The Cinema Designer (TCD) has announced a software update that allows integrators to quickly design high render channel count home theaters easier than before. To do this, TCD incorporated Trinnov Audio's recommended speaker whitepaper into the software, and now technically accurate 32-channel count Dolby Atmos and DTS:X home theaters come together “in a matter of minutes,” according to TCD.
“Designing high channel count theaters for optimal results is something few people have much experience doing,” says Jon Herron, high-end audio, director of sales, Americas, Trinnov Audio. “The Cinema Designer incorporates the experience we have gained by being involved with virtually all of the high spatial resolution residential systems completed to date.”
The goal is to eliminate the guesswork when it comes to placing all the required loudspeakers accurately in a room — in a way that both compliments the listening area and also eliminates equipment combinations that won't work.
“Even within the high-end theater community, most systems have been stuck at around 11 channels, plus subwoofers,” says Herron. “Many designers are not entirely comfortable with the naming conventions, much less the use of all the ‘new’ speaker locations available to them, nor which ones are the most important when deciding to increase the channel count beyond 11.1.
“This fact is not helped by the fact that Dolby, Auro and DTS all use different nomenclature for their ‘extra’ speakers,” adds Herron. “TCD incorporates industry standards and Trinnov’s own experience in designing these high channel count theatres into its design algorithms. It's quite remarkable.”
The cloud-based design software produces a standards-based, scientifically-designed set of drawings, complete with information about the performance that should be expected from their particular combination of speakers and amplifiers.
TCD then allows the designer to quickly hone in on the optimal range of equipment for the particular project, producing a 30+ page proposal (with audio and video calibration reports) ready to produce to the client for review, including creating a 3D CAD drawing in as little as 30 seconds, according to TCD.
Related: What's The Cinema Designer (TCD) Software?
“Most effective design teams have the ability to generate this sort of documentation. But the cycle of revisions, changed orders, etc. takes weeks – even months,” says Herron. “The time it takes someone to create TCD designs and selling documents is between five and 10 minutes. Normally, you would have to close a client on a design fee in order to justify what would otherwise be weeks of work. Think of how many more theaters you could sell if such a proposal took only a matter of minutes.”
Trinnov has added The Cinema Designer software to its Level I Certification program; any company looking to achieve Level I Certification must attend a live training event and either sign up and demonstrate their ability to use TCD or demonstrate that they have all the engineering resources in place to do an equally good job designing complex theaters.
“Frankly, even those with suitable engineering resources would be well advised to use TCD for proposal generation and first-pass AutoCAD drawings,” adds Herron.


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