I just bought a Roku Ultra so I can get 4K and Dolby Atmos for my 7.1.4 surround setup. I currently subscribe to Paramount Plus and HBO Max. I was able to get Atmos but then noticed that I was getting Atmos on all the things I was watching which I thought was strange. I went into the Ultra's setting and the audio was set to Auto Detect which said it would convert all audio to the highest quality available which for my setup was Atmos. I then changed it to Auto Detect (Passthrough) but then when I went into HBO Max for Godzilla vs King King (marked in HBO Max as having Atmos) I only got one of the lesser Dolby surrounds. When I changed the Ultra's setting back to Auto Detect I then got Atmos. There is a difference between native Atmos and upconverted Atmos and I'm concerned that I'm only getting the lesser Dolby from HBO Max, even though its marked as having Atmos, and the Ultra is upconverting to Atmos. Shouldn't I be getting native Atmos from HBO Max for this movie when the audio setting is on Passthrough? Thanks.

atc98092 wrote:The Ultra 4800 does not up-convert anything to Atmos. If your AVR is indicating DD+/Atmos, that's what you're getting from the provider. I watched Godzilla vs. King Kong last night on Max, and did get Atmos, along with Dolby Vision with my 4800. It's possible that your Ultra didn't HDMI handshake correctly when it powered up. Roku players are designed to remain powered up at all times, and if the power on sequence your equipment uses isn't something that either your AVR or your Roku likes, it might not link up correctly. But I've never had any issues with getting the correct audio and video from either my Rokus or my Shield players, both connected to Yamaha AVRs, most likely because they are always "on".The 4800 does in fact transcode/convert all (non-DTS, depending) audio to the highest detected Dolby level of the connected device in Auto detect mode - if this is DD+/Atmos, then output is DD+/Atmos; if this is MAT 2.x/Atmos, then output is MAT 2.x/Atmos, etc.

Hi ALL, I don't believe it but I FIXED IT!!!It had to do with a setting on my Denon AVR. I have a cable DVR and a 4K Blu Ray also going to the DVR and most of the time the Denon is fed either 5.1 or maybe 7.1 surround, either Dolby or DTS. The Denon has an optional post processing mode to send some audio to the height speakers and there are two flavors of the post processing: Dolby or DTS. I read in a video magazine that the DTS post processing is better than the Dolby so my default setting was to add the DTS post processing. This way no matter what surround signal coming in all my speakers will be active. Of course its not as good as native Atmos but better than nothing. The exception is if I'm playing a Blu Ray that has Atmos the Denon detects it and switches to full native Atmos and would indicate that.So I had a hunch that the default post processing might be screwing up the signal from the Denon back to the Ultra and not allow the Ultra to send native Atmos when on Passthrough. So I set the Ultra to Passthrough and went back to Godzilla vs King Kong (I'm getting tired of that movie!) and the Denon displayed DD+ as expected. Then I went into the Denon's Sound Mode setting and turned off the post processing and there was a pause in the audio and when it came backup I looked to see what the Denon was reporting and IT WAS ATMOS!!!! Incredible!!These systems are getting WAY too complicated. I'm a retired engineer and although I did not work in the audio industry I've had audio and video setups ever since I was a kid and I'm pretty good at setting them up. But this really had me stymied!THANKS AGAIN to everyone for all your help and suggestions!Gerry

gerryex wrote:Hi ALL, I just bought a Roku Ultra so I can get 4K and Dolby Atmos for my 7.1.4 surround setup. For now I only subscribe to Paramount Plus and HBO Max. I was able to get Atmos but then noticed that I was getting Atmos on all the things I was watching which I thought was strange. I went into the Ultra's setting and the audio was set to Auto Detect which said it would convert all audio to the highest quality available which for my setup was Atmos. I then changed it to Auto Detect (Passthrough) but then when I went into HBO Max for Godzilla vs King King (marked in HBO Max as having Atmos) I only got one of the lesser Dolby surrounds. When I changed the Ultra's setting back to Auto Detect I then got Atmos.There is a difference between native Atmos and upconverted Atmos and I'm concerned that I'm only getting the lesser Dolby from HBO Max, even though its marked as having Atmos, and the Ultra is upconverting to Atmos. Shouldn't I be getting native Atmos from HBO Max for this movie when the audio setting is on Passthrough? Thanks.Yes.However, how you connect it (to TV>ARC>AVR, or to AVR>TV) may give you different results.What does Settings/Audio/HDMI/Auto passthrough (highlight it) indicate as detected?If you haven't restarted your 4800 after changing the audio's "Auto" mode, do so and check/test again.

HI, The HDMI output of the Roku Ultra is directly connected to my AVR (a Denon 6200W) and then the output of the AVR is directly connected to my 4K compatible LG OLED TV. I do not use ARC since the TV is old and while it does have ARC it does not support Atmos. That is why I'm using the Ultra rather than the TV's own apps. When I'm in the Ultra's settings for Audio/HDMI for both Auto Detect and Auto Passthrough Atmos is indicated as available. Lastly, the Ultra is on a remote controlled power outlet and is powered off when not in use. When its in use it has just been powered on and thus has been re-booted.I'm not sure what else to try!

The Ultra 4800 does not up-convert anything to Atmos. If your AVR is indicating DD+/Atmos, that's what you're getting from the provider. I watched Godzilla vs. King Kong last night on Max, and did get Atmos, along with Dolby Vision with my 4800. It's possible that your Ultra didn't HDMI handshake correctly when it powered up. Roku players are designed to remain powered up at all times, and if the power on sequence your equipment uses isn't something that either your AVR or your Roku likes, it might not link up correctly. But I've never had any issues with getting the correct audio and video from either my Rokus or my Shield players, both connected to Yamaha AVRs, most likely because they are always "on".

Roku Ultra and Dolby Atmos

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StreamerUser
Roku Guru
5 years ago
gerryex wrote:
Hi ALL, I just bought a Roku Ultra so I can get 4K and Dolby Atmos for my 7.1.4 surround setup. For now I only subscribe to Paramount Plus and HBO Max. I was able to get Atmos but then noticed that I was getting Atmos on all the things I was watching which I thought was strange. I went into the Ultra's setting and the audio was set to Auto Detect which said it would convert all audio to the highest quality available which for my setup was Atmos. I then changed it to Auto Detect (Passthrough) but then when I went into HBO Max for Godzilla vs King King (marked in HBO Max as having Atmos) I only got one of the lesser Dolby surrounds. When I changed the Ultra's setting back to Auto Detect I then got Atmos.
There is a difference between native Atmos and upconverted Atmos and I'm concerned that I'm only getting the lesser Dolby from HBO Max, even though its marked as having Atmos, and the Ultra is upconverting to Atmos. Shouldn't I be getting native Atmos from HBO Max for this movie when the audio setting is on Passthrough? Thanks.
Yes.
However, how you connect it (to TV>ARC>AVR, or to AVR>TV) may give you different results.
What does Settings/Audio/HDMI/Auto passthrough (highlight it) indicate as detected?
If you haven't restarted your 4800 after changing the audio's "Auto" mode, do so and check/test again.
- gerryex
  Binge Watcher
  5 years ago
  HI, The HDMI output of the Roku Ultra is directly connected to my AVR (a Denon 6200W) and then the output of the AVR is directly connected to my 4K compatible LG OLED TV. I do not use ARC since the TV is old and while it does have ARC it does not support Atmos. That is why I'm using the Ultra rather than the TV's own apps. When I'm in the Ultra's settings for Audio/HDMI for both Auto Detect and Auto Passthrough Atmos is indicated as available. Lastly, the Ultra is on a remote controlled power outlet and is powered off when not in use. When its in use it has just been powered on and thus has been re-booted.
  I'm not sure what else to try!
  - atc98092
    Community Streaming Expert
    5 years ago
    The Ultra 4800 does not up-convert anything to Atmos. If your AVR is indicating DD+/Atmos, that's what you're getting from the provider. I watched Godzilla vs. King Kong last night on Max, and did get Atmos, along with Dolby Vision with my 4800.
    It's possible that your Ultra didn't HDMI handshake correctly when it powered up. Roku players are designed to remain powered up at all times, and if the power on sequence your equipment uses isn't something that either your AVR or your Roku likes, it might not link up correctly. But I've never had any issues with getting the correct audio and video from either my Rokus or my Shield players, both connected to Yamaha AVRs, most likely because they are always "on".
Chriswmcgee
Reel Rookie
5 years ago
Problem with audio format on Roku Ultra 2020. I just purchased my second Roku Ultra for the sole purpose of achieving a Dolby Atmos surround sound experience with my Yamaha Dolby Atmos Reciever. I was able to get limited access to Dolby Atmos with my previous Roku Ultra 4K, however, it only worked on Disney Plus and VUDU (VUDU only streamed the Atmos track if hooked up to my 4K TV). Now that I have the 2020 Ultra I also get Netflix to stream the Atmos soundtrack. My problem is, from the advertising I have seen, Amazon Prime is also supposed to stream an Atmos soundtrack as well on the proper Atmos encoded movies/shows. I have been unable to achieve this as 5.1 surround is all I can get. My question is, does Amazon Prime have the same requirement as VUDU for properly streaming a Dolby Atmos soundtrack? This requirement being it must have a TV capable of displaying Dolby Vision/HDR10 as well to allow the Dolby Atmos soundtrack to pass. I have the Roku audio set to Auto passthrough.
- StreamerUser
  Roku Guru
  5 years ago
  Chriswmcgee wrote:
  Problem with audio format on Roku Ultra 2020. I just purchased my second Roku Ultra for the sole purpose of achieving a Dolby Atmos surround sound experience with my Yamaha Dolby Atmos Reciever. I was able to get limited access to Dolby Atmos with my previous Roku Ultra 4K, however, it only worked on Disney Plus and VUDU (VUDU only streamed the Atmos track if hooked up to my 4K TV). Now that I have the 2020 Ultra I also get Netflix to stream the Atmos soundtrack. My problem is, from the advertising I have seen, Amazon Prime is also supposed to stream an Atmos soundtrack as well on the proper Atmos encoded movies/shows. I have been unable to achieve this as 5.1 surround is all I can get. My question is, does Amazon Prime have the same requirement as VUDU for properly streaming a Dolby Atmos soundtrack? This requirement being it must have a TV capable of displaying Dolby Vision/HDR10 as well to allow the Dolby Atmos soundtrack to pass. I have the Roku audio set to Auto passthrough.
  What does Settings/Audio/HDMI/Auto passthrough indicate as detected? (highlight it)
  What titles are you testing for Atmos in Prime?
  Prime has terrible tagging, and Atmos tagging is utterly absent. Generally speaking, UHD/HDR tagged titles that DONT have 5.1 tagging have Atmos. If the UHD/HDR title has a 5.1 tag, it doesnt have Atmos.
  Have you verified working Atmos in other apps? (NetFlix/Disney+/HBO Max/Apple TV/Vudu/Movies Anywhere/etc)
  - Chriswmcgee
    Reel Rookie
    5 years ago
    Auto passthrough is selected, Stereo, DD, DD+, Atmos, DTS, DTS-HD etc. are detected.
    I tested Dolby Presents "Escape," John Wick 3, Mad Max, Jack Ryan. All were listed under a search for "Dolby Atmos movies 4K Prime" within the Prime App. I was only able to find 5.1 surround sound. No other formats were listed.
    Netflix, Disney+, and VUDU all pass Atmos DD+ track to my AV Reciever. VUDU only does so if it is hook up to my 4K TV instead of my projector.
jontalk
Roku Guru
2 years ago
gerryexI have the exact same experience using the same settings. That said, I have a 5.1 surround configuration though it is disappointing that the Roku Ultra won't recognize an AVR that supports Atmos when set to auto detect/pass through. I've often contemplated trying out Apple TV but don't want to waste money since the 4800 has been rock solid. Regardless, its clear that the audio options need to be updated

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Roku Ultra and Dolby Atmos

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