Is Dolby becoming the MQA of multi-channel?

[FredericV]

Dolby will not allow upmixers from DTS & Auro to process the output of it's own codec:

https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/18/06/03/2029239/dolby-looking-to-monopolize-consumer-audio-by-restricting-its-codec

 

Quote

The copy of the mandate that was sent to all of Dolby's licensee partners has the following guidelines: Native Dolby Atmos content shall NOT be up-mixed, surround or height virtualized by any 3rd party competitor upmixer (ie. DTS or Auro-3D); Channel-Based DD/DD+, Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and 7.1 codecs shall not be height virtualized by any 3rd party upmixer (ie. DTS). (This implies height virtualization without height speakers. DTS has this capability but Auro-3D does not).

Audioholics notes the company will however "permit third party upmixing and/or surround virtualization of channel-based codecs that support Dolby Atmos rendering as long as the third party doesn't license their own upmixing technologies to third parties."

As for why Dolby is issuing this mandate to its licensees, it may come down to two reasons: control quality of content so that their upmixer is only used with their software; put an end to Auro-3D and strike a blow to DTS.

It makes sense not to upmix atmos. Atmos should be able to render to any speaker layout.

But it does not make sense not to upmix channel based 5.1 and 7.1 or limit our choices for owners with height/ceiling speakers. I own an 11.2 home cinema speaker setup, so my upmix choices will be limited in the future when playing channel based Dolby content. Fact is that these upmixers sound different, so we no longer have the right to decide with our own ears?