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Perhaps I should begin this third part of the article with a negative statement. The sound systems that you are going to read about in this section require additional equipment the cost of which is relatively high when compared to the equipment that you have bought. If you are happy with the cinema sound experience that you have got, stick with it and enjoy your movies. If, like me, you are an enthusiast and would like to go further, you will have to invest a lot more money and bring home more equipment. Those of you who have opted for a Midi Dolby Pro Logic System will have to dump all their kit and start all over, although to be honest I have seen Midi systems with Dolby Digital decoding and DVD changer decks built-in! Those who have a set of HiFi separates still need to add more equipment or replace their existing components, even if they just want to upgrade to the next step of Home Cinema Sound.

    Dolby Pro Logic II

Dolby Pro Logic II is a superior or enhanced version of the original Dolby Surround Pro Logic sound system. Despite being an enhancement over the previous version of surround sound, it is far superior by offering specifications that bring it close, but not quite good as Dolby Digital 5.1.

The surround is still produced from a processed stereo signal, however the rear channels now get full bandwidth frequencies and are also a stereo pair rather than a mono, limited bandwidth channel of the original Surround sound format. This makes it the Surround sound of choice if you only have a stereo (2 channel) sound source such as a Video, stereo TV, laserdisc or satellite system. 

    Dolby Digital 5.1 (a.k.a. AC3)

Dolby Digital 5.1, also known as AC3, is the next step up in the Home Cinema ladder. Unfortunately although there are only subtle differences from Dolby Surround Pro Logic, you cannot get AC3 surround sound with your present system setup.

First of all what does the 5.1 stand for?

If you remember, in the first part of the article, we said that a Dolby Surround Pro Logic system consists of four channels of sound, Left Front, Centre, Right Front and a mono Surround (rear) channel. Dolby Digital 5.1 adds two new channels. The Mono Surround channel, which in ordinary surround had also a limited frequency response (100hz - 7000hz), is now split into a stereo pair of rear channels with a full frequency response of 20hz - 20khz. That will now bring us to five separate sound channels. The other channel added is a dedicated Low Frequency Effect (LFE) channel specifically designed to handle low frequencies separately and direct them to a dedicated active Sub Woofer speaker. The difference this sound system gives over Dolby Surround Pro Logic is more precise localisation of sounds and a substantially more convincing, realistic recreation of sonic ambience.

Some of you may point out that they have already got a Low Pass Filter connection on the back of their Dolby Surround Pro Logic amplifier designed to drive active Sub Woofers. True, but unfortunately that is not a dedicated LFE channel, it is a low frequency filtering process acting on the HiFi sound track recorded on your Video tape.

In order to listen to Dolby Digital 5.1 you need to upgrade not only the amplification section but also the video source. Let's start by the last one first. As the name implies, Dolby Digital 5.1 is a digital sound track, which means that the six 'discrete' channels are transferred completely loss free from the movie maker's dubbing stage to the home movie recorded on a digital source. On the other hand, Dolby Surround Pro Logic is encoded in analogue format on the HiFi Stereo sound track of a VHS video tape or any other stereo source for that matter. In other words a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack has to be recorded on a digital medium, either a Laserdisc or Digital Versatile Disc (DVD).

Furthermore in order to be able to enjoy the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack you will also have to invest in either an add-on external Dolby Digital Decoder or a dedicated Dolby Digital Amplifier or Receiver. Most of the DVD players on the market have built-in Dolby Digital decoders as well as the mandatory six channel output signals to connect to the Dolby Surround Pro Logic Amplifier's discrete six channel input at the back. 

If you intend to buy a Dolby Digital amplifier to replace your existing DSPL amp, make sure it has both Coaxial and Optical digital inputs.  This ensures that whatever brand or type of digital source you buy you can hook it up to the back of the amplifier.

    DTS ~ Digital Theatre Systems    

DTS (Digital Theatre Systems) is the other digital sound format that has been made available to home cinema enthusiasts. DTS made its debut in the cinemas in 1993 with Steven Spielberg's blockbuster movie "Jurassic Park". The sound was received with great acclaim and some thought that it would change forever the way we experience movie theatre sound with outstanding sonic realism. The decision is all yours!

DTS is more complex than the Dolby counterpart and there were many problems at first to incorporate the uncompressed digital sound with the compressed video signal on the DVD. Furthermore, there were very few and very expensive decoders available on the market at first. This deterred most of the home cinema enthusiasts who were reluctant to invest in this format. Today, nearly all DVD players available deliver the discrete DTS digital signal through fibre optic or coaxial digital outputs for onward decoding in a suitable DTS decoder. Today every reputable make of HiFi equipment has DTS decoders incorporated into their range of home cinema equipment even entry level home cinema amps.  

    Dolby Digital EX

Dolby Digital EX is the latest enhancement from Dolby Laboratories in association with Lucasfilms' THX EX. It adds an extra centre channel at the rear, installed behind the listening position. This has now raised the numeric synonym to 6.1. This new format was first heard in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

Needless to say, you will need a different Dolby Digital amplifier/decoder in order to decode the extra rear effect channel. The present generation of 5.1 amps will not recognise the extra channel. They will still be able to deliver the full 5.1 surround sound from a 6.1 encoded movie. The extra channel will only be identified by appropriate hardware.

    DTS ES (Enhanced Surround)

In response to Dolby's state of the art technology, DTS has come up with its own version of 6.1 digital surround sound, DTS ES.

There is no use repeating what it does though it is worth pointing out that once again the present DTS Decoders will not recognise the extra channel. However, this will not adversely effect the rendition of the standard 5.1 digital mix.

Beyond Dolby Digital & DTS Surround

There is at least one other digital surround sound format that is not as yet available to the home enthusiast.

I'm sure you have all heard of SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound). You may have even experienced the format in a cinema near you. I haven't been able to tell the difference between SDDS and Dolby Digital or DTS, so I think that as far as home viewing is concerned, we should be more than happy with what is available.

Digital Video Sources

At present there are two kinds of digital video sources. The Laserdisc and the more innovative and far technologically superior Digital Versatile Disc (DVD). The Laserdisc however, is being quickly phased out by the increasingly popular DVD

Laserdisc

Laserdisc is a 12inch disc much like an ordinary LP but with silver-gold shining surfaces like the audio side of a CD. The majority of Laserdisc software is in the American NTSC format although there is a number of European PAL discs. In order to play both NTSC and PAL discs, a dual standard player and TV are required. One drawback regarding laserdiscs, Dolby Digital AC3 encoding is only found on NTSC discs. In other words PAL discs will only be encoded with normal Dolby Surround Pro Logic soundtracks much like an ordinary VHS Video Tape. So if you intend to try out Dolby Digital using Laserdisc as your preferred digital source, make sure that the software you buy is in NTSC format. Another drawback with laserdiscs is that discs are bulky, heavy and store digital data uncompressed meaning that you would have to swap sides and even discs in order to watch an entire movie. The Laserdisc is a playback only format so you still have to stick with your video recorder in order to record your favourite TV programme.

Another laserdisc downside is the problem of Laser Rot. This is more common on NTSC discs. In time, tiny spots of rot appear on the disc often effecting performance. There is no cure to this as the rot builds up on the inside of the disc surface and cannot be cleaned or removed.  

The biggest drawback of Laserdisc is the advent of DVD. The performance advantage of DVD over Laserdisc is enormous as we shall see later on. Finally, the cost of movies in LD format is considerably higher than VHS tapes or even the newer DVD discs.

Digital Versatile Disc (DVD)

Digital Video Disc (DVD) as it was formerly known, is a small 12cm disc (the size of a CD) has become the next generation of optical disc storage technology. It's essentially a bigger, faster CD that can hold video as well as audio and computer data.  DVD aims to encompass home entertainment, computers, and business information with a single digital format, eventually replacing audio CD, videotape, Laserdisc, CD-ROM, and perhaps even video game cartridges. DVD has widespread support from all major electronics companies, all major computer hardware companies, and about all of the major movie and music studios. 

What are the features and advantages of DVD?

Not all of the above features may be available on every disc as each feature must be specially authored.   However, the above features with the exception of CDR and CDRW compatibility, may be supported by all DVD players.

When considering the above features and versatility, and taking into consideration the other uses that a DVD disc is good for, such as DVD ROM for storing and distributing computer software, DVD Audio for storing audio tracks in a quality far superior than the present CD quality, the future DVD R and DVD RW recordable discs and more, it became clear that the letter V in DVD had to stand for 'Versatile' rather than 'Video' as it would otherwise do the format a great deal of injustice if one thinks that it was only good as a new video storage medium.

What are the disadvantages of the DVD Video?

Of most importance among the above disadvantages and the one that mostly affects the Home Cinema Enthusiast is the problem of Regional Coding. Unlike Laserdisc, where you could buy any movie disc from anywhere in the world and play it, as long as your machine supports both PAL and NTSC discs, DVD machines and movies are being hard and soft coded respectively with what are called Regional Codes. This means that the World has been effectively divided into six regions and hardware and software has to be specifically built and recorded for each particular region. This means that discs bought in one country may not play on players bought in another country.

The reason given for this is that Motion Picture Studios want to control the home release of movies in different countries because theater releases aren't simultaneous (a movie may come out on video in the U.S. when it's just hitting the big screens in Europe). Also, studios sell distribution rights to different foreign distributors and would like to guarantee an exclusive market. Therefore they have required that the DVD standards include codes that can be used to prevent playback of certain discs in certain geographical regions. Each player is given a code for the region in which it's sold. The player will refuse to play discs that are not allowed in that region. Regional codes are entirely optional for the maker of a disc.  Discs without codes will play on any player in any country. It's not an encryption system, it's just a small amount of information on the disc that the player checks before playing the contents.

Notwithstanding the above, some players can be modified to play discs regardless of their regional codes. This usually voids the warranty.  Some discs, such as those from Buena Vista/Touchstone/Miramax, MGM/Universal, and Polygram include commands that check for the proper region. These discs may not play on "code free" players that have their region set to "0."

My advice for the Home Cinema Enthusiast when it comes to choosing a DVD player is based on two factors. The first is that Region 1(North American) DVD's are normally released earlier than Region 2 (European) discs, so there is a wider choice of Region 1 software available. So if you are keen to buy your favourite movies the minute that they are out for sale, your choice is a Region 1 machine and you will have to import the movies personally or look out for specialised shops that will stock Region 1 movies as well. However this may not be that easy and depending on where you live you may have to import the movies directly yourself. 

As stated above, the more machines that will be available as region free the stricter the region coding by the studios will eventually be. 

The second factor to consider is to buy a Region 2 machine that can be modified by way of a special integrated circuit chip soldered to the machine's circuit board in order to render the player as a multi region rather than a region code free machine. This means that if you are playing a Region 1 disc the player is set to operate as a region 1 machine and so on. This may be a better bet as you are not forcing the machine to bypass the region coding but rather modifying the machine on the fly and converting it to the required code at the press of a key. No mater what you decide there is no guarantee that you will be able to watch all future films.

Conclusion

I think DVD is the future of home movies and above all it offers so much more than Laserdisc not just picture quality.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this article as much as I have enjoyed writing it. The scope was to deliver the subject free from technical jargon that would otherwise deter most readers who only care about enjoying their favourite movies in the comfort of their own living room. If on the other hand I have managed to persuade you into setting up your own little home cinema, you've done me proud. At least, the hours I took to finish this article have not been wasted.

Elsewhere in this article I have given details of my current Home Cinema Setup. You will see that there is nothing outstanding about it, and yet I am happy to say that the the sound that I have managed to achieve is at times better than what I hear in the cinema halls.

I have not achieved this level of performance straight from the box and, like I do, I encourage you to read about the latest technology and equipment in specialised magazines such as What HiFi, Home Cinema Choice, Home Entertainment, What Video & TV and others. 

Notwithstanding how many reviews I read, I have to confess that I am a Yamaha addict. The rave reviews that Yamaha equipment earned over the years in the Home Cinema field is as yet unmatched by any other competitor. 

I have upgraded my equipment several times since I bought my first home cinema setup five years ago. As far as amplification and video source is concerned, I think I'm done changing gear and have settled for the Yamaha DSP A1 home cinema amp and Yamaha DVD S795 DVD player.

Needless to say, these models have long been superseded by newer technology but as you may understand,

You do have to make a stop somewhere!

~Enjoy your favorite movies~

© 1998-2003 Mario Sammut

Reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission is prohibited.