Surround Sound Formats; About Thx - Pioneer Elite SC-57 Operating Instructions Manual

Surround sound formats

Below is a brief description of the main sur-
round sound formats you'll find on BDs, DVDs,
satellite, cable and terrestrial broadcasts, and
video cassettes.
Dolby
The Dolby technologies are explained below.
See http://www.dolby.com for more detailed
information.
Manufactured under license from Dolby
Laboratories. "Dolby", "Pro Logic", "Surround
EX" and the double-D symbol are trademarks of
Dolby Laboratories.
DTS
The DTS technologies are explained below.
See http://www.dts.com for more detailed
information.
Manufactured under license under U.S. Patent
Nos: 5,956,674, 5,974,380, 5,978,762, 6,487,535,
6,226,616, 7,212,872, 7,003,467, 7,272,567,
7,668,723, 7,392,195, 7,333,929, 7,548,853,
7,283,634, 7,853,022 & other U.S. and world-
wide patents issued and pending. DTS-HD, the
Symbol, & DTS-HD and the Symbol together are
registered trademarks & DTS-HD Master Audio is
a trademark of DTS, Inc. Product includes soft-
ware. © DTS, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

About THX

The THX technologies are explained below.
See http://www.thx.com for more detailed
information.
In case of SC-57
In case of SC-55
THX, the THX logo Ultra2 Plus and Select2 Plus
are trademarks of THX Ltd. which are registered in
some jurisdictions. All rights reserved. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.
THX Cinema processing
THX is an exclusive set of standards and tech-
nologies established by THX 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 faith-
ful 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 automati-
cally 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 pro-
fessional 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 sur-
round information is all around you. In a home
Additional information
theatre, you use only two speakers located to
the side of your head. The Timbre Matching
feature filters the information going to the sur-
round speakers so that they more closely match
the tonal characteristics of the sound coming
from the front speakers. This ensures seam-
less 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 Ultra2/Select2 Plus
Before any home theatre component can
be THX Ultra2/Select2 Plus 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 Ultra2/Select2 Plus logo, which is your
guarantee that the Home Theatre products you
purchase will give you superb performance for
many years to come. THX Ultra2/Select2 Plus
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.
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