maybe you'll even  

be able to hear them if Apple integrates voice  audio among participants I'm betting they'll  

do exactly that but that kind of experience will  never be the same or as meaningful as observing  

the same space together so a supplement to a  conventional home entertainment rig for sure  

a replacement though no shot Ben writes are there  any universal remotes you recommend to control all  

the devices in a setup such as an AVR TV Blu-ray  player Apple TV I seem to recall them being fairly  

popular a couple of years ago even being capable  of controlling Smart TVs and smart devices like  

the Apple TV 4K in your opinion is there any  good way to get around this rigoll of juggling  

three different remotes just to watch one show  or is that a lost battle so guys let's all just  

take a moment of silence to mourn the passing  of logitech's Harmony remotes may they rest in

peace cool that awkward enough I think so yeah so  Ben I am not aware of any decent universal remotes  

although I did see a new one somewhere that looked  like it came from a startup actually uh let's look  

into that real quick so yeah I think this is it  it's a Kickstarter project which I mean I'm not  

endorsing this not until I look deeper into it but  it's by Martin borac and he calls it the yo or the  

yayo maybe we work on that name anyway nobody has  swooped in to fill the void that Logitech left  

yes there are some killer remotes available for  Integrated Systems like those made by control 4  

Savant and Crestron Etc but consumer level remotes  like the Harmony brand no longer exist at least as  

far as I'm aware I mean wire cutters top pick is  the sofa baton and that's number one out of two  

remotes on the list guys which I think tells us  plenty so why did Logitech get out of universal  

remotes I'm going to ask them Logitech actually  has headquarter orders across the river from  

me uh for their uee division but I suspect it's  because sales declined as HDMI CC implementation  

even though it is buggy and problematic allows us  to control multiple devices with one remote like I  

can control a TV Blu-ray player Apple TV and even  some PS5 features with one remote just through  

HDMI CC which I think pushed universal remotes to  the margins once again us enthusiasts find the big  

box Consumer Electronic space a very lonely place  indeed which if I had to guess is why Martin Borac  

is doing his thing by the way Martin please shoot  me an email I'm about to blow your Kickstarter  

page up also shout out to Garrett Erant who also  emailed about remotes specifically looking at the  

yo and the sofa baton I see you Garrett in Germany  Hae Martinez Gomez writes I went to a store and  

the guy at the store told me that the LG C3 has  Dolby Atmos built-in speakers and when I heard it  

it didn't sound precisely as Dolby Atmos I just  want to know if they're telling me the truth or  

if there's any TV with Dolby Atmos built-in  speakers because I also had the opportunity  

to try the A8L and the acoustic surface audio was  amazing but I think that isn't Dolby Atmos either  

okay for those of you who have heard me say this  many many times already I apologize but hi mate  

here's the deal Dolby has decided to license  the Dolby Atmos name to technologies that in my  

opinion do not really deliver what I think most  folks familiar with Dolby Atmos are expecting I  

love Dolby I love the people there I love Dolby  Atmos I love Dolby Atmos music I have some really  

awesome things to say about Dolby Flex connect in  a video that's coming out this week much love to  

Dolby goes out from Caleb Denison here but and I  understand this may be a smart business decision  

but I hate hate the most diabolical haters this  side of the Mississippi hate that Dolby Atmos as  

a technology and brand has been so watered down to  the point that a TV with some tiny dinky speakers  

that don't really deliver anything remotely close  to highquality sound is getting the Dolby Atmos  

badge I mean call it Dolby audio Dolby is still  a flex in the audio world you can convey This TV  

has better than average sound quality by saying  it has do Doby onboard sound you don't have to  

use Dolby Atmos for that but yeah if it were  up to me and Dolby is probably just fine with  

it not being up to me I would not slap the Dolby  Atmos badge on any TV outside of just advertising  

the fact that it supports Dolby Atmos saying the  speakers built into any TV deliver a meaningful  

Dolby Atmos experience is I think disingenuous  and weakens the brand and with that soapbox  

moment we have reached the conclusion to another  episode of you asked thanks so much for watching  

everyone I love your questions keep them coming  drop me a comment down below would you I'll see  

you there slap this video with a like subscribe  and share if you want to see more I'll see you  

on the next one and until then here are two other  videos I think you might like any TV with Dolby  

at most built-in speakers because wow I tried to  hold that back but I could not anyway where was I