Pioneer VSX-D2011-S, VSX-D2011-G Dolby Digital Surround EX, Dts-Es, DTS Neo:6, DTS 96/24, Expert

Techno Tidbits & Problem-solving

Dolby Digital Surround EX

This new recording technology is able to play 6.1 channel sound and was developed in a collaboration between Dolby Laboratories and Lucasfilm, Ltd. for the film "Stars Wars: The First Episode", the first movie ever to be made with Dolby Digital Surround EX technology. In a movie theater this format affords the listener vivid surround sound experience replete with the effect of sounds flying overhead, even for those seated towards the sides of the theater.

Dolby Digital Surround EX contains surround back channels which are dubbed into the soundtrack in studio. The channels are encoded into the left and right channels of the soundtrack so this format can be compatible with Dolby Digital 5.1 channel decoding. For a list of movies that contain Dolby Digital Surround EX soundtracks see Dolby website at: http://www.dolby.com

THX Surround EX technology was developed for movie theater use originally but has been extended for home theater use and consumers can no benefit from this excellent, realistic sound format. (For more details see "THX Surround EX" on the next page.) This unit is equipped with a THX Surround EX decoder.

DTS

DTS

DTS has been adopted as a sound recording format in the movie theaters since the release of “JURASSIC PARK” in 1993, and has a good reputation for high quality sound and dynamic surround effects.

In this system, 6 channels of digital sound are recorded on CD-ROM. DTS adopts a simultaneous playback format. With a low rate of compression of sound signals and a high rate of transmittance, a higher sound quality format is produced. For this reason, the format is being introduced in more and more movie theaters, and is being adopted for home use as DTS Digital Surround. When used with movies it's called DTS-LD DVD and for music software (5.1 channel CD) as DTS-CD .

DTS-ES

DTS launched a new surround format in November 2000. This has come to be known as DTS Extended Surround or simply DTS-ES. The technology has been advanced to include two new home formats DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 format, and DTS-ES Matrix 6.1 ch format, both are able to playback discrete, 6.1-channel content from DVDs and CDs. Both of these formats are compatible with a conventional DTS 5.1 ch decoder. In this system each channel is encoded and decoded individually, adding to the separation of the channels. Since DTS adds a third surround channel, the surround back channel, the realism and all-encompassing nature of the sound reaches levels not seen before in home theater. This unit is equipped with a DTS-ES decoder.

DTS Neo:6

This is a matrix decoding technology that transforms two-channel sources into 6.0 channel surround sound. There are two modes, CINEMA MODE and MUSIC MODE.

DTS 96/24

This high-quality format will be used for software which will be available from November, 2001. For compatibility with equipment that was produced before this format was made, DVD players can play this software using a conventional DTS 5.1ch decoder. This unit is equipped with a DTS 96 kHz/24 bit decoder to take advantage of the higher sound quality available.

EXPERT

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