Dolby Laboratories today announced Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, a feature that has the potential to add flexibility and simplicity to home theater audio setups. Dolby Atmos’ upcoming FlexConnect may simplify wireless home theater audio. FlexConnect, according to the company, enables supporting televisions to optimize Dolby Atmos audio output between the television’s speakers and paired wireless speakers. At present, Dolby is just reporting the component with forthcoming TCL televisions, however it could extend somewhere else.
FlexConnect, which is compatible with Atmos, 5.1, and stereo sound, is designed to adapt to individual audio setups, taking into account factors such as speaker count and placement. The forthcoming component expects to support Atmos sound in circumstances where speaker situation is restricted because of impediments like room size, furniture, or outlet areas.
As per Dolby, FlexConnect will mean clients can hear a similar encounter paying little mind to where they’re sitting in the room, and that sound is changed in view of every speaker’s area and capacities.
When Ars Technica asked Dolby for more information, a spokesperson for the company told us:
The TV will be automatically calibrated using acoustic mapping [using TV microphones] after each speaker has been positioned to identify its location. The television then cleverly and consistently improves the sound picture in the wake of breaking down this information joined with data the television can accumulate on every speaker’s acoustic abilities. Together, this data permits the television to change the delivering of every speaker to improve the sound to guarantee audience members are partaking in an extraordinary sound encounter.
An illustration of how FlexConnect could adjust sound in light of speaker capacities is with low frequencies, which numerous televisions battle with. According to a spokesperson for Dolby, the television’s speakers may “offload the bass to these speakers, which frees up power to allocate to other parts of the frequency spectrum” if a speaker that is more capable is connected.
“This could allow the TV speakers to allocate more power to dialogue, ensuring the best combination of bass and intelligibility,” the rep said.
Dolby likewise gave an illustration of how FlexConnect could adjust sound in view of speaker area. FlexConnect “will put more of the audio load onto the TV speakers so that the TV speakers cover the front soundstage and the dialogue” if a user places two wireless speakers in the back of the room. Yet, in the event that the remote speakers were toward the front of the room, the television/focus speakers would zero in on exchange.
Dolby is currently avoiding stating that FlexConnect will be compatible with all wireless speaker brands. We got some information about which speaker marks the element will support and will refresh you assuming that we hear back. However, FlexConnect’s value would significantly increase if it were platform-agnostic. There are now comparative television includes that get you into a specific brand, for example, Samsung Q-Ensemble, which synchronizes sound with supporting Samsung television speakers and Samsung soundbars, and LG Wow Symphony, which synchronizes sound with supporting LG televisions and LG soundbars, or Sony’s Acoustic Place Sync, which (I think you know where we’re going with this) synchronizes supporting Sony television speakers with an outer Sony soundbar or sound framework and cases to help sound to “match precisely exact thing’s shown on the screen, precisely where the person is remaining in the scene.” However, dissimilar to a portion of those highlights, similar to Q-Ensemble, FlexConnect doesn’t need a HDMI or optical link associated soundbar.
Assuming that Dolby figures out how to get FlexConnect shared across numerous television brands, it could ultimately smooth out home theater sound arrangements for standard clients. As of now, however, just TCL’s 2024 television arrangement has focused on supporting FlexConnect. Except if other television brands execute FlexConnect, its scope is restricted. The component likewise depends on focal television speakers, which could have shifting quality among models, however you could enhance that with outer speakers.
Dolby stated that it will demonstrate FlexConnect at the Berlin-based IFA 2023 trade show, which begins this Friday.