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  1. Roger Dressler

    Dolby True HD vs. DTS-HD

    One theoretical advantage in TrueHD's favor is that the decoder will never impose "remapping" of the surround signals into the fronts as can happen with 7.1 HDMA. Just give me the original tracks from the studio master, thanks.
  2. Roger Dressler

    Looking for Dolby Headphone

    Might have a look at the Turtle Beach X41. They have Dolby Headphone, but I've not heard them. I use an import version of Pioneer's IR wireless Dolby Headphone system, SE-DIR2000, since superceded by the 3000 IIRC. They sound exactly like wired phones. Zero noise. The connection is digital, not...
  3. Roger Dressler

    PCM5.1 & lossless audio discussion - split thread from A Knight's Tale review

    Are you using the same analog connection for the DVD tracks, or decoding them in the AVR?
  4. Roger Dressler

    PCM5.1 & lossless audio discussion - split thread from A Knight's Tale review

    Well, since the DEHT mix is completely different than the theatrical version, one would hope it sounded different. It's sufficiently different that it cannot be used to determine the effect of dialnorm, I would submit.
  5. Roger Dressler

    HDA1 audio questions

    Your AVR can display the dialnorm offset from DD bitstreams on DVD because it sees that dialnorm data in the bitatream. When playing HD DVDs, the decoding is happening in the player, so your AVR only sees PCM, and cannot know anything about the dialnorm value. I cannot see how your AVR can...
  6. Roger Dressler

    HD players that decode Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD: MA??

    The picture does not show a DTS-HD logo, so I don't understand how people conclude it decodes -MA. It's just a new style DTS artwork.
  7. Roger Dressler

    HDA1 audio questions

    From your description, it seems there is a difference in the playback loudness of the two tracks, probably due to Dolby's use of dialnorn. In this case, you have to adjust your volume control up by 4 dB (probably, but it varies based on dialnorm setting) when switching back to the Dolby track...
  8. Roger Dressler

    PCM5.1 & lossless audio discussion - split thread from A Knight's Tale review

    There aren't any players that offer a switch for Dialog Normalization on/off. What is the annoyance it causes you?
  9. Roger Dressler

    Studio Canal HD DVDs will feature DTS-HD Master Audio

    Do they decode DTS-HD Master Audio, or just the core, or what? The Ver2 upgrade did not mention adding DTS lossless capability--or maybe I missed it.
  10. Roger Dressler

    PCM5.1 & lossless audio discussion - split thread from A Knight's Tale review

    DTS makes some DVDs, so they would be in control of the bitrates. They now report that most DVDs were made with half bitrate, 768 kbps. If you look at their info on DTS-HD, it says "All DTS-HD encoded content contains the original DTS 1.5 Mbps core," but in fine print it says "In certain...
  11. Roger Dressler

    PCM5.1 & lossless audio discussion - split thread from A Knight's Tale review

    I would say that given the capacities of these new formats, there's no excuse not to use 640 kbps for either format. HD DVD has the option to go higher, but you mentioned that there is insufficient space for TrueHD. At the end of the day, no disc should go out with unused bits after all the...
  12. Roger Dressler

    PCM5.1 & lossless audio discussion - split thread from A Knight's Tale review

    I cannot say that we have attempted to drill down to the 99th degree. There are some differences, such as the 3-block frames in HD DVD vs the 6-block frames in BD (at this data rate). I cannot tell you what that will translate to in sound quality, if any. We'll just have to listen carefully to...
  13. Roger Dressler

    PCM5.1 & lossless audio discussion - split thread from A Knight's Tale review

    There is no difference in how dialnorm is calculated between DD, DD+, and TrueHD. It's measured on the source PCM, then encoded into the bitstream.
  14. Roger Dressler

    PCM5.1 & lossless audio discussion - split thread from A Knight's Tale review

    Thanks much for this info. I'm really glad that both D-VHS and the Warner HD discs mark an improvement for you. I feel the same. Aside from the sheer increase in bitrate over LD/DVD, the encoder parameters are somewhat changed as they have more bits to work with. More of the data, for example...
  15. Roger Dressler

    PCM5.1 & lossless audio discussion - split thread from A Knight's Tale review

    I do not have enough experience in our R&D test lab to tell you my impression of that. I need to find some time to do so--I guess it is a rare privilege to have such A/B capability! Anything based on disc A vs disc B has too many variables to say for certain.
  16. Roger Dressler

    PCM5.1 & lossless audio discussion - split thread from A Knight's Tale review

    I am unaware of any decent processor that cannot defeat bass management. What other DSP process is being imposed in the signal path? And it would be a serious detriment to turn off bass management for 99.9% of users. There is no easy alternative to achieving proper spectral reproduction of all...
  17. Roger Dressler

    PCM5.1 & lossless audio discussion - split thread from A Knight's Tale review

    I randomly pulled True Lies, Lion King, and Clear and Present Danger (I think it was the first DD laser disc). All three use dialnorm at "27" same as the DVDs. Do you have a list of LDs with dialnorm at 31? I'm not saying none exist. I'm just saying your statement is an exaggeration, not unlike...
  18. Roger Dressler

    PCM5.1 & lossless audio discussion - split thread from A Knight's Tale review

    Maybe Filmmixer will comment, but listening to the stems would not necessarily represent what the mixer wanted you to hear. It could require a new mixing session to create a 6.1 presentation mix from those stems. Here’s an example. Consider that Dolby EX movies are mixed in the presence of...
  19. Roger Dressler

    PCM5.1 & lossless audio discussion - split thread from A Knight's Tale review

    If we were to look at an ideal audio chain, where the lossless audio remained untouched and bit accurate as far as possible, I guarantee that those bits will never reach the DAC intact. Somewhere between the lossless decoder’s output and the DAC there are inevitable things like bass management...
  20. Roger Dressler

    Dolby True-HD and DTS-HD

    In case you want to know more about how the "core 5.1 mix" is prepared in Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD formats, a new paper was recently posted at: http://www.dolby.com/assets/pdf/tech...whitepaper.pdf Regards,
  21. Roger Dressler

    Ultimate AV Mag report on Blu-ray demo - lots of information

    Dan Hitchman wrote: >>Do we know for certain that the 5.1 PCM file will be high resolution (i.e. 24 bit with high sampling rates) from the master digital soundtracks? Or will these be losslessly compressed PCM files using DTS-HD in its lossless encoding mode (Dolby TrueHD player specs. are...
  22. Roger Dressler

    THX and Advanced Surround modes on 1014

    >>if you're playing a DD EX source (I'm pretty sure the trilogy is EX, no?), the only available mode is THX EX.
  23. Roger Dressler

    dts 5.1 vs dts+neo:6

    Brad wrote: >>Thanks for the info Roger, good stuff. I know you're a Dolby guy, but does DTS work the same way?>And in your opinion, is this really the best solution? Why doesn't Dolby totally separate the Ls and Rs?
  24. Roger Dressler

    dts 5.1 vs dts+neo:6

    Hi Brad, >>This is something that I have never noticed by listening. Has anyone? And how can you say for sure that every receiver, from all the different manufactures, do it like this.
  25. Roger Dressler

    dts 5.1 vs dts+neo:6

    Brad wrote: >>Lewis, I guess I'll have to disagree with Roger as well then. I'm not saying you guys are wrong, techincally you are correct.>To me, a matrixed channel is one that is created from nothing. (eg: A mono source decoded with Logic7 or DPLIIx) IMO, there needs to be another term to...
  26. Roger Dressler

    Why isn't SDDS in the consumer market?

    >>In fact, both competing formats put the exhibitor at a disadvantage in that their home versions have higher performance than their professional systems.
  27. Roger Dressler

    Is it really 7.1 without THX?

    Here is what was reported in Twice about Ultra2, 9/3/2001: >>•If the soundtrack delivers a stereo surround signal, the devices must feed the stereo signal to the left-right dipole surrounds as usual, switch off decorrelation, and feed a portion of the stereo signal to the back surrounds...
  28. Roger Dressler

    PLIIx Cinema decoding of Dolby Digital 5.1 Sources with Denon AVR 3805

    Octavio, Sorry I did not pick up from your first post that you were using only 1 back speaker--I could have saved you a lot of fooling around. But hey, you are now an expert in navigating the Denon menus! >>Then, I concluded that PLIIx Cinema decoding for Dolby Digital 5.1 sources is...
  29. Roger Dressler

    PLIIx or DD Ex under a 6.1 speaker configuration

    In the 6.1-speaker mode, the decoder can offer you DD EX (a movie mode) and DD+PLIIx Music. There is no "PLIIX Movie" mode because that is DD EX, and there would be no difference. When there is 7.1-speaker system, then the DD+PLIIx Movie mode is available separate from DD EX (which in this case...
  30. Roger Dressler

    PLIIx Cinema decoding of Dolby Digital 5.1 Sources with Denon AVR 3805

    >>OK, but how can I coose PLIIx Cinema as the default. I don´t find it in the menu.
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