In collaboration with Lucasfilm (Mr Lucas really does have fingers in ALL the movie pies…), they launched the 6.1 Dolby Digital Surround EX system which premiered with Star Wars Episode 1 : A pile of **** Phantom Menace - although to be fair the Pod race does rock…. While the format is still alive, Sony quit manufacturing any new hardware a few years ago.ĭolby on the other hand have only gone from strength to strength and its not the first time Dolby have hooked up with a major film studio to launch a new standard. SDDS required a whole new mix, additional hardware and (more importantly considering todays market), SDDS was never really supported by any home cinema equipment whereas all the new receivers (such as monster Onkyo models….used to sell them in a previous life so if I plug they might give me a freebie?) pride themselves on supporting DTS-HD/Dolby True HD and being THX certified. Unfortunately, a bit like the whole Blu-ray vs HD-DVD situation, SDDS has lost the battle against the massively popular Dolby Digital or Dolby DTS formats.

Its actually not the first time 8 discrete cinema speakers have been used, with Sony developing the Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) in the early 90’s which deployed 5 speakers at the front (Left/Left Center/Center/Right Center/Right) and 2 rear surrounds (left/Right surround) and the. Unfortunately, from one of the press releases I saw it doesn’t look like it’s getting a 7.1 release in Ireland. Dolby have helpfully provided a utility via Google Maps to find the closest 7.1 capable cinema - for those of you in Galway, you’re in luck. By doing this you have much more control over where sounds are placed (you have 4 specific surround ‘spaces’ as opposed to your normal 2 ‘spaces’) and 360 degree panning (the way the sound moves around you from left-right-front-back) is much smoother. The new Dolby Surround 7.1 standard involves adding left back and right back speakers right behind the audience. Nerds, put your specs on, things are gonna get wordy!!Īs a refresh, your basic 5.1 surround setup consists of 6 discrete signals - front left, center, front right, left surround, right surround and a subwoofer.

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