Chimera

13th Mar 2008

General questions

What are the differences between Dolby True HD, DTS-HD Master Audio and Linear PCM Uncompressed? I was under the impression that they're all lossless and, well, basically the original sound. Wouldn't that make them all identical and impossible to tell apart?

Chimera

Chosen answer: It appears there is no difference. You can follow the links for the sources here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_TrueHD.

Rlvlk

22nd Jul 2005

General questions

What was the first film to be released in cinemas in stereo sound, and which was the first to be released in surround sound?

Chimera

Chosen answer: Fantasia, released in 1941, became the very first film to incorporate surround sound. During the '70s, Dolby experimented with placing two separate sound signals on the film. Because of the reduction in the detail that could be incorporated when reducing the area available for the analog signal, Dolby also incorporated noise reduction with a resultant change in the playback response from the Academy Curve. The first film to use this purely stereo sound was "Lisztomania" in 1975.

Ariane Schultheis

13th Jun 2005

General questions

If both contain 2 rear speakers, 3 front speakers and a sub-woofer, what is the difference between Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 ?

Chimera

Chosen answer: Compression rate. Dolby Digital 5.1 compresses the digital signal to one twelfth (1/12) of its original size, whilst DTS 5.1 compresses the signal to one quarter (1/4) of its original size. Whilst on the average home theatre there would no detectable difference, its when you start to get into more professional sound equipment that there becomes a noticeable difference.

25th Mar 2005

General questions

What is the difference between subtitles and closed-captions? Over here in England we don't bother with c-c's, but I've noticed that a lot of my R1 discs have subtitles in some languages and c-c's in others. Also, on some discs the 'subtitle' button will display the c-c's but on others it won't. In those cases how do I display the c-c's?

Chimera

Chosen answer: Closed-captioning is for the hearing-impaired, and thus displays things like sound effects (ie *doorbell ringing*) and musical notes on either side of the dialogue to represent singing, whereas subtitling is usually just a translation of the dialogue. As for displaying the c-c's, it probably depends on the DVD in question, though some TVs and DVD players have built in c-c settings which can be turned on to access the captioning.

Xofer

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