do you notice a difference between Dolby True HD and DD5.1?

[lomarica]

just wondering if people notice a difference between the sound on blu ray vrs dvd for movies. I sure do especially the center channel and surrounds. I use the analog out from the bluray since I have an older processor but also have the digital out hooked up. So I can switch between the DD5.1 and Dolby True at the touch of a button.

But a couple of my friends do not notice a difference that is why I am asking. Not sure if it is a limitation of their system, how loud they play a movie or something else. One person has a decent system Def Tec speakers the other has an entry level system.

Also I know the old debate between DTS vrs DD on dvd's now how about Dolby True vrs dts HD Master Audio? I liked DTS better on dvd's but I have not done a comparison on bluray disks yet.

[pixelthis]

I CAN'T tell the diff between True HD vs DTS MASTER, but can tell that both are superior
to the older lossy formats.
Kinda funny, what you get used to. When DD and DTS came out the sound was
amazing, even if only 540k or so. BUT the new "lossless" formats just blows their doors off.
AND the high rez audio formats for music? ONE of the greatest things BLU
has going for it, imho, is the sound. If you can't hear the diff, you are deaf.
FOR instance, watched VANISHING ON 7TH ST on ondemand last night.
SAME as in theaters, which translates to expensive, so they give a good soundtrack
in DD. Still not even close to even a mediocre BLU soundtrack, which, even with a DD
soundtrack has a higher bit rate.
INCEPTION, btw, has a picture and soundtrack that approaches a religious experience,IMHO.

[Woochifer]

Before drawing any conclusions, you need to be aware that there are multiple versions of Dolby Digital in use, each of which use a different datarate. With a 5.1 soundtrack, Dolby Digital will use a datarate of 384k, 448k, or 640k. The DVD format only used the two lower datarates, while Blu-ray (and surprisingly the defunct Laserdisc format) primarily uses 640k.

All Dolby Digital decoders are compatible with all datarates, so anyone who owns an older receiver/processor and buys a Blu-ray player can use the higher datarates.

From my experience, there are audible differences between these three DD datarates. The reason is very simple -- high frequency channel joining. Channel joining is Dolby's technique of having the channels "share" high frequency information in order to conserve data space for other more audible sounds in lower frequencies.

With 448k DD, sounds above 15 kHz are shared by all channels, which is not in the primary range of most music sounds. But, with 384k DD, the sounds above 10 kHz are shared by all channels, and here the channel joining is more audible and tends to make the surround imaging sound "fatter" and less distinct. Keep in mind that 384k DD is the standard 5.1 format used in HDTV broadcasts.

Presumably 640k DD does not use channel joining and is therefore an unencumbered "purer" decoding. All indications are that 640k DD sounds surprisingly good, so it would not surprise me that differences with Dolby TrueHD require very careful listening to pick out.

[Mr Peabody]

Tru-HD & DTS-MA are supposed to deliver bit for bit the same sound quality as the master soundtrack, both are superior to DVD sound and compared should be obvious. The sound quality of Blu-ray is better throughout the entire frequency range.

There could be set up or settings issues that could account for not hearing a difference. Especially if using older receivers, some don't accept PCM, most do not apply the receiver's setting to the multichannel input signal. If not using the MC analog or HDMI they wouldn't get Tru-HD or DTS-MA. The bit rate via coaxial or optical connection is some what better sound than DVD but the difference harder to detect than comparison to the HD formats.

[lomarica]

what do you mean by high rez audio are these bluray concert movies or what?
can you provide a couple examples

thanks

[kelsci]

Lomarica; high resolution audio is Dolby True HD and DTS Master audio. Most movies on Blue ray disc use one or the other but of late most use DTS Master. High Defintion Digest reviews movies and gives info on the type of high res audio used if it is used. Some movies may only offer what is called "legacy" audio like DD 5.1 and standard DTS which I believe is in the 1 plus megabye range. If you use a coaxial or optical cable from a Blue Ray player you will only hear the legacy formats reproduced if that is what you have attached to a receiver. If you have 5.1 or higher inputs, you would need a Blue Ray player that has analog outputs and a system built into that player for speaker distance and bass mangagement similar to what a 5.1 receiver offers. That should reproduce whatever the disc offers. If you have a receiver that can decode these high def audio thingys, you usually use the HDMI cable into that receiver and either it has a decoder built in or the blue ray player will convert it to bitstream or something of that nature so you hear the high res audio. They may be music discs using the high rez audio. You can check Audio Edition magazine online for that info.

[pixelthis]

what do you mean by high rez audio are these bluray concert movies or what?
can you provide a couple examples

thanks

There is also LPCM, which is falling by the wayside.
And for music, 96 to 192khz, which is amazing if your digital front end will handle it.
Indeed, the sound on BLU is kinda like the ATSC standard, being anything but
"standard".

[budgetaudio76]

Question kinda out of teh box here...same premise...Ps3i can get the 192or so khz. Will it damage any thing in my speakers if i use that on a HK AVR 146 receiver? Reason why im asking is that i may have blew some tweeters(cone cheapies) on a set of satellites.

May be helpful to some viewers as well.

[recoveryone]

Question kinda out of teh box here...same premise...Ps3i can get the 192or so khz. Will it damage any thing in my speakers if i use that on a HK AVR 146 receiver? Reason why im asking is that i may have blew some tweeters(cone cheapies) on a set of satellites.

May be helpful to some viewers as well.

If you have blew the tweeter on your Sats then it is mainly a power issue and not the higher rez/frequency of the sound being produce. But I will let those more advance in the details explain it better than I.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

just wondering if people notice a difference between the sound on blu ray vrs dvd for movies. I sure do especially the center channel and surrounds. I use the analog out from the bluray since I have an older processor but also have the digital out hooked up. So I can switch between the DD5.1 and Dolby True at the touch of a button.

DTHD is definitely an improvement over DD 5.1 on DVD. DTHD has more "presence" and more air than DD 5.1. Imaging is definitely improved, with intra-channel "phantom" imaging much more stable with DTHD. Instruments within the score are more precisely placed with DTHD. DD 5.1 instrument placement is fuzzy and indistinct.

But a couple of my friends do not notice a difference that is why I am asking. Not sure if it is a limitation of their system, how loud they play a movie or something else. One person has a decent system Def Tec speakers the other has an entry level system.

If they cannot hear the difference, it is probably their rooms and not their equipment. Room acoustics can swamp any differences between a lossy codec and a lossless one.

Also I know the old debate between DTS vrs DD on dvd's now how about Dolby True vrs dts HD Master Audio? I liked DTS better on dvd's but I have not done a comparison on bluray disks yet.

There is no audible difference between DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TruHD. They are both lossless, and are bit for bit copies of the original master. DTS-HD Master Audio is a bit more efficient(lower need for data overhead), and takes up less space on the disc as well.