6.1 Dolby Digital and 5.1 EX questions.... (1 Viewer)

I have decoders and optical cables for my home theater and some dvd's have an option for EX sound and 6.1 sound...if i choose these audio settings, what will the differences in sounds be compared to DTS or regular 5.1 sound, and will there even be a difference?...thanks

If you have Dolby Digital EX/DTS ES-matrix compatible receiver or processor, it will create a 6th channel, that is to the rear and behind your head (as opposed to the surround L/R that flank the sides). If you have a DTS ES Discrete capable receiver/processor, and the DVD is encoded specifically with ES-Discrete (there are a small few), there is an actual discrete 6th channel placed behind you using a 6th speaker, as opposed to a matrixed one. You want to choose the digital soundtrack, not the one often called "dolby surround" which is really just stereo to which matrix processing is applied. This confuses some people. If the surround soundtrack is mixed specifically for EX/ES-matrix processing it often says so, and likewise with ES-discrete. These are TOTALLY backward compatible, so this is the soundtrack you should select whether or not you have a 6-speaker setup. In your receiver, however, if you only have 5.1 speakers, you need to hleave the rear speaker set to OFF, and all EX/ES processing modes off, and you will get just standard 5.1 digital surround. I'm in a hurry, so hopefully that cleared things up a little.

This topic (and many others) is covered in our Beginner's Primer and FAQ. Use the link in my signature.

M.

u know what i jsut encountered this thing when i was watching 007 die anotherday it had an option to do dolby 5.1 ES and dolbu digital 5.1 EX for me it sounded better when i used the 5.1 ES

Wil,

There is no such thing as Dolby Digital ES, most likely you are referring to DTS ES.