Digital Noesis

Demonstration Movies

This page contains my favorite demonstration material for Atmos home theaters. While these reference selections should make most systems shine, they were tested on a 7.2.4 Atmos system with discrete height channels. Most of these demos are native Atmos, while some I'm relying on up-mixing. Many of these scenes are mostly geared toward sound demonstration, but films with good audio design often tend to also have good video. I have noted instances where this is not the case.

The table below contains the film, timestamps, and related comments. I don't add the finish point of the demo, as that's generally pretty obvious.

Table 1: Demonstration Clips
Film Scene Comments
Mad Max: Fury Road 0min: Opening Scene Great use of surround effects.
16min: War Party Classic scene of the brigade on the attack, although I really prefer the "Fuel Drop Off" scene more.
50min: Fuel Drop Off Combination of a powerful score, deep bass hits and action.
Blade Runner 2049 0min: Opening Scene Impressive LFE, high energy from LCRs & front heights. While the picture quality is excellent in Blade Runner 2049, the UHD Blu-Ray is 4k SDR put into a HDR container. It does not go above 200nits. While this may be the directors intent, it should be noted that this is a darker movie. It will register as HDR10 nevertheless.
58min: Shot Down Dynamic score LFE, rain while flying creates immersion using the height channels, crash scene is impactful followed by the drone attacks. Very impressive reference scene.
A Star is Born 38min: Song Together Vocals, dynamics. Not a bass demo, but a balanced system demonstration and great for showcasing natural sounding vocals. For a longer demo that increases the build up, start at 34min.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle 1hr 15min: Helicopter Immersion, Atmos demo. Helicopter blades inside the barn produce some good low frequency demo.
1hr 35min: Motorcycle chase + elephant Immersion, heavy elephant steps
Interstellar 41min: Launch Not Atmos, but still an impressive demo. However, like many Nolan movies, the dialog mixdown is terrible - so it's not a good judgement of your systems balance in that regard.
59min: Wormhole Another very powerful scene from Interstellar.
Tron 41min: Bike Race Scene While not mixed in Atmos, the Masters Audio soundtrack for this up-mixes beautifully. The LFE is also very powerful.
1hr 8min: Nightclub Same as above.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters 0min: Opening Credits The footsteps at the title sequence are recorded quite hot. This is a good LFE torture test.
41min: Fight Another good demo scene from the movie (which is otherwise basically unwatchable).
John Wick 3 1hr 38min: Shotgun Scene Great use of the Atmos format, and extremely realistic shotgun blasts. Very good test for tactile response.
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi 1hr 44min: Embassy Attack Great all around demo material. This entire movie has an excellent soundtrack, but this is one of the highlights.
1hr 58min: Mortars Best of the movie.




Changelog
2020.11.21 Published.