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[etc6849]

https://www.rspeaudio.com/Dolby-Media-Producer-Suite-p/dolby-media-producer-suite.htm

and

https://www.dolby.com/us/en/professional/content-creation/products/dolby-media-decoder.html

Hmm...  Can we really decode Atmos streams with software such as dolby's media producer suite?  What are the chances this software decoder ever working with JRiver?

Heck, there is a picture of the Dolby Media Producer decoding Atmos over a TrueHD stream at the first site's link which is very appealing to me as I use AES digital outputs to feed three pro audio speaker processors.  There are 16 channel audio cards that show up that way to JRiver (such as the excellent RME HDSPe: http://www.rme-audio.de/en/products/hdspe_aes.php I have been using for sometime now).

Sucks the software to get the decoder is $1300 retail, and I still can't decode DTS-X, but it is a start in the right direction, and a bargain compared to an AV processor I'd need to match my PC's level of performance (which are $15k and up). 

However, if JRiver were to work out an agreement with Dolby (and even DTS) to decode object oriented formats, I'd gladly pay JRiver $1k+.  Please no one tell me I can do this over HDMI.  I have no need or desire to use consumer level gear with HDMI inputs as all of it inferior to what I have now unless I drop $20k+ on Datastat or Trinnov gear.  Using a setup like mine lets me do FIR filtering for tri-amping, lets me pick low order filters for crossing to multiple subs, etc...  Not snake oil stuff by any stretch, but tangible things I can't do with any gear under $20k.

From the Dolby site:

"Reference Decoding and Monitoring

This professional reference decoder decodes and monitors these Dolby audio formats:

    Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos®
    Dolby TrueHD
    Dolby Digital Plus™ with Dolby Atmos
    Dolby Digital Plus
    Dolby Digital
    MLP Lossless™

The Dolby Media Decoder supports monitoring of all consumer listening modes, including downmixing and dynamic range control. It is designed to run locally on a single computer to provide playback and decoding for an individual audio room.  It also can decode back to PCM files from any Dolby channel-based codec."

[Hendrik]

We do not have any plans to support a Dolby product that costs $1300 just to decode some audio streams. Sorry.
Dolby itself has no interest in supporting PC-based decoding for consumers, they like to sell their hardware chips to AVR makers.

PS:
The part you bolded above states "channel-based codec", which Atmos is not, its object-based.

[etc6849]

Yeah for that was for PCM file conversion (I was hoping it would be that easy, but it is likely not without your help).  The software does claim to decode TrueHD with Atmos at playback at the top of the quote, so I am honestly thinking it can do what many users want.  I went back and highlighted that part for you as well to make it easier to read (I am sure you read a lot of posts here and are busy).

As for your other comments:
The software is $1300 because you have to buy the an entire producer/mastering suite to get it (this part really needs clarified and I apologize for not making it clearer.  this info is buried at the first link in my post though).  JRiver would only need the decoding part as you know, not the encoding part and other mastering tools, so presumably it would be much much cheaper.  It is always good to keep an open mind and be willing to work with other companies if it means adding new features no one else would be offering (market differentiation, etc..).

Of course Dolby likes to sell chips, but they also sell software licenses all the time (such as the licensed decoding in programs such as PowerDVD), and even sell software themselves.

Have you guys reached out to Dolby in the past?  Just because Microsoft is too cheap to pay for a decoder license to be included with Windows 10, doesn't mean much to me.  Also it is not like makers of free playback software are going to shell out money for a license...  I ask because I see stuff that must be decoding Atmos like the Dolby Audio headphone Windows 10 app, so it is clear Dolby might have some interest in working with you guys. 

I would think $200-300/license would be a doable number for a batch of licenses for the decoding part only, but JRiver is the one who would have to reach out to Dolby, negotiate and integrate the DLL files, etc...  If we bought a one time license from JRiver for the Atmos decoder, then continued to pay $24/year for the newer software version, I think most folks who do PC based decoding would be very interested in this.

We do not have any plans to support a Dolby product that costs $1300 just to decode some audio streams. Sorry.
Dolby itself has no interest in supporting PC-based decoding for consumers, they like to sell their hardware chips to AVR makers.

PS:
The part you bolded above states "channel-based codec", which Atmos is not, its object-based.

[mattkhan]

One problem is that the linked software appears to be Mac only

[etc6849]

Yes I saw that, but JRiver works on my macbook just fine, and it is easy to run mac os on a custom built PC like the one in my theater...  If you google hackintosh, you will see this is trivial (and Windows 10 aside from the LTSB/enterprise version is a mess at this point, so I too am considering it).

PS: I found a protools plugin for the Dolby mastering suite for $299:  http://www.avid.com/plugins/dolby-atmos-production-suite#Features so they seem willing to license tools out to work with other software.

One problem is that the linked software appears to be Mac only

[mattkhan]

Thread appears to be on the wrong board

madvr and no audio input are two major missing features in non windows builds, the inability to do BD playback without a mapped drive would also lead to a multi library setup. I would think that means a Mac only solution would be v small proportion of the user base.

[etc6849]

I use Windows with JRiver now, just bought a v24 license, and am asking about Atmos decoding for JRiver (don't care what version of JRiver or what OS I need to eventually use to make this happen).

It is the replies talking about mac OS, not my original post.  I would respectfully request the mac OS talk go elsewhere unless someone here has the Dolby Media Suite v2 and wants to talk about its capabilities.

How can a feature request from a paid user (bought v22, v23 and v24 licenses) be off topic?

Thread appears to be on the wrong board

madvr and no audio input are two major missing features in non windows builds, the inability to do BD playback without a mapped drive would also lead to a multi library setup. I would think that means a Mac only solution would be v small proportion of the user base.

[mattkhan]

You are talking about getting access to a commercial decoder that is limited to Mac OS only hence the comment that raising the thread on the windows board (rather than the mac board) seems like the wrong place to me, I'm not a mod though so whatever

Anyway FWIW the answer (to getting jriver to do this) has been a firm no quite a few times, e.g. https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,112393.msg777057.html#msg777057 , but perhaps it will change one day.

[etc6849]

Well if people keep posting requests for this feature (like the dozens of other posts including one you linked to), perhaps JRiver will one day reach out to Dolby and offer us an option to buy an add-on license.  I am pretty sure if people stop asking for this feature because of previous posts saying no, it will never happen.

You are talking about getting access to a commercial decoder that is limited to Mac OS only hence the comment that raising the thread on the windows board (rather than the mac board) seems like the wrong place to me, I'm not a mod though so whatever

Anyway FWIW the answer (to getting jriver to do this) has been a firm no quite a few times, e.g. https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,112393.msg777057.html#msg777057 , but perhaps it will change one day.

[retro]

Yes please.

I'd be very happy to up this once a week..