Question about Dolby Pro Logic II (1 Viewer)

[Emile]

If you watch a lot of tv with your HTS system is it important to have both DPL and DPLII? I am just asking because I am not clear on whether tapes that were encoded in DPL will play DPLII? Or is it only the new tapes that have been encoded with DPLII the ones that can play that format? So then I would want an A/V reciever that plays both of those to accomodate old and new VHS tapes? Thanks for the comments.

 

[Michael Reuben]

DPL2 was designed to work with all 2-channel sources, regardless of how they were encoded.
M.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Don't think of PL or PLII as being "encoded." It's just plain old stereo. Thats it. You can apply PL or PLII processing to ANY stereo source. Movies, and such, that carry the PL label, or the PLII label, have just been mixed with this in mind, to take full advantage of PLI/PLII processing should someone want to use them. So you would want to make sure you get PLII, most receivers now do anyway. Also, I think this was discussed elsewhere, but all (that I know of) PLII receivers have a PLI emulation mode, that processes a track in the old, PLI method. A nice feature for perhaps some uses, by I never use it, nor can I envision ever needing to use it. I apply PLII to any movies on VHS regardless. Sources mixed for PLI can be played back via PLII processing, with probably better results, and PLII mixed sources can be played back well with PLI playback equiptment. With any pure-matrix decoding method, there is never a compatibility issue.

 

[AaronJB]

I watch a lot of network TV with PLII and find it extremely enjoyable - far more enjoyable than TV in PLI. Still, some programs just don't work as well as others. DTS's NEO-6 also works well w/some television - I just watched "Fastlane" last night and that was terrific in NEO-6.

Some video games ("Treasure Planet" for PS2, a lot of Gamecube games) are also in PLII (whether or not they're "encoded in" or "optimized for" I don't know).

 

[Emile]

Thanks for the info, now I know what to look for.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Well, "encoded" means more that the sound is encoded in some sort of format, e.g. Dolby Digital (AC-3) compression format, or DTS, or MP3, or PCM (cds) or something like that. PLII sources are not encoded like this, it's just plain analog stereo, or its analog stereo from some encoded format. For instance, if you have a DVD, which is encoded in DD, with only a stereo track, or you are using the 2.0 mix, you can then apply PLII processing to that stereo track. There, it is actually "encoded" in DD, but you are using PLII processing for playback, since maybe it's only a 2.0 track.

Now, gaming systems i'm not really sure how they work. Now, I know that even before surround made it into video games, that the sounds are created by the game console as you play, and placed appropriately left/right. Now, some games can mix these sounds using PLII method into the stereo outputs, so that if/when you apply PLII processing, it comes out in a very impressive and cool surround.

Anyway, so Emile, you want to make sure that you have PLII because it is better, and more advanced, giving you 5 full-bandwidth channels(matrixed of course) with better separation than with the older PLI. Almost everything now comes with PLII, so it shouldn't be an issue, plus as I said, all (I think it's a requirement of PLII, that it can do older PLI also, but not sure, and there may be a rare exception out there) receivers that have PLII have a PLI emulation mode, that does the original PLI processing, should you ever desire that. PLII will give you a better playback with old VHS tapes, or old movies that have been put on DVD that might only have a stereo track, along with TV programs etc. Of course you'll want DD/DTS for all newer movies on DVD.