■Dolby SurroundDolby Surround uses a four analog channel recording system to reproduce realistic and dynamic sound effects: two left and right main channels (stereo), a center channel for dialog (monaural), and a rear channel for special sound effects (monaural). The rear channel reproduces sound within a narrow frequency range.
Dolby Surround is widely used with nearly all video tapes and laser discs, and in many TV and cable broadcasts as well. The Dolby Pro Logic decoder built into this unit employs a digital signal processing system that automatically stabilizes the volume on each channel to enhance moving sound effects and directionality.
■Dolby DigitalDolby Digital is a digital surround sound system that gives you completely independent multi-channel audio. With three front channels (left, center and right), and two rear stereo channels, Dolby Digital provides five full- range audio channels. With an additional channel especially for bass effects, called LFE (low frequency effect), the system has a total of 5.1 channels (LFE is counted as 0.1 channel).
Using two-channel stereo for the rear speakers, more accurate moving sound effects and surround sound environment are possible than with Dolby Surround. The wide dynamic range (from maximum to minimum volume) reproduced by the five full-range channels and the precise sound orientation generated using digital sound processing provide listeners with previously unheard of excitement and realism.
With this unit, any sound environment from monaural up to a 5.1-channel configuration can be freely selected for your enjoyment.
■Dolby Digital Surround EXThis unit is equipped with the Dolby Digital decoder that can reproduce 5.1-channel sources adding a rear center channel. (The sound to be output from a rear center speaker is created by mixing the content of rear L/R channels.) This decoder is the most suitable to reproduce the soundtrack for the movies recorded by Dolby Digital Surround EX. You can enjoy dynamic and realistic sounds by adding another channel.
■Dolby Pro LogicDolby Pro Logic is the improved technique to decode vast numbers of existing Dolby Surround programs. This new technology enables a discrete 5-channel playback with two left and right main channels, a center channel, and two left and right rear channels compared with one limited rear channel for the conventional Pro Logic technology. Also the music mode is available for 2- channel sources in addition to the movie mode.
■DTS (Digital Theater Systems) Digital SurroundDTS digital surround was developed to replace the analog soundtracks of movies with a six-channel digital sound track, and is now rapidly gaining popularity in movie theaters around the world. Digital Theater Systems Inc. has developed a home theater system so that you can enjoy the depth of sound and natural spatial representation of DTS digital surround in your home. This system is practically distortion-free, clear 6-channel sound (technically, a left, right and center channels, two rear channels, plus an LFE 0.1 channel as a subwoofer, for a total of 5.1 channels).
■DTS ES (Extended Surround)This unit is equipped with the DTS ES decoder that can reproduce 5.1-channel sources adding a rear center channel. The DTS ES decoder on this unit is compatible with the two types of format: Discrete 6.1 and Matrix 6.1. The DTS ES Discrete decoder enables the 6.1-channel playback by adding a rear center channel recorded independently from the 5.1 channels. The DTS ES Matrix decoder enables the 6.1-channel playback by adding a rear center created from the rear L/R channels. This decoder is the most suitable to reproduce the music or the soundtrack of the movies recorded by DTS ES.
■Neo: 6Neo: 6 decodes the conventional 2-channel sources for 6 channel playback by the specific decoder. It enables playback with the full-range channels with higher separation just like digital discrete signal playback. Two modes are available; “Music mode” for playing music sources and “Cinema mode” for movies.
■DTS 96/24
DTS 96/24 achieves the high quality playback with all 5.1 channels at the sampling frequency 96 kHz / 24 bit by using the data for extension of a DTS signal, that is recorded on the DTS 96/24 software.
