Windows Media ® Audio 9 Professional; About Thx - Pioneer VSX-1015TX Operating Instructions Manual

Additional information
®
Windows Media Audio 9 Professional
®
Windows Media Audio 9 Professional (WMA9 Pro) is a
discrete surround format developed by Microsoft
Corporation.
WMA9 Pro can support up to 5.1/7.1 channel playback with
sampling rates up to 24-bit/96kHz. Using the unique WMA
compression techniques, WMA9 Pro can deliver
multichannel music and soundtracks over high-speed
internet networks at low bit rates with minimal audio
degradation. Playback may be enjoyed with the Windows
®
Media Player 9 Series (or other third-party media player) on
a personal computer, or with an AV amplifier with on-board
WMA9 Pro decoding.
®
Windows Media and the Windows logo are trademarks or
registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United
States and/or other countries.

About THX

The THX technologies are explained below. See
www.thx.com for more detailed information.
THX Cinema processing
THX is an exclusive set of standards and technologies
established by the world-renowned film production
company, Lucasfilm Ltd. THX grew from George Lucas'
personal desire to make your experience of the film
soundtrack, in both movie theatres and in your home
theatre, as faithful as possible to what the director intended.
Movie soundtracks are mixed in special movie theatres
called dubbing stages and are designed to be played back in
movie theatres with similar equipment and conditions. This
same soundtrack is then transferred directly onto Laserdisc,
VHS tape, DVD, etc., and is not changed for playback in a
small home theatre environment. THX engineers developed
patented technologies to accurately translate the sound
from the movie theatre environment into the home,
correcting the tonal and spatial errors that occur. On this
product, when the THX indicator is on, THX features are
automatically added in Cinema modes (e.g. THX Cinema,
THX Surround EX).
Re-Equalization
The tonal balance of a film soundtrack will be excessively
bright and harsh when played back over audio equipment in
the home because film soundtracks were designed to be
played back in large movie theaters using very different
professional equipment. Re-Equalization restores the
correct tonal balance for watching a movie soundtrack in a
small home environment.
Timbre Matching
The human ear changes our perception of a sound
depending on the direction from which the sound is coming.
In a movie theatre, there is an array of surround speakers so
that the surround information is all around you. In a home
theatre, you use only two speakers located to the side of your
head. The Timbre Matching feature filters the information
going to the surround speakers so that they more closely
match the tonal characteristics of the sound coming from
the front speakers. This ensures seamless panning between
the front and surround speakers.
Adaptive Decorrelation
In a movie theatre, a large number of surround speakers help
create an enveloping surround sound experience, but in a
home theatre there are usually only two speakers. This can
make the surround speakers sound like headphones that
lack spaciousness and envelopment. The surround sounds
will also collapse into the closest speaker as you move away
from the middle seating position. Adaptive Decorrelation
slightly changes one surround channel's time and phase
relationship with respect to the other surround channel. This
expands the listening position and creates—with only two
speakers— the same spacious surround experience as in a
movie theatre.
THX Select2
Before any home theatre component can be THX Select2
certified, it must incorporate all the features above and also
pass a rigorous series of quality and performance tests. Only
then can a product feature the THX Select2 logo, which is
your guarantee that the Home Theatre products you
purchase will give you superb performance for many years to
come. THX Select2 requirements cover every aspect of the
product including pre-amplifier and power amplifier
performance and operation, and hundreds of other
parameters in both the digital and analog domain.
THX Surround EX
THX Surround EX - Dolby Digital Surround EX is a joint
development of Dolby Laboratories and the THX Ltd. In a
movie theater, film soundtracks that have been encoded
with Dolby Digital Surround EX technology are able to
reproduce an extra channel which has been added during
the mixing of the program. This channel, called Surround
Back, places sounds behind the listener in addition to the
currently available front left, front center, front right,
surround right, surround left and subwoofer channels. This
additional channel provides the opportunity for more
detailed imaging behind the listener and brings more depth,
spacious ambience and sound localization than ever before.
Movies that were created using the Dolby Digital Surround
EX technology, when released into the home consumer
market may exhibit wording to that effect on the packaging.
A list of movies created using this technology can be found
on the Dolby web site at www.dolby.com.
Only receiver and controller products bearing the THX
Surround EX logo, when in the THX Surround EX mode,
faithfully reproduce this new technology in the home.
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