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Amazon Prime Video Is Getting A Great New Feature

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Ever since iTunes on the latest Apple TV joined other streaming services such as VUDU, Netflix and Rakuten in offering support for the high quality Dolby Atmos sound format, Amazon Prime Video has been left looking increasingly left behind on the sound quality front.

So it hasn’t really come as a great surprise to learn from Dolby this weekend that Amazon will be adding its own support for Dolby Atmos from the end of August.

The first Amazon Video Prime show to support Dolby Atmos will Amazon Original Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, which is scheduled to appear on Prime Video on August 31st.

Photo: Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, Amazon Video

In terms of hardware, the Fire TV and Fire TV Cube boxes are confirmed as being able to output Dolby Atmos streams in time for Jack Ryan’s launch. I don’t have confirmation yet, though, of the situation regarding the Amazon apps on third-party Dolby Atmos-capable gear such as LG’s Dolby Atmos TVs, the latest Apple TV or the Xbox One family of consoles.

My best guess on these would be that Atmos support will come eventually, but possibly not in time for the August 31 roll out of Jack Ryan.

I’ve asked Amazon for any extra information it may be able to share on other devices with Amazon Video apps, and will update this story if it has anything interesting to say.

Don't forget that you will, of course, need a Dolby Atmos-capable speaker system and receiver/decoder if you want to enjoy Amazon's upcoming Atmos thrills.

Dolby Atmos, for those of you not familiar with it, is a so-called object-based sound system. This means it uses speakers - including height channels - to create a three-dimensional sound stage that it places effects within, rather than the previous approach of simply placing effects at the point of sound production of each speaker.

Photo: Dolby

It’s important to stress that the version of Atmos carried by Amazon Prime Video and other streaming platforms is not the lossless ‘True HD’ version you get with physical media such as Blu-rays and 4K Blu-rays.

Even the ‘lossy’ Dolby Atmos approach, though, generally delivers a more immersive and dynamic audio accompaniment to your favorite TV shows and films than non object-based options.

No information has been released yet on which other future (and, potentially, past) Amazon titles might also get the Dolby Atmos treatment. Hopefully, though, it will fairly quickly become the norm for at least Amazon’s most high profile new shows.

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