hoichoi, the leading on-demand Bengali content streamer and Dolby Laboratories, are the latest to come together to offer Dolby Atmos on the OTT platform.
hoichoi announced that noted director Srijit Mukherji’s series Feludar Goyendagiri will stream in Dolby Atmos to compatible mobile and TVs. hoichoi said that there is a significant rise in demand for enhanced audio-visual experiences for content consumption.
Srijit Mukherjee, Director of Feludar Goyendagiri said, "As a filmmaker, one of your aims is to strike a connection with the viewer - to entertain them and take them deeper into your story. The multidimensional soundscape of Dolby Atmos allows us filmmakers to fulfill this aim by delivering entertainment that makes the viewers feel like they are inside the story.'
Apart from Feludar Goyendagiri, hoichoi will also stream in Dolby Atmos Mandaar, Rudrabinar Obhishaap & Mahabharat Murders.
What is Dolby Atmos?
hoichoi is, obviously, not the first Indian OTT platform to offer its content with Dolby Atmos. Top streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar have the capacity to stream content with Dolby Atmos.
In Dolby Atmos, sound moves around you in an immersive soundscape, and you can experience multidimensional sound with clarity and depth. This is possible because it is an object-based audio format. In normal audio, audio is assigned to specific speakers (left, right, centre, et al) in your system. On the other hand, Dolby Atmos actually attaches sound to objects on-screen. This can give you the feeling that you are in the middle of the action, because it can deliver sound from every angle.
The point is it is different from having speakers all around you while watching. How the sound is encoded really creates the difference. With Doby Atmos, you can actually hear and feel the sound go from one end of the room to the other or even to the top. It provides an enjoyably realistic experience.
But is it any good on OTT platforms?
Streaming platforms offering Dolby Atmos is one thing, but your TV actually playing it for you is another. You need to have models that support Dolby Atmos. Though it is not a prohibitively expensive technology, your entry level models mostly don't support it. The bare minimum for Dolby Atmos home theatre system is a 5.1.2 system. This means you have to five speakers around the room, one subwoofer, and two height speakers.
Also, even though the streaming platform may support Doby Atmos, the specific content should have been recorded in Dolby Atmos track.
Unless you have a good home theatre system that supports Dolby Atmos and content that is specifically created for such a reproduction on audio systems, there is no point in OTT platforms claiming that they stream content of Dolby Atmos. It can be like having a spanking new F1 car at your garage. Where is the road for you to drive it?
