Page 1 of Which Sound Format is best?

Have just bought a Sony HT-BE1 Home Cinema set (am still waiting f0r it to be delivered).

Was wondering of the three sound formats supported by the amp,

Dolby® Digital,
DTS,
Dolby® ProLogic II

Which one is the best one for watching DVD`s, assuming the DVD supports DTS?

I am slightly confused as to where the other two fit in to the big listening picture.

Thanks

this is a much argued part of the DVD world, but in my opinion, neither of the sound formats you mention are better than each other.

Dolby Digital is still the first and most widely used sound format in the entire world for all movie soundtracks. At it`s highest bitrate of 484kbps, it can be truly lethal :-)

DTS was at a time regarded to be better than DD because of it`s higher bitrate usage, however, those bitrates are now very rare, and since it uses `compromise` bitrates of 754kbps on most dvd`s, technically the quality is no better than the Dolby Digital mix on the same disc, so it`s become a bit of a marketing gimmick sadly. When you get your system, tell us you can REALLY tell the difference in the dts sound, not just make yourself believe it`s better :-) That`s usually the norm for many. The soundtrack is recorded around 3db to 10db higher than the Dolby mix so many people confuse this boost in volume as better clarity when in fact at any given volume setting on your amp it`s actaually louder than the DD mix. Confusing i know, but this is the easiest explanation i can muster today!

Dolby Pro Logic 2 is a post processing format, only games are encoded in DPL2 at present. DPL2 is used for stereo or older analogue Pro Logic soundtracks or cd`s to make the sound more 5.1 esque. It`s not quite as good, but considering the amount of processing that the system has to perform, it`s a natural miracle how Dolby Labs have managed to do this! Listening to cd`s is a totally different experience as effects pop off from the rear speakers just when you don`t expect, and all sorts of steering effects are added to all your faves - very clever. TV and dvd`s not encoded in 5.1 sound superb too, so dpl2 is not really for dvd`s, if you see what i mean :-)

Hope this clears up!


Westy

Site Technical Help Editor and Moderator

Home Cinema Editor - Area450

Thanks Westy- thats very helpful indeed!

Much appreciated.

Neil, I hope you were doing that I`m not worthy thing as you thanked the God Westy;-)

All the best,

The 42%er.