Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. News

Vudu is now streaming 4K UHD titles in Dolby Atmos surround with Dolby Vision HDR

Caleb Denison
By

warner home video 4k ultra hd blu ray releases mad max fury road
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.

Recommended Videos

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.

Related

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).

yamaha-musiccast-ysp-5600-sound-bar-dt

But that’s just the surround sound side of things. If a user wants both Dolby Vision and Dolby 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, and Into 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.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Caleb Denison
Caleb Denison
Editor at Large
Digital Trends Editor at Large Caleb Denison is a sought-after writer, speaker, and television correspondent with unmatched…
Go ahead and spend the extra $20 on the good Apple TV 4K
Apple TV 4K 2021.

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?

Read more
New Apple TV 4K tweaks the internals and the price
Apple TV 4K 2022.

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.

Read more
Optoma’s CinemaX 4K laser projectors now have faster response times for gamers
People using the Optoma CinemaX D2 outdoors.

Optoma is expanding its 4K UHD home theater projector line by introducing the CinemaX D2 Series. Optoma says this is an upgrade from the previous CinemaX P2 projector, and the improvements are based on user feedback. The series includes the CinemaX D2, a 4K UHD ultra short throw laser home projector, and the CinemaX D2 Smart, which adds smart TV features courtesy of an included Android TV dongle.
Ultra short throw projectors are ideal for people with limited space in their room as they can cast an image on the screen from small distances. Traditional short throw projectors need at least four feet to eight feet of distance from the screen to be able to produce high-quality images, but not all rooms have this much area to spare.  That's where ultra short throw projectors can help. The CinemaX D2 Series, for example, can cast up to 100-inch images from less than a foot away from the screen. If you increase the distance a bit more, you get up to 120-inch images. 
The CinemaX D2 Series features 3,000 lumens and a 1,800,000:1 contrast ratio, which, oddly, is a bit of a step down from their predecessor, the CinemaX P2 projector, which offers the same brightness, but with a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio. 

The biggest boost this series offers is an Enhanced Gaming Mode that claims "blur-free visuals and low lag" with the help of its 16ms response time in 4K at 60Hz and 4ms in 1080P at 240Hz. The 30,000-hour life span (same as its predecessor) seems to be slightly higher than other ultra short throw projectors in this price range as well. Both D2 models have three HDMI 2.0 inputs, instead of the P2's double-HDMI 2.0 and single HDMI 1.4 inputs.

Read more