PCM setting (1 Viewer)

[DarrinH]

PCM pulse coded modulation

What the heck is that?

A friend of mine asked me about it and I could not answer him.

I have two different sound settings on my DVD player

Dolby Digital/PCM

PCM

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Technically, PCM is a type of audio encoding format, just like Dolby Digital or DTS. In the case of your DVD player, it is able to pass the dolby digital signal as a PCM compatible datastream in case your receiver does not have the ability to decode DD, but is able to handle PCM.

PCM is essentially a digital audio "language". Just like DD is a language, and DTS is a language and SDDS and MP3 and whatever else.

In the case of your DVD player, it can be set to pass the dd dignal as 2 channel data compatible with a PCM decoder.

For ref, PCM is the format used for digitally passing CD audio. PCM is often used in conjnction with Uncompressed digital audio.

-Vince

 

[Robert Cook]

DarrinH wrote:

I have two different sound settings on my DVD player
Dolby Digital/PCM
PCM

The "PCM" mode would make the DVD player decode Dolby Digital (DD) soundtracks into two-channel PCM soundtracks on the fly. If a DD soundtrack has more than two channels, the player will combine the channels into two, which means that you would lose the full surround and bass qualities of a 5.1 soundtrack, although you can use Dolby Pro Logic to get more limited surround sound. This is a limitation of the digital connection. The "PCM" mode is for those who don't have a receiver capable of handling DD soundtracks.
The "Dolby Digital/PCM" mode, as you might guess, sends DD soundtracks directly to the receiver. If your receiver can decode DD, you will not be limited to two channels, so this is the setting you should use. The reason "PCM" is included in the name is that soundtracks that are already in the PCM format will also be sent directly to the receiver, as you might expect. There's no conversion going on in either case--the receiver has to handle that.
For those who don't have a digital receiver at all, and use their DVD players' red and white analog outputs for audio, this setting should not have an effect, as I believe that all or most DVD players always decode DD soundtracks, and convert them to two-channel analog audio for those outputs.