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More and more television manufacturers are developing solutions that allow you to create a home cinema without running cables across the living room. Instead of a traditional AV receiver and wired speakers, a compatible television and additional wireless speakers will suffice. Several competing technologies are already appearing on the market, including solutions from Samsung, Sony, Apple, Google and Dolby. This could make surround sound much more accessible to everyday users. The biggest problem, however, remains compatibility, because some manufacturers restrict their systems to their own speakers.
Wireless audio is delivered directly to the TV
Wireless rear speakers are, of course, nothing new, as they have been connectable to soundbars or AV receivers for years. The new trend, however, is moving the entire centre of the audio system directly into the TV, meaning a soundbar or a separate AV receiver will not always be necessary. Samsung is developing Q-Symphony for this purpose, Sony offers Direct Connect, and previously LG and Roku, among others, created their own solutions. Apple, meanwhile, allows you to pair Apple TV 4K with HomePod speakers, and thanks to AirPlay 2 you can also use compatible devices from other brands, albeit with some limitations. Also gaining importance is Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, which allows you to wirelessly connect up to four speakers and a subwoofer to the TV. The technology has already been used by LG and TCL, among others, and its advantage is that it allows more flexible speaker placement in the room.
Dolby could set the direction for the whole market
The development of several different platforms shows that TV manufacturers have recognised the potential of wireless home cinema. With Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, the particularly interesting feature is the virtualisation of some audio channels, so speaker placement need not be perfect. The problem remains, however, that compatibility is often limited to devices from the same manufacturer. Meanwhile, Bluetooth, although available in most modern TVs, is not a good solution for a full home cinema system due to limited bandwidth, latency and the fact that only a limited number of devices can be connected. An interesting alternative is AirPlay 2, as it supports speakers from different manufacturers such as Bose, Bowers & Wilkins and Sonos, although the Apple TV 4K currently does not allow a full surround system to be built this way. So the market does not yet have a single ideal standard, but the direction of change is increasingly clear.
Televisions are increasingly more than just screens; they are becoming the central element of the home audio system. A wireless connection to rear speakers and a subwoofer could, in the future, make it much easier to create a home cinema without a tangle of cables. At present, Dolby Atmos FlexConnect holds the most promise, although Samsung, Sony, Apple and Google are also developing their own solutions. If manufacturers begin to open up their systems more widely to third-party devices, configuring such a setup could become even simpler. For now, however, users must carefully check the compatibility of the television and speakers before buying.
source: flatpanelshd
