4K surging in popularity and 7.1 audio decreasing?

[Steve Guttag]

I'm sure that 2020, the year nothing makes sense is partly to the reason but I'm noticing a large percentage of movies in release in 4K but surprisingly few are available with a 7.1 soundtrack. I was looking at one site we support. They have 13 titles showing. 7 were mastered in 4K but only 1 title had a 7.1 track (The New Mutants) at it was just 2K. Normally, we see most titles being offered with a 7.1 track but 4K is normally a 10-20% offering.

In the trailer department, normally it is just 2K and 5.1 but not anymore. There is about an equal (but small) mix of 4K and 7.1 trailers (e.g. Wonder Woman is 4K but 5.1 as is Top Gun-Maverick, Croods went for 7.1 but 2K). I don't think I saw any features or trailers that were both 4K and 7.1

[Leo Enticknap]

Could the consumer market be driving this? 2160p TVs are now available from $300 up, but multi-channel audio is a lot more difficult and expensive to install in your living room (ripping out drywall to run cables, etc.).

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

What Leo said... That has to be it because they can master the stuff in 4K and not have to do anything after that except convert the file to Blue Ray. NOt sure what to say about 7.1, but they better not get too lax there because there are lots more 7.1 systems than there are directional.

[Steve Guttag]

Someone told me that 7.1 was the "standard" mix on most films and that they mix down to 5.1...and, honestly, up until I saw this I had theatres where essentially ever show was 7.1

[Bobby Henderson]

I wonder if this new decline of 7.1 content could be one of two issues.

The first one is sound bar culture. Maybe Hollywood is dumbing down its releases and sound mixes to fit in with sound bar culture. It seems like there is a lot more in the way of sound bar style packages being sold in electronics stores than true surround sound systems. A real surround sound system is complicated to install. And it can get really complicated if you bring ceiling surround speakers into the scenario. Sound bars are compact, easy to set up and easy to pack up if you need to move elsewhere in a pinch.

There is a certain youth element in the home theater market. I was a lot more geeked out about surround sound when I was in my 20's and 30's than I am now in my 50's. The 5.1 setup in my living room is 20 years old. I think about upgrading to a new receiver, new speakers, even ones in the ceiling, but then other priorities end up outweighing a new home theater. Many younger adults are having to live in unconventional situations. Thanks in part to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, 52% of adults under age 30 are living with parents. That's more than the peak during the Great Depression. You pretty much need to own your own home in order to install a proper home theater system with speakers on multiple walls. It doesn't go over so well in an apartment complex or a bedroom in the parents' house. The high costs of housing (freaking extreme in many urban markets) are contributing greatly to "failure to launch" syndrome in many young adults.

The second issue is Dolby Atmos. Could it be possible that movie studios are ditching 7.1 in favor of doing 5.1 only for basic d-cinema shows and using Dolby Atmos for DCPs meant for premium auditoriums? I wonder if the studios are starting to ditch 7.1 as a way to pressure theater chains into upgrading more houses to Atmos. Quite a few movies have been released with Atmos mixes and a good number are in the future release pipeline.
https://professional.dolby.com/cinem...rical-releases

[Steve Guttag]

I highly doubt that the home market has any influence on how features are released to cinemas. There are not enough immersive features to have an effect on mainstream mixing habits.

[Bruce Cloutier]

My home big screen is supported by a 7.1 surround. But I think mostly I get 5.1 and the additional channels are either absent or synthesized somehow. I have 4K and mostly content is 2K too. The up-scaling though (in my opinion) creates a nice (enough) picture. I've given up trying to get to any ideal. HDMI issues finally broke my resolve when it suddenly thwarted the passage of 4K (CP issues). Continually throwing money at the system wasn't politically good for my standing in the home. I could go to 9.1 with the hardware I have but I doubt that is worth it. Just need to mount a pair of speakers. I'd probably get a larger set of main speakers though if I were to find some mad money. Anyway, guess I can relate. I don't think everyone really, is trying to get top quality content out to us (home or cinema).

[Greg Routenburg]

It could have something to do with distribution costs too. On the sites that we have mixed screen capabilities, we receive 5.1 & 7.1 KDMs for every screen regardless of their capabilities. Not sure why really. Anyways, needing to double up the number of KDMs that are generated and delivered could be driving up the cost of distribution and they might just be trying to save some money.