Dolby EX Tracks on Pixar Blu-Rays (1 Viewer)

[James_Garner]

Even though "Cars" and "Ratatouille" both have great 5.1 PCM tracks, both titles have Dolby EX audio (although both are only listed as being Dolby 5.1. To access them, set the Blu-ray player to "Bitstream" and select "Dolby 5.1" on the film's audio set-up. It seems odd to me that neither Disney nor Pixar would provide a 6.1 PCM mix since both titles have 5.1 EX encoding.

 

[ToEhrIsHuman]

If you have a receiver which can apply Dolby PLIIx to multichannel PCM you will get your rear surrounds. Starting with 'Sleeping Beauty' Disney appears to be heading the 7.1 route with its soundtracks, and you can pretty much bank on future Pixar releases receiving the same treatment.

 

[Brian L]

I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong, but a DD EX mix IS a 5.1 mix. The center back is matrixed onto the two surround channels and is decoded in a similar fashion to the way Pro Logic derives the center channel from the L/R fronts.

As such, there is no 6th channel to include in PCM.

Brian

 

[TonyD]

6.1 would indicate a rear center channel wouldn't it?

 

[Stephen_J_H]

There is no 6th channel per se to include in PCM if you port directly from DD EX, but if you were to go back to the original audio stems, the information (which is matrixed into the rear surrounds in an EX track) could be included in PCM as a 6th track, or even 6th and 7th tracks.

 

[Roogs Benoit]

Brian L. and Stephen J.H. are correct.

There is no discrete center channel in Dolby EX. Even though the stems may have a center surround that does not mean that it appears on the final printmaster.

Studios generally put printmasters on BD and DVD as their audio source, not the stems. That's why it is labeled as a 5.1EX and not a 6.1 track.

FYI: some of the Pixar shorts were remixed in EX that were previously just 5.1 or stereo, like Knick Knack and Tin Toy for example on their Shorts disc.

I hope Wall-E has a 7.1 mix comming for BD but we will just have to wait and see.