Dolby Digital on Gamecube (1 Viewer)

[David J Wang]

As far as I know Gamecube does not support Dolby Digital 5.1 but I was at Software Etc the other day and I was looking at the back of Batman:Vengeance and it says on the game case that you can play the game in Dolby 5.1 Surround and it also has the Dolby Digital logo on it. Is this an error on the part of the publishers of Batman:Vengeance or is there a way or going to be a way to play DD 5.1 supported games on the Gamecube?

 

[Matty B]

The X-Box supports DD 5.1 and DTS via the HD Pack.

 

[David J Wang]

The X-Box supports DD 5.1 and DTS via the HD Pack.

My thread is about Dolby Digital and Batman:Vengeance for the NINTENDO GAMECUBE just so no one gets confused. And I did see the Dolby Digital logo and the description about Dolby 5.1 Surround on the back of the GAMECUBE Batman:Vengeance cover just so no one thinks I was looking at the Xbox Batman:Vengeance cover.

 

[Ryan Peter]

I heard it was a mistake, and it won't have 5.1.

 

[Dave Falasco]

This has been discussed a few times before; I believe the lack of a digital audio output on the Gamecube means that it can not pass a Dolby Digital signal. There are some 'Cube titles that incorporate a matrixed surround format called Dolby Pro Logic II (Rouge Leader is one), but one would need a receiver that supports that.

 

[Matty B]

Oh whoops. Sorry. Nope, the GCN only does DPL2 because of NINTENDO'S CHOICE. The GCN's sound chip is capable of outputting DD 5.1 and DTS, Nintendo chose not to release the cables for it at this point though.

 

[Jay W]

Isn't the lack of a digital audio out more reason for it rather than no cables?

 

[Morgan Jolley]

The GameCube is capable of 5.1, it just doesn't have the right output and/or cables.

I think that 5.1 has to be done on the software though.

While we're at it, the PS2 can do DTS in real-time.

 

[David J Wang]

So if Nintendo just designed a video cable that also had an optical or coax audio cable attached to it that was to be plugged into the Digital Port then Gamecube could theoretically output DD 5.1? And if so, then does Batman:Vengeance for Gamecube support DD 5.1 since it said it did on the back of the game cover? And in turn, does that foreshadow that Nintendo will indeed sell a Digital Video cable w/optical,coax connection?

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Well the GCN has to be made to actually output the signal. If the signal can be passed through the extra port, then they could make a cable for it.

 

[Gary King]

The PS2's one DTS game is nothing like what "real-time DTS" might imply... Directionality is weak in SSX:Tricky on the PS2, and pans are very unnatural. Even on the off-chance that a digital output cable is produced for the Gamecube, you're not going to get the same surround quality that you get on the Xbox... 64 full HRTF voices + Dolby Digital/DTS compression is quite a bit of computation - it's not just a matter of flicking a switch if it has to be done in software. The MCP is quite a bit more powerful than either the Cube's or the PS2's sound chips.

Given the choice between PS2 SSX:Tricky style surround, or HRTF positional sound with Pro Logic II output, Cube owners will be much more pleased with the latter...

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Theoretically couldn't they produce some kind of RF remod like for Laser Discs? Wouldn't that work with analog outs?

 

[Richard Knight]

Given that the Nintendo outputs are proprietary, and that staff at Nintendo have mentioned several times the possibility of DD5.1/DTS, the possibility is probably there to do a digital out on one of either the digital or analog plug.

Now, I actually find the SSX:Tricky DTS mode to be quite good, but the game isn't getting DTS for free - its using one of the two "vector units" to perform the encoding calculations. Good for using the hardware, bad for graphical improvements down the road. Still sounds better than PLII, on my receiver anyway.

As shown by MGS2, stereo signals still can kick ass, though.

A question, though...since when did X-Box have the ability to hardware encode DTS? I see plenty of mention about the dolby supplied DD5.1 (AC3) hardware, but nothing about their archrival.

Richard

 

[DaveM]

I am not sure about the use of DTS in games but in the Audio setup of the dashboard, you can enable both Dolby Digital and DTS . So the Xbox does have the ability but like I said, I am not sure of the use in games in the future. I don't use my Xbox as a DVD player so I can't test that either.

 

[Gary King]

Xbox doesn't encode in DTS, only Dolby Digital (and probably only 640kbps 5.1 Dolby Digital).