Understanding Surround Sound Systems

Surround sound is the concept of expanding the spatial imaging of audio playback from 1 dimension (mono/Left-Right) to two or three dimensions. It is often employed for a more realistic audio environment, actively implemented in cinema sound systems, technical theatre, home entertainment, video arcades, computer gaming, and a growing number of other applications. Many popular surround sound formats have evolved over the years. They include ambisonics, quadraphonic, Dolby 5.1 Surround sound, DTS, and MP3 Surround.

Surround sound can be created using several methods. The simplest to understand uses several speakers around the listener to play audio coming from different directions. Another approach involves processing the audio using psychoacoustic sound localization methods to simulate a 3D sound field using headphones. The third approach, wave field synthesis, uses a very large number of speakers to generate the “audio hologram” of the original audio in the whole room (as of 2004 the only commercial implementation of this is Iosono). Surround sound is not limited to placement of speakers along a flat (2-dimensional) plane. Vertically-located audio sources can be considered.

Dolby Digital (DD) uses the AC-3 file format, which any Dolby Digital Decoder can decode to produce 5.1 audio. Dolby Digital is the technical name for Dolby’s multi-channel digital sound coding technique, more commonly referred to as Dolby 5.1. A six-channel sound coding process originally created by Dolby for theaters, AC-3 was subsequently adapted for home use and is now steadily becoming the most common sound format for DVD.

Six discrete audio channels:

•3 for speakers at the front - left (L), center (C), and right (R)
•2 for surround speakers at the side or rear - surround left (SL) and surround right (SR)
•1 low-frequency effects (LFE) channel carries supporting deep bass sound effects, ranging from 10 Hz to 120 Hz, which can for example be used by a subwoofer. (This is the ‘.1′ in ‘5.1′.)

DTS is an encode/decode process that delivers 5.1 channels of “master quality” audio on CD, CD-R, and DVD. Each DTS encoded disc represents a sonic “clone” of the original film soundtrack.

The difference between Dolby Digital (AC-3) and DTS is:

•DTS provides a deeper and tighter low frequency presence
•DTS allows the sound to breath - transparency
•AC-3 leaves the impression that something is missing from the mix
•At lower bit-rate AC-3 starts to sound like MP3’s encoded at a low-quality 96kbps
(artifacts)

DTS is more three dimensional. The sound actually moved forward from the individual speakers to sound more full. This fullness was most apparent with the music. Instead of simply coming from the speakers, the DTS filled the front soundstage not only side to side, but with more depth as well. Bass reproduction was also more defined in the DTS version, leaving the DD edition sounding muddy.

Dolby Digital incorporates dialog normalization, which alters the decoded level of the soundtrack. The typical setting reduces level by 4 dB; other reduction levels are possible. In most decoders, this leads to a reduction in signal-to-noise and dynamic range.

Dolby Digital also provides a “stereo down mixing” feature as a substitute for a dedicated stereo mix. However, many production engineers have admitted that they often have to modify the original 5.1 mixes in order to attain acceptable stereo down mixes. Therefore, the 5.1 mix on many Dolby Digital DVDs may differ from the original master.

5.1 Surround Sound Headphones:

While the traditional method of surround sound described above uses numerous speakers to produce the entire sound field, the surround sound mix is limited to a two-channel stereo mix when using headphones. That is why recent developments in surround sound technology include 5.1 surround sound headphones, to allow you to have the same sound quality and surround sound experience without waking the neighbors or disturbing roommates.

Mitchell Medford is an author and consultant for several consumer electronics manufacturers. Visit his website to learn more about home theater technology and plasma televisions.

As Good As It Gets (Movie Review)

Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, As Good As It Gets became one of the surprise blockbusters of 1997. Jack Nicholson dispenses insults with his one-in-a-billion sense of delivery, and if you like serious comedies, this is the film for you. Helen Hunt is masterful in her portrayal of a hard-luck single mother who befriends Nicholson’s oddball character, and Greg Kinnear does well as the neighbor who faces hard times himself. Home to a well-written screenplay exhibiting superb direction from James L. Brooks, As Good As It Gets makes a place for itself in the annals of movie history…

Jack Nicholson stars as cranky, bitter, semi-shut-in novelist Melvin Udall who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Everyday, like clockwork, Melvin eats breakfast at the same diner where he brings his own utensils and is waited on by the same waitress (the only one who will agree to serve him), Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt). Despite his eccentricities, the two form a sort of unspoken understanding of each other. Meanwhile, Melvin’s neighbor, Simon Bishop (Greg Kinnear), a homosexual artist who is often the object of Melvin’s bigoted comments, entertains the elite art circles of New York. Simon’s dog forms a further divide between the two when Simon drops him down the trash chute to stop his barking.

When Simon is attacked in his home and left beaten and unable to create his art, all of his friends abandon him and the bills are left unpaid. Melvin, having reluctantly agreed to take care of the dog in Simon’s absence, develops an attachment for the dog. Meanwhile, Carol Connelly leaves the diner in order to better take care of her sick son. Distraught, Melvin offers to pay for treatments in order to have Carol back as his waitress once again. With each character struggling with personal tragedies, the three slowly develop a respect for each other and a friendship which only grows…

Co-stars Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt swept the leading role Oscars for the male and female categories, and their onscreen relationship is one of the more memorable in cinema history. Forming a love/hate relationship and bonding through their various travails, Melvin Udall and Carol Connelly are one of the true odd couples of tinsel town. In fact, if a cast of lesser abilities had played the roles, the film would have been a drastic failure because such relationships would simply be unbelievable. Playing the role of Melvin’s gay neighbor Simon, Greg Kinnear made a name for himself and entered into the hallowed halls of the who’s who of Hollywood.

With an all-star cast that includes several Academy Award winners (Cuba Gooding, Jr. won for Jerry Maguire), As Good As It Gets rests its fortunes on the backs of its quirky and sometimes neurotic band of characters. More than able to meet the task, Nicholson, Hunt, and Kinnear strike gold with this Best Picture candidate which combines drama and comedy into a unique, one-of-a-kind experience. With one-liners zinging from Nicholson in almost every scene, you’ll be hard pressed not to laugh out loud. And with Kinnear and Hunt to bring a serious note to Nicholson’s strange character, As Good As It Gets breaks into the ranks of a short list of all-time great films. It’s one you definitely won’t want to miss…

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the As Good As It Gets (DVD).

I Love Lucy (Season 5) DVD Review

Widely considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest, show in television history, I Love Lucy signaled the ascendance of the prime time TV era. The brainchild of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, I Love Lucy revolutionized the television industry with its extensive use of a live audience and the employment of multiple camera angles. The result of true comic genius, the show’s ability to entertain is just as relevant today as it was fifty years ago…

Real-life couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz play the prominent roles of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, a married couple living in a New York apartment complex. Ricky is a Cuban-born band leader who wows night clubs with his act, while Lucy is a homemaker. Lucy and Ricky’s best friends are landlords Fred and Ethel Mertz who often become intertwined in Lucy’s get-rich-quick schemes, screwball ideas, and comic shenanigans. Former masters of the stage, the cast comes across as a likeable bunch, with Lucille Ball stealing the show with her goofy antics and brilliant facial contortions. If ever there were a television classic, then I Love Lucy is it…

The I Love Lucy (Season 5) DVD offers a number of hilarious episodes including the season premiere “Lucy Visits Grauman’s” in which Lucy is wrapping up her extended trip to Hollywood where she’s collected a number of oddball collectibles, such as a tin can run over by Cary Grant’s car and a napkin used by Lana Turner. But when Lucy learns that John Wayne’s imprints on a concrete block in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater have come loose, she decides to steal a real souvenir to take home… Other notable episodes from Season 5 include “Lucy Goes to a Rodeo” in which Lucy confuses Ricky’s performance on a “radio show” with his performance in a “rodeo show,” and “Paris at Last” in which Lucy’s trip to Paris is marked by her quest to find a famous artist whose paintings will one day be valuable, but the only artist she meets is a con artist who steals her blind…

Below is a list of episodes included on the I Love Lucy (Season 5) DVD:

Episode 128 (Lucy Visits Grauman’s) Air Date: 10-03-1955
Episode 129 (Lucy and John Wayne) Air Date: 10-10-1955
Episode 130 (Lucy and the Dummy) Air Date: 10-17-1955
Episode 131 (Ricky Sells the Car) Air Date: 10-24-1955
Episode 132 (The Great Train Robbery) Air Date: 10-31-1955
Episode 133 (Homecoming) Air Date: 11-07-1955
Episode 134 (The Ricardos are Interviewed) Air Date: 11-14-1955
Episode 135 (Lucy Goes to a Rodeo) Air Date: 11-28-1955
Episode 136 (Nursery School) Air Date: 12-05-1955
Episode 137 (Ricky’s European Booking) Air Date: 12-12-1955
Episode 138 (The Passports) Air Date: 12-19-1955
Episode 139 (Staten Island Ferry) Air Date: 01-02-1956
Episode 140 (Bon Voyage) Air Date: 01-16-1956
Episode 141 (Second Honeymoon) Air Date: 01-23-1956
Episode 142 (Lucy Meets the Queen) Air Date: 01-30-1956
Episode 143 (The Fox Hunt) Air Date: 02-06-1956
Episode 144 (Lucy Goes to Scotland) Air Date: 02-20-1956
Episode 145 (Paris at Last) Air Date: 02-27-1956
Episode 146 (Lucy Meets Charles Boyer) Air Date: 03-05-1956
Episode 147 (Lucy Gets a Paris Gown) Air Date: 03-19-1956
Episode 148 (Lucy in the Swiss Alps) Air Date: 03-26-1956
Episode 149 (Lucy Gets Homesick in Italy) Air Date: 04-09-1956
Episode 150 (Lucy’s Italian Movie) Air Date: 04-16-1956
Episode 151 (Lucy’s Bicycle Trip) Air Date: 04-23-1956
Episode 152 (Lucy Goes to Monte Carlo) Air Date: 05-07-1956
Episode 153 (Return Home from Europe) Air Date: 05-14-1956

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the I Love Lucy (Season 5) DVD.