When Ultra HD Blu-ray discs and players hit store shelves early next year, they will offer the best picture and sound quality available in the home. But until then, Vudu just established itself as the best available source of next-gen content — at least from the home theater enthusiast’s point of view.
Announced today, Vudu is now streaming select 4K Ultra HD titles with Dolby Atmos surround sound. The new audio format, which can be found in commercial theaters, and, at a very scaled-down level in home theaters, adds a new level of immersion for sound tracks by allowing so-called “sound objects” to be discreetly directed to individual speakers, including new height channels that deliver sound from above the listener. The news comes on the heels of Vudu’s addition of Dolby’s version of High Dynamic Range video, called Dolby Vision, to its 4K Ultra HD movie offerings.
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For some, this is an exciting development, but as is often the case with next-gen technologies, there’s a catch: In order to fully enjoy the best of what Vudu and Dolby are offering here, some very specific equipment is necessary. First and foremost, to get Dolby Atmos, users will need either a Vizio 4k Ultra HD TV or a compatible streaming device which, for now at least, includes only the newly released Roku 4. Presumably, Vudu’s streaming app will eventually offer Dolby Atmos on more platforms such as the Amazon Fire TV or Nidia Shield, but for now it appears exclusive to Roku’s new 4K-capable media player. It should be noted that the new Apple TV is not presently capable of dealing with 4K UHD streams, HDR, or Dolby Atmos.
Next, the user will need a either a Dolby Atmos-capable A/V receiver or pre-amplifier/processor and the necessary speaker compliment, or Yamaha’s Dolby Atmos-enabled sound bar, the YSP-5600 (pictured below).
But that’s just the surround sound side of things. If a user wants both Dolby VisionandDolby Atmos as part of their experience, then only Vizio’s Reference Series smart TVs will do, as it is currently the only 4K Ultra HD TV brand compatible with Dolby’s take on what HDR should look like.
Sound a little confusing? It kind of is, which is probably why Dolby and Vudu created this infographic showing which configurations are available, and what movies can be enjoyed under each of the configurations.
For now, Vudu’s list of movies available with Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision includes Mad Max: Fury Road, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Gallows, San Andreas, American Sniper, Man of Steel, Jupiter Ascending, Edge of Tomorrow, andInto the Storm.
The scope of titles Vudu offers with Dolby Vision alone is a little more extensive, including these additions to the aforementioned titles: The Great Gatsby, Vacation, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Focus, Get Hard The Hangover, The Hangover Part II, The Hangover Part III, Run All Night, The Lego Movie, and Magic Mike XXL.
Vudu reports all titles are available for streaming as of right now, with prices running about $10.00 per rental and between $25 -$30 to own.
The least interesting things about the new Apple TV 4K
It's a big deal whenever Apple announces new products. OK, maybe not in the global scheme of things, but in our little world here, every sentence of every word of every press release is going to be scrutinized. Things that aren't a big deal are going to be turned into headlines. Blog. Blog. Blog.
And that's true again in the case of the latest Apple TV 4K, which will be available for everyone starting November 4. It is, for all intents and purposes, the same as the old one. It's better, sure. It's a little less expensive, which is great. It's almost certainly still the best streaming device you can buy. But the features that are getting the headlines? That's folks reaching for something to celebrate.
Go ahead and spend the extra $20 on the good Apple TV 4K
Apple has announced two new versions of the Apple TV 4K. Both are good for all kinds of reasons. Better internals. New features. And prices that are much more likely to be competitive, even if they're still a good bit north of what folks are spending on the likes of Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices.
But two new Apple TV 4K boxes -- and the death of the lower-resolution Apple TV HD -- means you've got a decision to make. Which Apple TV 4K is right for you?
New Apple TV 4K tweaks the internals and the price
Apple today announced a new version of Apple TV 4K. It's the third generation of what we consider to be the best streaming device you can buy, and Apple's not really messing with things too much. Same general design. Same general function. But the internals have been tweaked that allow this 2022 model (which follows the models released in September 2017 and May 2021) to work better with more TVs — and to allow for a little more flexibility in price.
Here are the big deals: There are now two versions of Apple TV 4K (or SKUs, for those of you who prefer inside-baseball terms). There's a model that's Wi-Fi only with 64GB of storage for $130, or a model with Wi-Fi and Ethernet with 128GB of storage for $150. For our money, we'd just go ahead and spend the extra $20.
