Dolby Audio Post-Processing Policy

August 28, 2019

In the September 2019 issue of Widescreen Review & Custom Home Theatre Design I wrote in my "From The Editor's Couch" editorial the following regarding this subjectm which preceded this announcement by Dolby:

On Screen Interview With Wilfried Van Baelen Regarding Status Of Dolby’s Restriction Policy

Gary Reber, Widescreen Review & Custom Home Theatre Design: I recently experienced that upmixing with AuroMatic was suddenly not possible anymore with Avengers: End Game, which I was reviewing. And I phoned Wilfried Van Baelen, inventor of the Auro-3D format to ask how this could be?

Wilfried Van Baelen, Auro Technologies: This will probably be the result of Dolby’s policy that they introduced to their clients at the Consumer Electronics Show [CES] in January 2018, which no longer allows any further use of third-party post-processing for upmixing (like the AuroMatic upmixer, which is in every AV receiver that supports Auro-3D) or virtualization when Dolby’s decoder is used, except if Dolby’s client owns the IP of such technology. So this was a straight attack from Dolby on Auro’s upmixer, which was reported earlier by Gene DellaSalla at Audioholics (https://www.audioholics.com/audio-technologies/dolby-non-native-upmixing-atmos).

WSR Reber: I know about that but I was informed that it was not immediately effective; it was for devices coming on the market next year.

Van Baelen: Our clients informed us about Dolby’s restriction policy, which they made part of their new certification program that their clients only got by signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement. So we never saw these agreements ourselves. We were surprised to hear from our customers that our upmixer would be put out of the market soon by Dolby’s latest practices. Many of our clients reacted that they were not going to accept this, as it would remove features that people like (e.g. AuroMatic) and use often. At first, we understood that Dolby would give their clients at least a year more before implementation. 

WSR Reber: But they finally didn’t waive their restriction to use third-party post processing?

Van Baelen: Due to the very negative reaction that we understand Dolby received from their clients about their policy, we assumed that Dolby would understand the message and that they would waive that restriction policy. But the opposite was true. At CES 2019, we heard again from different clients that Dolby distributed their updated policy and that the use of third-party post-processing (upmixers and virtualizers) on content that used Dolby’s technology (also non-3D codecs), was no longer going to be allowed from 2020 products onwards. This would mean that devices, which are soon going into production, need to be certified by Dolby around this time in 2019. So we know, for instance from Trinnov Audio that they couldn’t take any risk on not getting the Dolby certification, and their newest software upgrade was already taking this restriction from Dolby into account.

WSR Reber: I use a Trinnov Altitude32 in my reference system, so this might have been the reason for my recent experience. I was not informed by anyone. But is such a policy from Dolby allowed?

Van Baelen: We understand that there is growing concern about their policy from an antitrust perspective, which may require them to revisit. There does not appear to be any basis for the policy. If they consider the policy necessary to protect the quality of audio and the artistic intent, then that seems inconsistent with the fact that  Dolby did allow post-processing for certain big clients of theirs in case they owned the IP of the upmixing algorithms they used. So those clients were allowed to do the post processing, even if the quality of their upmixing algorithm was much less compared to AuroMatic. That would exclude any justification for the policy based on the quality or the protection of the artistic intent.

WSR Reber: I often use the AuroMatic upmixing and like it very much too. Thus far, I haven’t hear any other algorithm that can create real-time, from any input source (stereo or surround format) such an amazing natural Immersive Sound experience.

Van Baelen: Yes, people like AuroMatic very much. We read often on social media that some people prefer the AuroMatic real-time upmixed movie soundtrack from a 5.1 source compared to a native full Dolby Atmos mix. So it doesn’t surprise me that Dolby was doing everything possible to push the AuroMatic algorithm out of the market as soon as possible.

WSR Reber: What is going to happen now?

  Van Baelen: I think we have to wait and see how Dolby will address the concerns that have been voiced.

WSR Reber: So Dolby will have to stop this policy?

Van Baelen: I think in light of the concerns raised, and absent a proper justification, Dolby would face a real risk if they don’t stop this policy both legally and commercially. If I read the comments on social media and see how many people are often disappointed when listening to certain movies in Dolby Atmos at their home with almost no height information, while the professional version released for digital cinema theatres was having much more height information, it exactly proves how often the translation of the artistic intent is poorly done in Dolby Atmos. That’s the main difference with the Auro-3D format; people hear at home the same Immersive Sound experience as they hear it in a digital cinema theatre. 

But there is today more movie content out in Dolby Atmos than in Auro-3D, so I understand why people really like to use AuroMatic. Many consumers have AuroMatic processing on all the time, not only for movies but also for music. People do even use it with their vinyl LPs, putting the output of the turntable into the stereo input of the AV receiver, which then can be upmixed with AuroMatic into an up-to-date very natural Immersive Sound experience. We received messages from all over the world from many consumers that they are so excited about re-discovering their favorite music on old LPs translated into a modern Auro-3D Immersive Sound experience. 

WSR Reber: I’m happy to hear that Dolby may refrain from moving forward with the policy they introduced earlier and may allow third-party, post-processing on all kinds of content. And if Dolby would like to restrict it due to the protection of the artistic intent, then I believe they should make an exception for AuroMatic, because that really does the job well and impressively on all kinds of content.

Van Baelen: As a producer-engineer myself, I hate it when post-processing is changing the way I intended my mix. So when I started the design of AuroMatic, together with Ralph Kessler, my goal was to create a true three-dimensional experience from any kind of source content, but it had to maintain the content creators’ intentions. So we avoided adding compression or changing the balance or any kind of other effect that might give a different result. If I hear other algorithms, I understand why Auro-3D became so popular in the market and why it is seen as a danger to other Immersive Sound formats. 

WSR Reber: What is Dolby then going to do about it?

Van Baelen: I think we just have to wait and see how Dolby will address the concerns. From our perspective, if Dolby does want to issue recommendations in relation to post-processing technologies, we would hope they communicate those to other technology players in the market in advance, to ensure consistency not only for upmixing and virtualization technologies but also for the native version of the new Immersive Sound formats, which should be experienced everywhere as much as possible, as originally intended by the creators. This was my goal behind the concept of the Auro-3D format, which has been recognized by many content creators and device manufacturers in the audio-visual markets.

WSR Reber: Thank you very much, Wilfried, for sharing with us. I’m very happy that there may still be a possibility for our serioius enthusiast readers and I to continue using AuroMatic the way I have in the past. WSR

Now From Dolby:

Effective immediately, Dolby is withdrawing all limitations (including limitations contained in Dolby licenses) on the use of OEM (first-party) and third-party post-processing technologies (including upmixers and virtualisers) on audio decoded from Dolby formats (including Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and Dolby Atmos) on AVRs, sound bars and TVs. Effective immediately, products submitted for approval before January 1, 2021 may apply first-party and third-party post-processing (including upmixers and virtualisers) to audio encoded in Dolby formats, including Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and Dolby Atmos.

Dolby will provide guidelines for first-party and third-party audio post-processing of audio encoded in Dolby formats on AVRs, sound bars, and TVs, submitted for approval after January 1, 2021. These guidelines will be further specified in upcoming development manuals. The guidelines are not intended to limit the use of first-party and third-party solutions with Dolby codecs.

This announcement from Dolby follows a previous top secret Dolby memo that was sent to ALL licensee partners of their mandate to restrict upmixing of non native Dolby content through their DSU (Dolby Surround Upmixer) as indicated below:

• Native Dolby Atmos content shall NOT be up-mixed, surround or height virtualized by any 3rd party competitor upmixer (ie. DTS or Auro-3D).
• Channel-Based DD/DD+, Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and 7.1 codecs shall not be height virtualized by any 3rd party upmixer (ie. DTS). (This implies height virtualization without height speakers. DTS has this capability but Auro-3D does not).