There’s no denying that the cinema experience is joyful, with the giant screen, the surround sound, and also the smell of hot popcorn and the feeling of a shared experience with dozens of other people. But while that last one can be a little harder to recreate, with some microwave popcorn and a little technology magic, we can access the same great content, with great audio and video technology on our TVs to bring the cinema-like experience to life, at home.
Gadgets 360 caught up with Dolby to learn more about how the company empowers brands & content creators, to bring a cinema-like experience home with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos enabled products and streaming services, so you can immerse yourself in the best content.
With the series Experience Dolby with Gadgets 360, we’ll help you break down the three things that you need to make sure that you have the right hardware for your home, so that all the tech fades away, and leaves you with a strong connection with the stories and the characters that you love.
Here are three important things that will completely immerse you in a cinema-like experience at home.
1. Bigger the Better?
A giant screen might seem like the obvious place to start but actually — you want to look at more than just the screen size, or resolution.
But what good is a big screen if it doesn’t have good picture quality. You want to make sure that the television has Dolby Vision support. Dolby Vision is an advanced HDR format inspired by the cinema that automatically delivers the highest quality images your device is able to display, so your entertainment always looks its best.
You get incredible brightness, ultra-vivid colours, and you also get deeper blacks that allow for better contrasts with Dolby Vision enabled televisions. If you’ve never seen HDR in action then the effect can be honestly mind-blowing, because this isn’t what you’re expecting at home. So make sure that the next television you buy is Dolby Vision enabled, rather than just looking at the size of the screen.
The best part is that you don’t have to break your budget — almost all the major brands support Dolby Vision technology, and in fact, it’s available on a wide range of devices. You can get Dolby Vision on premium, budget and mid-range TVs, laptops, tablets and even your smartphones
2. Better Than Surround Sound!
The next most important pillar of the cinema-like experience is great sound that immerses you in whatever you’re watching. Whether it’s dialogues balanced to make you feel like you’re part of a conversation, or a gunfight where you can follow the action even with your eyes closed, good surround sound can make or break the cinema experience.
At home for the longest time we were limited in the audio options, with Dolby Atmos, the same underlying technology that Dolby provides to cinemas also comes to your television or soundbar to create an immersive, breathtaking experience.
This allows you to experience multidimensional sound with incredible clarity and detail, putting you right in the middle of the action with sound that moves around you. And this is possible right out of the box with many TVs that support both Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision, for that holistic viewing experience. You can always add a soundbar, to make the overall experience even better.
3. And the Best OTT for You Is…?
Of course, the best of audio and video hardware is pointless if your content is not available in the best audio and visual technology.
For the best viewing experience, you need to make sure that your streaming service offers Dolby technology.
Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and VOOT, all support Dolby so that shouldn’t be a problem. Look for content that offers Dolby support and it could range from sports to music to TV shows and even movies.
With these three points in place, it’s clear to see that you don’t need to break the bank or even change your plans in order to get the cinema-like experience at home — thanks to Dolby, you can get the best experience at all times.
