Dolby Digital Plus

Nick Beecham · 01-12-2008, 1:36 PM

Apologies if I should know this.

I play blu rays on my PS3 and HD DVDs on my Toshiba E1. I do not have HDMI or analogues for audio, so I am restricted to using the RF/optical leads sent to my Lexicon MC1.

Does this give me Dolby Digital Plus, or just Dolby Digital with higher bit rate than DVDs - or is this the same thing?

Many thanks in advance.
Nick

**Bald Monkey** · 01-12-2008, 1:47 PM

Yep you should get DD+ and DD via optical..

AFAIK,

DD is upto a limit of 640Kbps although most SD-DVD's don't even have this instead they have a lower DD bitrate..

So if you have selected the DD+ track on a disc then it should send this via optical. DD+ is I suspose DD at a higher bitrate as it's still lossly, but then many have reported hearing little difference between DD+ and TrueHD. All depends on your equipment etc..

IME DD+ is better than DD but not as good as TrueHD. And DD+ can be sent via optical TrueHD can not

Nick Beecham · 01-12-2008, 2:09 PM

Many thanks - so do I need to manually select a Dolby Digital Plus sound track for each disc? Until now, I have just clicked on "Play".

y2k · 01-12-2008, 2:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick Beecham

Many thanks - so do I need to manually select a Dolby Digital Plus sound track for each disc? Until now, I have just clicked on "Play".

Normally, well I have to do it on the PS3 as its usually stuck on Dolby Digital.

**Bald Monkey** · 01-12-2008, 2:37 PM

YES!

You need to select (on the disc menu) which sound track you want to listen to or you will get the default audio, usually normal DD or DTS.

Migman · 01-12-2008, 7:09 PM

Dolby Digital Plus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It would seem that optical etc. only carries core, so no DD+

**Bald Monkey** · 01-12-2008, 10:24 PM

Yeah you might be right on that one...

So it's full bitrate DD and DTS only on digital coax/optical and DD+ TrueHD and DTS-HD MA on HDMI..

Nick Beecham · 02-12-2008, 9:52 AM

Well - many thanks for your help but how confusing! If you have HDMI, surely you will always select one of the lossless formats. So does Dolby Digital Plus have any pointto it at all?
Best wishes
Nick

**Bald Monkey** · 02-12-2008, 9:59 AM

Yep

There is no standard requirement that all HD films have to have lossless sound. The studios can pick and choose whatever they want for each release.. So many HD discs only have DD+, in this case being able to listen to it is a good added bonus

IAN P · 02-12-2008, 2:54 PM

This website tells you what is mandatory.

Dutch · 02-12-2008, 4:47 PM

Your E1 can decode (640 kbps or 1.5 Mbps) DD+ signals to PCM, and then re-encode to 1.5Mbps DTS which your Lexicon should happily decode.

Steve

Nick Beecham · 02-12-2008, 5:50 PM

But only in 2 channel.

Right?

Nic Rhodes · 02-12-2008, 6:00 PM

no you should get full core DTS 6 channel at 1536bps

Nick Beecham · 02-12-2008, 6:22 PM

Nic/Steve

Many thanks. Sorry to be a bit thick, but this is news to me. I thought PCM was only 2 channel through RF/optical which is what the link Ian has provided says, although I'm probably misunderstanding this.

Does that mean I select DD+ or PCM on the E1 and DD Logic 7 on the MC1?

...and I cannot do this with Blu Ray?

Best wishes
Nick

Nic Rhodes · 02-12-2008, 6:35 PM

On all HD DVD players there is a re encode option. This takes what ever sound track you choose (like DD+ or TrueHD) and converts it to a bitstream output. This means DD or DTS. The latter is prefered, but the choice of which you get is down to the player model number. Your E1 will output (and very well) DTS if you select a bitstream output by the optical connection. If you pick the PCM output you will get uncompressed PCM output via optical but only 2 channel (just like CD). Now as many DD+ tracks on HD DVD were at 1500 rates then re encode to DTS work really well.

Blu ray hasn't really adopted DD+ and stuck with DD or DTS as the bitstream output via coax / toslink. This is either from the core DTS sound track or a hidden DD track, even if you have selected a lossless TrueHD one. These hidden DD tracks could be upto 640bps but are often less a la DVD tracks. Here in the UK we also have 2 Samsung players that can take the better lossless / PCM sound tracks and rather than getting bog standard DD, re encode the better sound tracks selected, just like the HD DVD players, to DTS (only this time), so good lossless TrueHD and PCM can outputted to FULL BIT RATE DTS Core. As most receivers / processors in the last 10 years have the ability to deal with this, it a great solution for some.

Lord Bunky · 06-12-2008, 10:09 AM

Can anyone tell me why Warners still put a 640Kbps DD track and a TrueHD track on their BD's?

I hate the fact that their discs default to DD on start up. Some bod at Warner should have their butt kicked.

Just seems like a waste of space if you ask me.

Nic Rhodes · 06-12-2008, 10:45 AM

Every disc will have a DD or DTS track on the disc, whether it is on the rear or not. It is essential for the SPDIF output with MANY use all the time.

Lord Bunky · 07-12-2008, 10:30 AM

The new master of Casion Royale from sony doesnt. Infact most discs i have only have a TrueHD track. As the 640Kbps version can be extracted from the TrueHD track. Its pointless to have two Dolby tracks.

I used to play Dolby TrueHD through optical via my PS3 and the amp would show just Dolby Digital. Likewise with DTS-MA, that would just show normal 1.5Mb DTS via Optical.

Pointless having two sound tracks of the same language.

Nic Rhodes · 07-12-2008, 1:14 PM

Just because you can't see it on a menu does not mean it is not there!! The DD track is not extracted from TrueHD, in fact some players can't even do TrueHD as it is only optional on Blu ray (mandatory on HD DVD). If you only want one language track on each disc then you are limited to either core DTS or DD (or PCM) as all the other sound tracks are options. Personally I have always argued for DTS HD MA as a track that satisfies just about all.