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.
| 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. | |
| Dune | 0min: Opening Scene | |
| 1hr 3min: Spice Mining Incident | ||
| 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. |
| Edge of Tomorrow | 0min: Opening Scene | The opening "tone" is best with the original Blu-Ray, not the Atmos version where the bass has a high pass. It's still a fun bit though. |
| 16:24-24:55 The Beach | The beach scene is an excellent Atmos demo with the UHD Atmos disc. | |
| Uncharted | Ships 1:35 to 1:40:05 | ---- |
| The Girl in the Spider's Web | 1hr 38min Sniper | ---- |
| 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. | |
| Tenet | 0min Opening | ------- |
| 38min Plane Crash | asdfasdfas | |
| ANOTHER SCENE | asdfasdfas | |
| Greatest Showman | Opening | asdfasdf |
| 1hr 8min 30sec Song | Saasdfasdfas. | |
| 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 | Chapter 9: The Club Scene | asdfasdfasfdas |
| John Wick 3 | 1hr 38min: Shotgun Scene | Great use of the Atmos format, and extremely realistic shotgun blasts. Very good test for tactile response. |
| Ready Player One | 14min The Race (shortened) | I start this a little later for time sake, because I like the end of the race the best. But, a lot of people start a few minutes before the 14min mark. |
| War of the Worlds | 15min Lightening Scene | ------- |
| 20min Pods Emerge (ULF!) | asdfasdfas | |
| 31min Car Run Away | asdfasdfas | |
| Gravity | 0min Opening | ------- |
| 10min Spin | asdfasdfas | |
| 43min Fire | asdfasdfas | |
| 52min Outside | asdfasdfas | |
| Fury | 1hr 14min Blast | asdfasd |
| 1hr 18min 30sec Tank Battle | asdfas | |
| Joker | 1hr 46min End Riot | asdfasdfasdfa |
| Dark Knight | Opening | asdfasd |
| 48min | Explosion | |
| 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. | |
| Fifth Element | 12min 30sec It's Taking Shape | asdfasdfa |
| Black Hawk Down | 34min 30sec Irene | asdfasdfa |
| Master & Commander | 8min Canons | asdfasdfa |
| Batman | 1hr 18min The Chase | asdfasdfa |
| A Quiet Place: Part 2 | Opening Scene | asdfasdfa |
| Jungle Cruise | 49min The Rapids | asdfasdfa |