[mercury79]

Hi!, im a little lost, as preorder client and obviously waiting for my A16, i need to pay de invoice for the upgrade even when i dont have my realiser? or this only applies to all whom received the realiser, thank you!

 

[GeorgeA]

That upgrade payment is only required for those who have already received their Realiser A16 units and now are seeking for an upgraded device. You are going to get an upgraded Realiser A16 at no further cost.

 

[AppleheadMay]

They should be shipping the Realizers that were paid for 4 years ago in the first place instead of selling upgrades.

 

[Fox1977]

I wish i could get mine before the end of quarantine, but over time i learnt not to keep my hopes too high about that !

 

[MichaelJames99]

Streaming Content question on Atmos:
I have a 65" 2018 4K DolbyVision and Atmos SmartTV, I also have an AppleTV4k streaming box that outputs Atmos.

Many movies purchased thru VUDU are stating as UHD, Dolby Vision, Atmos. I understand its a "compressed" version of Atmos.
Does anyone know how many *discrete* channels are supported for Atmos thru streaming devices? For example, is it 5.1.4 7.1.4 or 9.1.4
Does it depend on the movie? The studio? The device? (internal app vs. AppleTv4k)
Same question for Netflix.
Any other streaming service superior in the audio they produce?

Also, how do streaming movies compare audio wise to the 4k Atmos disc version?

 

[esimms86]

He made it sound like he would reach out after invoices are paid to let us know when to ship, but I’m not 100% sure.

What does James have to lose by sending us the labels and then billing us via PayPal for shipping? Certainly, if a person doesn't reimburse him then he just hold onto that person's A16, not return shipping it until payment is received. I understand that their staff is limited in numbers and their liquid capital is also limited so perhaps that's why they don't want to take on that task. I would be very curious to know just how many of us have signed on for an upgrade.

On another note, it seems questionable to me as to why anyone would decide on the less extensive upgrade given that the cost of two way shipping is already so high. Imagine spending $500 or more on shipping for a less than $200 upgrade.

 

[Got the Shakes]

What does James have to lose by sending us the labels and then billing us via PayPal for shipping? Certainly, if a person doesn't reimburse him then he just hold onto that person's A16, not return shipping it until payment is received. I understand that their staff is limited in numbers and their liquid capital is also limited so perhaps that's why they don't want to take on that task. I would be very curious to know just how many of us have signed on for an upgrade.

On another note, it seems questionable to me as to why anyone would decide on the less extensive upgrade given that the cost of two way shipping is already so high. Imagine spending $500 or more on shipping for a less than $200 upgrade.

I don’t feel like he has anything to lose. I actually told him to upcharge me for his time if he was willing to do it. If it cost them say $85 to get us a shipping label charge me $150 for it. It’s still $100 cheaper than going out on my own and I’d rather them get some of that money than UPS. I purposed that like 5 days ago and that’s when I stopped getting responses to my emails.

Funny enough I at first thought about doing the HDMI only upgrade since it’s $300 cheaper. Quickly talked myself out of that once I saw shipping costs.

 

[Dixter]

I got so many different quotes for shipping that I'm going to pack mine up and take it into the UPS store and get an expert to see what it costs.... hope its not too much...

 

[Got the Shakes]

I got so many different quotes for shipping that I'm going to pack mine up and take it into the UPS store and get an expert to see what it costs.... hope its not too much...

When you do if you could give us a general idea of what they tell you? I’m really leaning towards just taking the $250 price and scheduling a pickup at my home to avoid going out in public, but if I can save a bunch of money by having a UPS Store get it there then I’ll go that route.

 

[Dixter]

will do... won't be until early next though...

 

[Got the Shakes]

will do... won't be until early next though...

Ha. Yeah I’m not sure why I even asked that since we’ll probably all be shipping our units about the same time.

 

[dsperber]

Many movies purchased thru VUDU are stating as UHD, Dolby Vision, Atmos. I understand its a "compressed" version of Atmos.
Does anyone know how many *discrete* channels are supported for Atmos thru streaming devices? For example, is it 5.1.4 7.1.4 or 9.1.4
Does it depend on the movie? The studio? The device? (internal app vs. AppleTv4k)
Same question for Netflix.

It varies, almost certainly by movie.

I just checked out "The Two Popes" on Netflix via my Apple TV 4K and it was definitely 9.1.6 (based on the audio monitor of the A16).

Also, how do streaming movies compare audio wise to the 4k Atmos disc version?

Streaming Atmos is based on Dolby Digital Plus (lossy) whereas UHD and Blu-ray Atmos is based on Dolby TrueHD (lossless).

Atmos soundtracks have two parts: the audio (data) and instructions on where to place the audio (metadata). The metadata remains the same for disc and streaming. As for the data, lossless packing is used on disc (where there is plenty of storage space) while lossy compression is used for streaming (to save on bandwidth). Same mix, different audio quality.

I think it depends on the source material, mix and the amplitude as to whether or not your own ears can distinguish the difference. It might be different for someone else. Defenders of MP3 like to say that high-bitrate MP3 encoded with LAME is "indistinguishable to the human ear" from FLAC in an A/B blind test. I just know that one is "bit-perfect 100% equivalent to the original WAV" and the other is "psycho-acoustically equivalent in the way it sounds". Since file size and storage capacity is of no concern to me, my own personal preference is FLAC (aka exactly WAV but reduced in size, and with tag-based megadata for improved player user interface).

Conceptually, I have to believe Dolby Atmos from disc surely must be "superior" compared to streaming. But I don't have a disc to actually run my own A/B test from.

 

[Leiser]

So as far as I have read here with the upgrade two MDS cards will be replaced is that right?
I wonder if the only thing to do here is to only replace those cards or a special software pairing has to be done.
Replacing the cards would be no problem for me and I would prefer that rather than send it away.
Has anybody asked James already if this is possible and order only those cards for a self upgrade?

 

[MichaelJames99]

I missed a lot of posts due to my email subscriptions getting broken by the forum update; thanks for the HDMI upgrade summary, what is the other upgrade for? The USB board?

Also I thought the old board already did 4k at 60hz and 4:4:4 and Dolby Vision?

For those who are not getting email alerts, have you gone under "Watched" and put a check in the "email" box next to this Thread? I was not getting emails and when I did that, I started getting email alerts again. Note that when I go back in there, it shows as unchecked again. And I am not getting every alert.. I'm getting them after 2-3 posts

 

[sander99]

Has anybody asked James already if this is possible and order only those cards for a self upgrade?

According to the French importer (email update, the 2nd today) :

...
- there is no way to change the cards by yourself