New Dolby Atmos Streaming Polls

[HomerJAU]

(Posts moved from Now Listening to Dolby Atmos thread)

New polls for Atmos probably won’t happen on QQ. I put my idea for new polls and proposed method to auto make new releases and new automated reporting but it can’t be done (no direct access to the QQ forum database allowed). So it would need to be managed manually and that’s too much work. Also moderating another few hundred threads for the usual off topics, it’s too much work.

If anyone here wants to donate to cover costs of maintaining a server, I’d consider creating an Atmos release poll outside QQ and add links here to that.

My proposal was to have 3 votes for each release (each 0 to 10)
1. Surround
2. Audio Quality (sonics, dynamics etc)
3. Content (the music itself, is it worth multiple listens)

I’d also add genre, release date, original release date

Users could then view the results by any weighting: My weighting might be 60% surround score, 30% Audio, 10% content etc. (What’s important to you)

Users can sort and filter polls like: Best Surround Jazz, Best Audio from 80s albums etc, Best Surround released in last 3 months etc

The summary reports would be built on demand (I.e always up to date)

That can’t be done on QQ.

 

[fredblue]

New polls for Atmos probably won’t happen. I put my idea for new polls and proposed method to auto make new releases and new automated reporting but it can’t be done (no direct access to the database allowed). So it would need to be managed manually and that’s too much work. Also moderating another few hundred threads for the usual off topics, it’s too much work.

If anyone here wants to donate to cover costs of maintaining a server, I’d consider creating an Atmos release poll outside QQ and add links here to that.

My proposal was to have 3 votes for each release (each 0 to 10)
1. Surround
2. Audio Quality (sonics, dynamics etc)
3. Content (the music itself, is it worth multiple listens)

I’d also add genre, release date, original release date

Users could then view the results by any weighting: My weighting might be 60% surround score, 30% Audio, 10% content etc. (What’s important to you)

Users can sort and filter polls like: Best Surround Jazz, Best Audio from 80s albums etc, Best Surround released in last 3 months etc

The summary reports would be built on demand (I.e always up to date)

That can’t be done on QQ.

sounds brilliant!
i'll gladly chip in something towards server costs for such an endeavour

 

[fredblue]

a sister site perhaps?

www.AtmosphonicAtmos.com

 

[EricKalet]

I agree too! It's very helpful when delving into the huge selection of stuff on Apple Music.

However, as I have mentioned elsewhere, with all these streaming only releases coming out, shouldn't we have polls for them as well? That would really be a big help. And as informative as the Listening to in Dolby Atmos Streaming thread is, it's getting crazy long!

In addition to the already mentioned reasons why the forum isn't able to have polls for Atmos streaming music...what happens when an Atmos mix is pulled from streaming and is no longer available? Would the poll then become frozen with a notation? Would be quite disappointing to come across a poll, get excited about a mix, and then find out the mix is no longer available to listen to.

 

[HomerJAU]

Isn’t that similar to discs/LPs & Tapes going out of print?

 

[Cheezmo]

Isn’t that similar to discs/LPs & Tapes going out of print?

I had the same thought but, they are always acquirable in the 2nd hand market. Not the same for streaming.

 

[HomerJAU]

I guess I can add a ‘No longer available’ but then do we need to show which services have each release? Yes.

I’d also allow logged in users to edit that info. I don’t want to have to maintain too much. Logged in users should be able to add new releases too I guess. Or maybe an approved list of users only, as some idiot will probably want to destroy the data one day for a bit of ‘fun’

 

[J. PUPSTER]

I guess I can add a ‘No longer available’ but then do we need to show which services have each release? Yes.

I’d also allow logged in users to edit that info. I don’t want to have to maintain too much. Logged in users should be able to add new releases too I guess. Or maybe an approved list of users only, as some idiot will probably want to destroy the data one day for a bit of ‘fun’

Maybe an ‘Active/Inactive’ toggle button, but then the added grief of availability in different Countries.

 

[fredblue]

maybe a simple 3 star rating approach would be sufficient?

1 star for the musical content,
1 star for the sound quality,
1 star for the Surround/Atmos aspect

 

[ted_b]

maybe a simple 3 star rating approach would be sufficient?

1 star for the musical content,
1 star for the sound quality,
1 star for the Surround/Atmos aspect

And what would each star get as a scale? I’m confused. How would we know a good Atmos mix from a great one with only a star to use?

 

[HomerJAU]

maybe a simple 3 star rating approach would be sufficient?

1 star for the musical content,
1 star for the sound quality,
1 star for the Surround/Atmos aspect

And what would each star get as a scale? I’m confused. How would we know a good Atmos mix from a great one with only a star to use?

It will be 10 stars for each of the 3 sub sections. A total score shown as percent.

I might even make them 11 stars each

 

[humprof]

Atmos Polls: I will probably go ahead with this but I’m busy for a few weeks. When I’m getting closer to starting I’ll start a new thread to discuss/inform and I’ll get hosting costs so we all know what’s ahead as far as funding.

I’ll call for small donations to cover hosting costs and for at least a couple volunteers to moderate what’s being posted. Maybe for help to get the release list info in Excel or similar.

I’ll do the code/database and importing the Atmos release lists to kick it off. I don’t want any funds for that. To keep it going we’ll need a trickle of cash. Usually 12 months up front. Hosting can be fairly expensive but I’m hoping I can find something decent reasonably cheaply. Probably Microsoft Azure.

(We should move these related posts to a new thread)

Thanks for taking the reins on this, @HomerJAU. Not to derail the conversation, but I wonder if an online database wouldn't also serve our purposes, at least in part. It wouldn't allow for reviews and discussion, but it would at least allow us to track releases, services, mixers (where known), etc. I've been meaning to check out this service for a long time now. Seems to be free? And it's Australian!
https://heuristnetwork.org/

 

[HomerJAU]

There will be a SQL Server database with a GUI on the Poll website to view all the releases (as well as voting).

Users will be able create their own PDF reports and download to Excel etc.

 

[HomerJAU]

maybe a simple 3 star rating approach would be sufficient?

1 star for the musical content,
1 star for the sound quality,
1 star for the Surround/Atmos aspect

The 3 rating/voting categories will look like these demo examples, with touch screen support for phones and tablets, just drag to set your vote. Maybe themed like this:

https://demos.devexpress.com/ASPNetCore/Demo/Slider/Overview/?theme=material.blue.dark.compact
After viewing the demo I think I’ll implement each category as 0 to 10 with 0.5 increments (for those who can’t decide between an 8 or 9 vote).

 

[HomerJAU]

Ok. I’ve moved the recent Atmos Streaming Poll posts to this new thread. All discussions on this here please.

On pricing to host the new Atmos Streaming Polls on another web server:

Cheapest option including backup is: (USD)
Annual Fee: $29 (Domain name registration & Registration Privacy)
Monthly Fee: $37 (Hosting, Storage, 80GB traffic), SQL database, SSL Certificate & Backup)

$473 per year, looks like there’s a small discount for first year ($30).

This will be hosted on a US server. I used this the CA company previously (10 years ago with no issues).

I may still use Microsoft Azure but I don’t have pricing yet.

The forum software is free, open source based on asp.net so I can create all the fancy polling control pages, reports and graphs etc.

To kick this off:
Financial:
We need to raise around $450 USD to run the system for first 12 months (No cash yet just pledges)

Resources:
Data Collection:
Volunteers to get all the Streaming Atmos release info into a shared spreadsheet to seed the database

Moderation/Release Management:
Volunteers to help moderate forum posts
Volunteers to add/update release data (’admin’ rights to the database via a management app I’ll build, ideally Windows users but let’s see how we go)

Once we’ve established a go-ahead I’ll post more technical and financial details and ask for feedback on what data, user interface and reports should look like. I’ll then create a private test website and get feedback before it eventually goes live.

All volunteers and donators will get to play with the test site and provide feedback.

EDIT: I want to limit the scope of the new website to streaming only and link back to QQ and promote QQ membership. This is not in anyway a competitor to QQ, it’s just a website to collect votes and publish results, with users having ability to post comments on each streaming release.

With the QQ owner’s permission I’d like to include the Atmos Streaming Poll Summary report in the current QQ Poll Report pages here on QQ.

 

[privateuniverse]

Moderation/Release Management:
Volunteers to help moderate forum posts
Volunteers to add/update release data (’admin’ rights to the database via a management app I’ll build, ideally Windows users but let’s see how we go)

Happy to volunteer!

 

[HomerJAU]

Happy to volunteer!

Thanks!

In an ideal world we’d want Moderators on different time zones. I’m not particularly interested in moderating the new Poll forum (enough on my plate). Hopefully we’ll find someone else here in AU.

 

[HomerJAU]

How about helping to choose the site name?

I don’t want to use the word ‘Atmos’ as is a registered name. Also it may include RA360 and/or other future systems.

Maybe: Forum.SpatialMusic.com ? (Variations on SpatialAudio are already taken)

 

[HomerJAU]

SpatialMusicReview.com ?

 

[humprof]

SpatialMusicReview.com ?

ImmersiveStreamingReview.com?