does dolby pro logic II swing it

seafoodmix

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i am looking at the Pioneer dcs-313 and the panasonic SC-HT500.

the only difference i can find is that the Pioneer has the pro logic II, will plII improve old VHS films and tv considerably and is it the way to go.

thanks for any input on which system.
 
I would have thought they both have pro logic 2. I swear by it!!!!

DD_Davo
 
I'm in exactly the same position, choosing between the Pioneer dcs-313 and the panasonic SC-HT500. The panasonic is better looking but has 'super surround sound' instead of PL2 which the Pioneer has.

Both take stereo and cobble it into multi channel, but PL2 gives full-range stereo to the rears, while (according to the panasonic brochure) provides mono to the rears. Older normal Pro Logic had mono rears with reduced frequency range, so the question is does panasonic SSS have full range mono to the rears, and is the difference noticable when compared to PL2.

I'm going to try and audition the SC-HT500 soon, so i'll let you know...
 
Cant answer that, however Dolboy p 2 is way better compared to original pro logic, which supports only 4 channel systems.
 
I wouldn't describe Prologic II as way better myself. The main difference is it splits the rear channels into left and right and thats it. Ok its more finely tuned to get improved surround but I've heard some prologic setups in my time and honestly couldn't say Prologic II is a dramatic improvement. Definitely a great feature to have but I could live with just Prologic. I used to have a pretty good Aiwa prologic system which I used with my gamecube and got great results with it. When I got rid of the Aiwa and got a home cinema system it was an improvement. I suppose the difference was that with the Aiwa in a game like Rogue Leader if a tie fighter was attacking from behind it always seemed directly behind me you but with my home cinema system you get a sense that its either left or right behind you and you can hear it move across between the two which is obviously a lot better. However 95% of surround is concerned with the front channels, left, centre and right and in that regard there was no difference. I would personally focus more on sound quality overall than between the two prologics. The Digitheatre Platinum is a great system and thats only got Prologic and a damn site better for £200 than many speaker systems that have prologic II. Even has a 2 year guarantee for peace of mind.
 
Perhaps it's best to say that DPLII can be much better - depending on the source.

Since I bought my DCS-303, I have had several :eek: moments (sorry, but I can't be certain which films!) that were truly beyond what I've experienced with the same source and DPL reproduction. However, having said that, there has been an occasion where a very similar effect (recently too!) was experienced via my Toshiba DPL television. I still use the TV sound; but if I am viewing a film, music or one of my favourite sound sources - racing engines! :devil: - then I usually switch to the 303 and DPLII. For completion, I suppose the addition of the 303's sub rather sways which hardware I use for my viewing; but even so, aside from occasional experimentation, I am settled on DPLII decoding.

By the way, Star Wars, Jurassic Park :smashin: and Gamecube's Rogue Leader - Rogue Squadron II have been particularly fun with DPLII :cool: Not that I've spent time in Rogue Leader's 'Tie-Fighter flying round the room screen' or anything...

Noooo, not me. :laugh:
 
Assuming the Pioneer like the Samsung has the orginal prologic function amongst the prologic II options you can hear the difference yourself. I find even Gamecube Prologic II encoded sound still comes out very well in prologic mode.
 
Also prologic televisions are often rubbish. Brother's got a Hitachi 4:3 21" prologic television. The sounds not bad but 2 points wrong with it. One is I can't see a centre speaker on it. Perhaps there is one but I can see no grill to allow the sound out. Its probably just matrixed between the left and right. Also the rear channels are just speaker output sockets with no speakers attached. They were optiional extras. Sound output is barely reaching double figures. I think it might be 12watts for the front channels and 9 watts for the rear channels. My old Aiwa system had 100 watts per channel for the front channels about 30 watts for the centre channel and something like 20 watts for the rear channels. the front speakers had 3 drive units and a bass port and gave out masses of bass but still had a subwoofer output if you wanted to use it. I know the human ear isn't great at hearing the direction of low frequency bass sounds but two bass drivers does improve bass overall although I'm not saying it compares to a good subwoofer it does compare probably very well to a poor one.
 
As I'm guessing it read as referring to only the TV, bonzo, I have tried the DPL on the Pioneer too; but just not liked it.

In terms of telly DPL and looking at the modern-day TV, I think I got lucky. Rears were included, a large (included), separate 'centre' unit is held within the stand (which has a slot for the speaker) and I have two large JVC boxes (from an old stereo) for the left and right channel. And best of all, these 'match' rather well with the centre :clap:

I suppose the 'missing-link' is that the in-set sub can't be used in the DPL mode; but that's no loss. That's really no loss! :laugh: I think it's about 15W and only succeeds in trying to shake the life out of the TV. I think I'll stick to DPL mode and the Pioneer for with-sub duties :rotfl:

You say "poor one"? Oh yeah, I got that (see above)! :laugh: ;) :laugh:
 
Sounds like a pretty reasonable DPL tv but still it wouldn't compare to a good Dolby Prologic hifi setup. I still say though that Dolby Prologic and Dolby Prologic II aren't that different. I mean both are using exactly the same soundtrack. The only difference is how the channels are directed and in the case of DPL2 you get left and right rear channels and thats it. The front left, centre, front right channels should be exactly the same. The subwoofer output is exactly the same. My understanding is only the two rear channels of prologic II are improved in that they have more bandwidth and of course are two channels instead of just one.

Still DTS thats where its at.
 

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