1.

INTRODUCTION
Surround sound is a technique for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an
audio source with additional audio channels from speakers that surround the listener
(surround channels), providing sound from a 360 radius in the horizontal plane (2D)
as opposed to "screen channels" (centre, [front] left, and [front] right) originating only
from the listener's forward arc.
Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio
effects work best, and presents a fixed or forward perspective of the sound field to the
listener at this location. The technique enhances the perception of sound spatialization
by exploiting sound localization; a listener's ability to identify the location or origin of
a detected sound in direction and distance. Typically this is achieved by using multiple
discrete audio channels routed to an array of loudspeakers.[1]
There are various surround sound based formats and techniques, varying in
reproduction and recording methods along with the number and positioning of
additional channels.

Figure 1: Channel Surround Sound

Though cinema and soundtracks represent the major uses of surround techniques, its scope
of application is broader than that as surround sound permits creation of an audioenvironment for all sorts of purposes. Multichannel audio techniques may be used to
reproduce contents as varied as music, speech, natural or synthetic sounds for
cinema, television, broadcasting, or computers. In terms of music content for example, a
live performance may use multichannel techniques in the context of an open-air concert,
of a musical theatre or for broadcasting;[2] for a film specific techniques are adapted
to movie theater, or to home (e.g. home cinema systems).[3][4] The narrative space is also a
content that can be enhanced through multichannel techniques. This applies mainly to
cinema narratives, for example the speech of the characters of a film,[5][6][7] but may also be
applied to plays for theatre, to a conference, or to integrate voice-based comments in an
archeological site or monument. For example, an exhibition may be enhanced with topical
ambient sound of water, birds, train or machine noise. Topical natural sounds may also be
used in educational applications.[8] Other fields of application include video game
consoles, personal computers and other platforms. [9][10][11][12] In such applications, the
content would typically be synthetic noise produced by the computer device in interaction
with its user. Significant work has also been done using surround sound for
enhanced situation awareness in military and public safety applications.

2. HISTORY
The first documented use of surround sound was in 1940, for the Disney studio's
animated film Fantasia. Walt Disney was inspired by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's
operatic piece, Flight of the Bumblebee to have a bumblebee featured in his
musical Fantasia and also sound as if it was flying in all parts of the theatre. The
initial multichannel audio application was called 'Fantasound', comprising three audio
channels and speakers. The sound was diffused throughout the cinema, controlled by
an engineer using some 54 loudspeakers. The surround sound was achieved using the
sum and the difference of the phase of the sound. However, this experimental use of
surround sound was excluded from the film in later showings. In 1952, "surround
sound" successfully reappeared with the film "This is Cinerama", using discrete
seven-channel sound, and the race to develop other surround sound methods took off.
[16][17]

In the 1950s, the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen experimented with and
produced

ground-breaking

electronic

compositions

such

as Gesang

der

Jnglinge and Kontakte, the latter using fully discrete and rotating quadraphonic
sounds generated with industrial electronic equipment in Herbert Eimert's studio at
the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). Edgar Varese's Poeme Electronique, created for
the Iannis Xenakis designed Philips Pavilion at the 1958Brussels World's Fair, also
utilised spatial audio with 425 loudspeakers used to move sound throughout the
pavilion.
In 1957, working with artist Jordan Belson, Henry Jacobs produced Vortex:
Experiments in Sound and Light - a series of concerts featuring new music, including
some of Jacobs' own, and that of Karlheinz Stockhausen, and many others - taking
place in the Morrison Planetarium in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Sound
designers commonly regard this as the origin of the (now standard) concept of
"surround sound." The program was popular, and Jacobs and Belson were invited to
reproduce it at the 1958 World Expo in Brussels.[18] There are also many other
3

composers that created ground-breaking surround sound works in the same time
period.
In 1978, a concept devised by Max Bell for Dolby Laboratories called "split surround"
was tested with the movie "Superman". This led to the 70mm stereo surround release
of "Apocalypse Now," which became the first formal release in cinemas with three
channels in the front and two in the rear. There were typically five speakers behind the
screens of 70mm-capable cinemas, but only the Left, Center and Right were used fullfrequency, while Center-Left and Center-Right were only used for bass-frequencies
(as it is currently common). The "Apocalypse Now" encoder/decoder was designed by
Michael Karagosian, also for Dolby Laboratories. The surround mix was produced by
an Oscar-winning crew led by Walter Murch for American Zoetrope. The format was
also deployed in 1982 with the stereo surround release of Blade Runner.
The 5.1 version of surround sound originated in 1987 at the famous French
Cabaret Moulin Rouge. A French engineer, Dominique Bertrand used a mixing board
specially designed in cooperation with Solid State Logic, based on 5000 series and
including six channels. Respectively: A left, B right, C centre, D left rear, E right rear,
F bass. The same engineer had already achieved a 3.1 system in 1974, for the
International Summit of Francophone States in Dakar Senegal.

3. CREATING SURROUND SOUND

Surround sound is created in several ways. The first and simplest method is using a
surround sound recording techniquecapturing two distinct stereo images, one for the
front and one for the back or by using a dedicated setup, e.g. an augmented Decca
tree [19]and/or mixing-in surround sound for playback on an audio system using
speakers encircling the listener to play audio from different directions. A second
approach is processing the audio withpsychoacoustic sound localization methods to
simulate a two-dimensional (2-D) sound field with headphones. A third approach,
based on Huygens' principle, attempts reconstructing the recorded sound field wave
fronts within the listening space; an "audio hologram" form. One form, wave field
synthesis (WFS), produces a sound field with an even error field over the entire area.
Commercial

WFS

systems,

currently

marketed

by

companies sonic

emotion and Iosono, require many loudspeakers and significant computing power.

Figure 2. Decca tree

Figure 3. Dimensions

The Ambisonics form, also based on Huygens' principle, gives an exact sound
reconstruction at the central point; less accurate away from center point. There are
many free and commercial software programs available for Ambisonics, which
dominates most of the consumer market, especially musicians using electronic and
computer music. Moreover, Ambisonics products are the standard in surround sound
hardware sold by Meridian Audio In its simplest form, Ambisonics consumes few
resources, however this is not true for recent developments, such as Near Field
Compensated Higher Order Ambisonics.[20] Some years ago it was shown that, in the
limit, WFS and Ambisonics converge.[21]
Finally, surround sound can also be achieved by mastering level, from stereophonic
sources as with Penteo, which uses Digital Signal Processing analysis of a stereo
recording to parse out individual sounds to component panorama positions, then
6

positions them, accordingly, into a five-channel field. However, there are more ways
to create surround sound out of stereo, for instance with the routines based
on QS and SQ for encoding Quad sound, where instruments were divided over 4
speakers in the studio. This way of creating surround with software routines is
normally referred to as "upmixing,",[22] which was particularly successful on
the Sansui QSD-series decoders that had a mode where it mapped the L R stereo
onto an arc.

Figure 4. Huygens Principle

Figure 5. description Huygens Principle

7

TYPES OF MEDIA
Commercial

surround

sound

media

include

videocassettes, DVDs,

and HDTV broadcasts encoded as compressed Dolby Digital and DTS, and lossless
audiosuch as DTS HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD on Blu-ray Disc and HD
DVD, which are identical to the studio master. Other commercial formats include the
competing DVD-Audio (DVD-A) and Super Audio CD (SACD) formats, and MP3
Surround.

Cinema 5.1 surround

formats

include Dolby

Digital and DTS. Sony

Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) is an 8 channel cinema configuration which features

5 independent audio channels across the front with two independent surround
channels, and a Low-frequency effects channel. Traditional 7.1 surround speaker
configuration introduces two additional rear speakers to the conventional 5.1
arrangement, for a total of four surround channels and three front channels, to create a
more 360 sound field.
Most surround sound recordings are created by film production companies or video
game producers; however some consumer camcorders have such capability either
built-in or available separately. Surround sound technologies can also be used in
music to enable new methods of artistic expression. After the failure
of quadraphonic audio in the 1970s, multichannel music has slowly been reintroduced
since 1999 with the help of SACD and DVD-Audio formats. SomeAV receivers,
stereophonic systems, and computer soundcards contain integral digital signal
processors and/or digital audio processors to simulate surround sound from a
stereophonic source.
In 1967, the rock group Pink Floyd performed the first-ever surround sound concert at
"Games for May", a lavish affair at Londons Queen Elizabeth Hall where the band
debuted its custom-made quadraphonic speaker system.[14] The control device they had
made, the Azimuth Co-ordinator, is now displayed at London's Victoria and Albert
Museum, as part of their Theatre Collections gallery.[15

MAPPING CHANNELS TO SPEAKERS

In most cases, surround sound systems rely on the mapping of each source channel to
its own loudspeaker. Matrix systems recover the number and content of the source
channels and apply them to their respective loudspeakers. With discrete surround
sound, the transmission medium allows for (at least) the same number of channels of
source and destination; however, one-to-one, channel-to-speaker, mapping is not the
only way of transmitting surround sound signals.
The transmitted signal might encode the information (defining the original sound
field) to a greater or lesser extent; the surround sound information is rendered for
replay by a decoder generating the number and configuration of loudspeaker feeds for
the number of speakers available for replay one renders a sound field as produced by
a set of speakers, analogously to rendering in computer graphics. This "replay device
independent" encoding is analogous to encoding and decoding an Adobe PostScript
file, where the file describes the page, and is rendered per the output device's
resolution capacity. The Ambisonics and WFS systems use audio rendering; the
Meridian Lossless Packing contains elements of this capability

SURROUND MICROPHONE TECHNIQUE

Most 2-channel stereophonic microphone techniques are compatible with a 3-channel

setup (LCR), as many of these techniques already contain a center microphone or
microphone pair. Microphone techniques for LCR should, however, try to obtain
greater channel separation to prevent conflicting phantom images between L/C and
L/R for example.[24][26][27] Specialised techniques have therefore been developed for 3channel stereo. Surround microphone techniques largely depend on the setup used,
therefore being biased towards the 5.1 surround setup, as this is the standard.[23]
Surround recording techniques can be differentiated into those that use single arrays of
microphones placed in close proximity, and those treating front and rear channels with
separate arrays.[23][25] Close arrays present more accurate phantom images, whereas
separate treatment of rear channels is usually used for ambience. [25] For accurate
depiction of an acoustic environment, such as a halls, side reflections are essential.
Appropriate microphone techniques should therefore be used, if room impression is
important. Although the reproduction of side images are very unstable in the 5.1
surround setup, room impressions can still be accurately presented.[24]
Some microphone techniques used for coverage of three front channels, include
double-stereo techniques, INA-3 (Ideal Cardioid Arrangement), the Decca Tree setup
and the OCT (Optimum Cardioid Triangle).[24][27] Surround techniques are largely
based on 3-channel techniques with additional microphones used for the surround
channels. A distinguishing factor for the pickup of the front channels in surround is
that less reverberation should be picked up, as the surround microphones will be
responsible

for the pickup

of reverberation.[23] Cardioid, hypercardioid,

or

supercardioid polar patterns will therefore often replace omnidirectional polar patterns
for surround recordings. To compensate for the lost low-end of directional (pressure
10

gradient) microphones, additional omnidirectional (pressure microphones), exhibiting

an extended low-end response, can be added. The microphones output is usually lowpass filtered.[24][27] A simple surround microphone configuration involves the use of a
front array in combination with two backward-facing omnidirectional room
microphones placed about 1015 meters away from the front array. If echoes are
notable, the front array can be delayed appropriately. Alternatively, backward facing
cardioid microphones can be placed closer to the front array for a similar
reverberation pickup.[25]
The INA-5 (Ideal Cardioid Arrangement) is a surround microphone array that uses
five cardioid microphones resembling the angles of the standardised surround
loudspeaker configuration defined by the ITU Rec. 775.[25] Dimensions between the
front three microphone as well as the polar patterns of the microphones can be
changed for different pickup angles and ambient response.[23] This technique therefore
allows for great flexibility.
A well established microphone array is the Fukada Tree, which is a modified variant
of the Decca Tree stereo technique. The array consists of 5 spaced cardioid
microphones, 3 front microphones resembling a Decca Tree and two surround
microphones. Two additional omnidirectional outriggers can be added to enlarge the
perceived size of the orchestra and/or to better integrate the front and surround
channels.[23][24] The L, R, LS and RS microphones should be placed in a square
formation, with L/R and LS/RS angled at 45 degrees and 135 degrees from the center
microphone respectively. Spacing between these microphones should be about 1.8
meters. This square formation is responsible for the room impressions. The center
channel is placed a meter in front of the L and R channels, producing a strong center
image. The surround microphones are usually placed at the critical distance (where the
direct and reverberant field is equal), with the full array usually situated several
meters above and behind the conductor.[23][24]
The NHK (Japanese broadcasting company) developed an alternative technique also
involving 5 cardioid microphones. Here a baffle is used for separation between the
front left and right channels, which are 30 cm apart.[23] Outrigger omnidirectional
microphones, low-pass filtered at 250 Hz, are spaced 3 meters apart in line with the L
and R cardioids. These compensate for the bass roll-off of the cardioid microphones
11

and also add expansiveness.[26] A 3-meter spaced microphone pair, situated 23 meters
behind front array, is used for the surround channels.[23] The centre channel is again
placed slightly forward, with the L/R and LS/RS again angled at 45 and 135 degrees
respectively.
The OCT-Surround (Optimum Cardioid Triangle-Surround) microphone array is an
augmented technique of the stereo OCT technique using the same front array with
added surround microphones.The front array is designed for minimum crosstalk, with
the front left and right microphones having supercardioid polar patterns and angled at
90 degrees relative to the center microphone.[23][24] It is important that high quality
small diaphragm microphones are used for the L and R channels to reduce off-axis
coloration.[25] Equalization can also be used to flatten the response of the supercardioid
microphones to signals coming in at up to about 30 degrees from the front of the array.
[23]

The center channel is placed slightly forward. The surround microphones are

backwards facing cardioid microphones, that are placed 40 cm back from the L and R
microphones. The L, R, LS and RS microphones pick up early reflections from both
the sides and the back of an acoustic venue, therefore giving significant room
impressions.[24] Spacing between the L and R microphones can be varied to obtain the
required stereo width.[24]
Specialized microphone arrays have been developed for recording purely the
ambience of a space. These arrays are used in combination with suitable front arrays,
or can be added to above mentioned surround techniques.[25] The Hamasaki square
(also proposed by NHK) is a well established microphone array used for the pickup of
hall ambience. Four figure-eight microphones are arranged in a square, ideally placed
far away and high up in the hall. Spacing between the microphones should be between
13 meters.[24] The microphones nulls (zero pickup point) are set to face the main
sound source with positive polarities outward facing, therefore very effectively
minimizing the direct sound pickup as well as echoes from the back of the hall [25] The
back two microphones are mixed to the surround channels, with the front two
channels being mixed in combination with the front array into L and R.
Another ambient technique is the IRT (Institut fuer Rundfunktechnik) cross. Here,
four cardioid microphones, 90 degrees relative to one another, are placed in square
formation, separated by 2125 cm.[25][27] The front two microphones should be
12

positioned 45 degrees off axis from the sound source. This technique therefore
resembles back to back near-coincident stereo pairs. The microphones outputs are fed
to the L, R and LS, RS channels. The disadvantage of this approach is that direct
sound pickup is quite significant.
Many recordings do not require pickup of side reflections. For Live Pop music
concerts a more appropriate array for the pickup of ambience is the cardioid
trapezium.[24] All four cardioid microphones are backward facing and angled at 60
degrees from one another, therefore similar to a semi-circle. This is effective for the
pickup of audience and ambience.
All the above-mentioned microphone arrays take up considerable space, making them
quite ineffective for field recordings. In this respect, the double MS (Mid Side)
technique is quite advantageous. This array uses back to back cardioid microphones,
one facing forward, the other backwards, combined with either one or two figure-eight
microphone. Different channels are obtained by sum and difference of the figure-eight
and cardioid patterns.[24][25] When using only one figure-eight microphone, the double
MS technique is extremely compact and therefore also perfectly compatible with
monophonic playback. This technique also allows for postproduction changes of the
pickup angle.

BASS MANAGEMENT
Surround replay systems may make use of bass management, the fundamental
principle of which is that bass content in the incoming signal, irrespective of channel,
should be directed only to loudspeakers capable of handling it, whether the latter are
the main system loudspeakers or one or more special low-frequency speakers
called subwoofers.
There is a notation difference before and after the bass management system. Before
the bass management system there is a Low Frequency Effects (LFE) channel. After
the bass management system there is a subwoofer signal. A common
misunderstanding is the belief that the LFE channel is the "subwoofer channel". The

13

bass management system may direct bass to one or more subwoofers (if present)
from any channel, not just from the LFE channel. Also, if there is no subwoofer
speaker present then the bass management system can direct the LFE channel to one
or more of the main speakers.

LOW FREQUENCY EFFECTS CHANNEL

Because the low-frequency effects channel requires only a fraction of the bandwidth of
the other audio channels, it is referred to as the ".1" channel; for example "5.1" or
"7.1".[citation needed]
The LFE is a source of some confusion in surround sound. The LFE channel was
originally developed to carry extremely low "sub-bass" cinematic sound effects (with
commercial subwoofers sometimes going down to 30 Hz, e.g., the loud rumble of
thunder or explosions) on their own channel. This allowed theaters to control the
volume of these effects to suit the particular cinema's acoustic environment and sound
reproduction system. Independent control of the sub-bass effects also reduced the
problem of intermodulation distortion in analog movie sound reproduction. A "subwoofer" capable of playing back frequencies as low as 5 Hz was developed by a small

14

speaker manufacturer in Florida. It utilized a propellor design and required a large

cabinet to move sub-sonic air mass.[28]
In the original movie theater implementation, the LFE was a separate channel fed to
one or more subwoofers. Home replay systems, however, may not have a separate
subwoofer, so modern home surround decoders and systems often include a bass
management system that allows bass on any channel (main or LFE) to be fed only to
the loudspeakers that can handle low-frequency signals. The salient point here is that
the LFE channel is not the "subwoofer channel"; there may be no subwoofer and, if
there is, it may be handling a good deal more than effects.[29]
Some record labels such as Telarc and Chesky have argued that LFE channels are not
needed in a modern digital multichannel entertainment system. [citation needed] They argue
that all available channels have a full-frequency range and, as such, there is no need
for an LFE in surround music production, because all the frequencies are available in
all the main channels. These labels sometimes use the LFE channel to carry a height
channel, underlining its redundancy for its original purpose. The label BIS generally
uses a 5.0 channel mix.

SURROUND SOUND SPECIFICATIONS

NOTATIONS
Because the low-frequency effects channel requires only a fraction of the bandwidth
of the other audio channels, it is referred to as the ".1" channel; for example "5.1" or
"7.1".
The LFE is a source of some confusion in surround sound. The LFE channel was
originally developed to carry extremely low "sub-bass" cinematic sound effects (with
15

commercial subwoofers sometimes going down to 30 Hz, e.g., the loud rumble of
thunder or explosions) on their own channel. This allowed theaters to control the
volume of these effects to suit the particular cinema's acoustic environment and sound
reproduction system. Independent control of the sub-bass effects also reduced the
problem of intermodulation distortion in analog movie sound reproduction. A "subwoofer" capable of playing back frequencies as low as 5 Hz was developed by a small
speaker manufacturer in Florida. It utilized a propellor design and required a large
cabinet to move sub-sonic air mass.[28]
In the original movie theater implementation, the LFE was a separate channel fed to
one or more subwoofers. Home replay systems, however, may not have a separate
subwoofer, so modern home surround decoders and systems often include a bass
management system that allows bass on any channel (main or LFE) to be fed only to
the loudspeakers that can handle low-frequency signals. The salient point here is that
the LFE channel is not the "subwoofer channel"; there may be no subwoofer and, if
there is, it may be handling a good deal more than effects.[29]
Some record labels such as Telarc and Chesky have argued that LFE channels are not
needed in a modern digital multichannel entertainment system. [citation needed] They argue
that all available channels have a full-frequency range and, as such, there is no need
for an LFE in surround music production, because all the frequencies are available in
all the main channels. These labels sometimes use the LFE channel to carry a height
channel, underlining its redundancy for its original purpose. The label BIS generally
uses a 5.0 channel mix.

Channel identification

16

Zero-based order within multichannel

mp3/wav/flac datastream[31][32][33][34]

Order
within
DTS/AAC[35]

Channel
name

[36]

Color-coding on
commercial
receiver and
cabling

Front left

White

Front right

Red

Center

Green

Low
frequency

Purple

Surround
left

Blue

Surround
right

Grey

Surround
back left

Brown

Surround
back right

Khaki

Front left

Center

Surround left

Front right

Surround right

Surround back left

Surround back right

Low frequency

17

Figure 6. Channel identification

Sonic Whole Overhead Sound

In 2002, Dolby premiered a master of We Were Soldiers which featured a Sonic Whole
Overhead Sound soundtrack. This mix included a new ceiling-mountedheight channel.

Ambisonics
Ambisonics is a series of recording and replay techniques using multichannel mixing
technology that can be used live or in the studio and which recreates the soundfield as it
existed in the space, in contrast to traditional surround systems, which can only create illusion
of the soundfield if the listener is located in a very narrow sweetspot between speakers. Any
number of speakers in any physical arrangement can be used to recreate a sound field. With 6
or more speakers arranged around a listener, a 3-dimensional ("periphonic", or full-sphere)
sound field can be presented. Ambisonics was invented by Michael Gerzon.

Binaural Recording
Binaural recording is a method of recording sound that uses two microphones, arranged with
the intent to create a 3-D stereo sound sensation for the listener of actually being in the room
with the performers or instruments. This idea of a three dimensional or "internal" form of
sound has also translated into useful advancement of technology in many things such as
stethoscopes creating "in-head" acoustics and IMAX movies being able to create a three
dimensional acoustic experience.

Panor-Ambiophonic (PanAmbio)
PanAmbio combines a stereo dipole and crosstalk cancellation in front and a second set
behind the listener (total of four speakers) for 360 2D surround reproduction. Four channel
recordings, especially those containing binaural cues, create speaker-binaural surround sound.
5.1 channel recordings, including movie DVDs, are compatible by mixing C-channel content
to the front speaker pair. 6.1 can be played by mixing SC to the back pair.
18

DOLBY DIGITAL SURROUND

Dolby Digital is the common version containing up to six discrete channels of sound.
The most elaborate mode in common use involves five channels for normal-range
speakers (20 Hz 20,000 Hz) (right, center, left, right surround, left surround) and
one channel (20 Hz 120 Hz allotted audio) for the subwoofer driven low-frequency
effects.[11] Monoand stereo modes are also supported. AC-3 supports audio samplerates up to 48 kHz. The LaserDisc version of Clear and Present Danger featured the
first home theater Dolby Digital mix in 1995.[citation needed]
This format has different names:

Dolby Digital

DD (an abbreviation for Dolby Digital, often combined with channel count; for
instance, DD 2.0, DD 5.1)

AC-3 (Audio Codec 3, Advanced Codec 3, Acoustic Coder 3. [These

are backronyms. Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding 3 is a separate format
developed by Sony.])[12]

ATSC A/52 (name of the standard)[13]

Dolby Digital EX
Dolby Digital EX is similar in practice to Dolby's earlier Pro-Logic format, which
utilized matrix technology to add a center surround channel and single rear surround
channel to stereo soundtracks. EX adds an extension to the standard 5.1channel Dolby
Digital codec in the form of matrixed rear channels, creating 6.1 or 7.1 channel
output.
19

Dolby Digital Surround E

The cinema version of Dolby Digital EX is called Dolby Digital Surround EX and
works similarly. It was co-developed by Dolby and Lucasfilm THX in time for the
release in May 1999 of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. It provides an
economical and backwards-compatible means for 5.1 soundtracks to carry a sixth,
center back surround channel for improved localization of effects. The extra surround
channel is matrix encoded onto the discrete left surround andright surround channels
of the 5.1 mix, much like the front center channel on Dolby Pro Logic encoded stereo
soundtracks. The result can be played without loss of information on standard 5.1
systems, or played in 6.1 or 7.1 on systems with Surround EX decoding and added
speakers. Dolby Digital Surround EX has since been used for the Star Wars prequels
on the DVD versions and also the remastered original Star Wars trilogy. A number of
DVDs have a Dolby Digital Surround EX audio option.

Figure 7.1 Dolby home theater

Dolby Digital Live

Dolby Digital Live (DDL) is a real-time encoding technology for interactive media
such as video games. It converts any audio signals on a PC or game console into a 5.1channel 16-bit/48 kHz Dolby Digital format at 640 kbit/s and transports it via a
singleS/PDIF cable.[14] A similar technology known as DTS Connect is available from
competitor DTS. An important benefit of this technology is that it enables the use of
digital multichannel sound with consumer sound cards, which are otherwise limited to
digital PCM stereo or analog multichannel sound because S/PDIF over RCA, BNC,
20

and TOSLINK can only support two-channel PCM, Dolby Digital multichannel audio,
and DTS multichannel audio. HDMI was later introduced, and it can carry
uncompressed multichannel PCM, lossless compressed multichannel audio, and lossy
compressed digital audio. However, Dolby Digital Live is still useful with HDMI to
allow transport of multichannel audio over HDMI to devices that are unable to handle
uncompressed multichannel PCM.
Dolby Digital Live is available in sound cards using various manufacturers' audio
chipsets.

The SoundStorm,

used

for

the Xboxgame

console

and

certain nForce2 motherboards, used an early form of this technology. DDL is available
on motherboards with codecs such as Realtek's ALC882D,[15] ALC888DD and
ALC888H. Other examples include some C-Media PCI sound cards and Creative
Labs' X-Fi and Z series sound cards, whose drivers have enabled support for DDL.
NVIDIA later decided to drop DDL support in their motherboards due to the cost of
involved royalties, leaving an empty space in this regard in the sound cards market.
Then in June 2005 came Auzentech, which with its X-Mystique PCI card, provided
the first consumer sound card with Dolby Digital Live support.
Initially no Creative X-Fi based sound cards supported DDL (2005~2007) but a
collaboration of Creative and Auzentech resulted in the development of the Auzentech
Prelude, the first X-Fi card to support DDL. Originally planned to extend DDL
support to all X-Fi based sound cards (except the 'Xtreme Audio' line which is
incapable of DDL hardware implementation), the plan was dropped because Dolby
licensing would have required a royalty payment for all X-Fi cards and,
problematically, those already sold.[16] In 2008, Creative released the X-Fi Titanium
series of sound cards which fully supports Dolby Digital Live while leaving all PCI
versions of Creative X-Fi still lacking support for DDL.
Since September 2008, all Creative X-Fi based sound cards support DDL (except the
'Xtreme Audio' and its based line such as Prodigy 7.1e, which is incapable of DDL in
hardware). X-Fi's case differs.

21

While they forgot about the plan, programmer Daniel Kawakami made a hot issue by
applying Auzentech Prelude DDL module back to Creative X-Fi cards by disguising
the hardware identity as Auzentech Prelude.[17]
Creative Labs alleged Kawakami violated their intellectual property and demanded he
cease distributing his modified drivers. [17][18][19]
Eventually Creative struck an agreement with Dolby Laboratories regarding the Dolby
license royalty by arranging that the licensing cost be folded into the purchase price of
the Creative X-Fi PCI cards rather than as a royalty paid by Creative themselves.
[16]

Based on the agreement, in September 2008 Creative began selling the Dolby

Digital Live packs enabling Dolby Digital Live on Creative's X-Fi PCI series of sound
cards. It can be purchased and downloaded from Creative. Subsequently Creative
added their DTS Connect pack to the DDL pack at no added cost.[20]

Dolby Digital Plus

22

Figure 7. Surround sound speaker placement

E-AC-3 (Dolby Digital Plus) is an enhanced coding system based on the AC-3 codec.
It offers increased bitrates (up to 6.144 Mbit/s), support for more audio channels (up
to 13.1), and improved coding techniques (only at low data rates) to
reduce compression artifacts, enabling lower data rates than those supported by AC-3
(e.g. 5.1-channel audio at 256 kbit/s). It is not backward compatible with existing AC3 hardware, though E-AC-3 codecs generally are capable of transcoding to AC-3 for
equipment connected via S/PDIF. E-AC-3 decoders can also decode AC-3 bitstreams.
The fourth generation Apple TV supports E-AC-3.[21] The discontinued HD
DVD system directly supported E-AC-3. Blu-ray Disc offers E-AC-3 as an option
to graft added channels onto an otherwise 5.1 AC-3 stream, as well as for delivery of
secondary audio content (e.g. director's commentary) that is intended to be mixed with
the primary audio soundtrack in the Blu-ray Disc player.

Dolby TrueHD

23

Dolby TrueHD, developed by Dolby Laboratories, is an advanced lossless audio codec

based on Meridian Lossless Packing. Support for the codec was mandatory for HD
DVD and is optional for Blu-ray Disc hardware. Dolby TrueHD supports 24-bit,
96 kHz audio channels at up to 18 Mbit/s over 14 channels (HD DVD and Blu-ray
Disc standards currently limit the maximum number of audio channels to eight). It
supports metadata, including dialog normalization and Dynamic Range Control.
Channel configurations
Although commonly associated with the 5.1 channel configuration, Dolby Digital
allows a number of different channel selections. The options are:

Mono (center only)

2-channel stereo (left + right), optionally carrying matrixed Dolby Surround

3-channel stereo (left, center, right)

2-channel stereo with mono surround (left, right, surround)

3-channel stereo with mono surround (left, center, right, surround)

4-channel quadraphonic (left, right, left surround, right surround)

5-channel surround (left, center, right, left surround, right surround)

These configurations optionally include the extra tslow-frequency effec (LFE)

channel. The last two with stereo surrounds optionally use Dolby Digital EX matrix
encoding to add an extra Rear Surround channel.
Many Dolby Digital decoders are equipped with downmixing to distribute encoded
channels to speakers. This includes such functions as playing surround information
through the front speakers if surround speakers are unavailable, and distributing
the center channel to left and right if no center speaker is available. When outputting
to separate equipment over a 2-channel connection, a Dolby Digital decoder can
optionally encode the output using Dolby Surround to preserve surround information.
24

The '.1' in 5.1, 7.1 etc. refers to the LFE channel, which is also a discrete channel.
Applications
Dolby Digital audio is used on DVD-Video and other purely digital media, like home
cinema. In this format, the AC-3 bitstream is interleaved with the video and control
bitstreams.
The system is used in bandwidth-limited applications other than DVD-Video, such as
digital TV. The AC-3 standard allows a maximum coded bit rate of 640 kbit/s. 35mm
film prints use a fixed rate of 320 kbit/s, which is the same as the maximum bit rate
for 2-channel MP3. DVD-Video discs are limited to 448 kbit/s, although many players
can successfully play higher-rate bitstreams (which are non-compliant with the DVD
specification). HD DVD limits AC-3 to 448 kbit/s. ATSC and digital cable standards
limit AC-3 to 448 kbit/s. Blu-ray Disc, the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox game console
can output an AC-3 signal at a full 640 kbit/s. Some Sony PlayStation 2 console
games are able to output AC-3 standard audio as well, primarily during pre-rendered
cutscenes.
Dolby is part of a group of organizations involved in the development of AAC
(Advanced Audio Coding), part of MPEG specifications, and considered the
successful 5.1.

25

DIGITAL SURROUND SOUND 5.1 AND 7.1

5.1 surround sound is pretty much the industry standard for pre-wiring a family room or
keeping
(1) Center

room

in

Channel

your

home.

speaker that

A 5.1
you

sound package would

hear

the

characters

consist
talking

of:
through.

(2) Front channel speakers for left and right audio.) Imagine hearing all of the back ground
music through these as well as the sound effects of a helicopter or ambulance heading your
way
(3) Rear channel speakers for left and right audio. These are used for sound effects in the
background.6.1 Surround Sound System. As regards the ".1" in a 5.1 system...
This simply is for the LFE channel (Low frequency effects) . This is otherwise known as
a subwoofer that gives you the bass for your sound effects. (This is best placed in a corner
of the room perhaps under a table or behind a potted plant.)

26

Figure 8. 6.1 Sound System

Everything is the same as the 5.1 system excerpt in a 6.1 surround sound setup there is an
additional setup rear center channel speaker for sound.

7.1 Surround Sound System

27

Figure 9. 7.1 surround sound system

This has become the industry standard for dedicated home theatre rooms. eEverything
remains the same for the 5.1 surround sound. Now instead of a rear center channel speaker
like the 6.1 setup. In a 7.1 sound setup there are (2) additional surround channel
speakers for left side and right side audio. These are centered between the front left and
right & the rear left and right speakers.

28

WHAT IS DTS FORMAT ?

DTS is a series of multichannel audio technologies (formerly known as Digital Theater
Systems, Inc.), a company dedicatedly specializing in digital surround sound formats used
for both commercial/theatrical and consumer grade applications.
In the home theater market, AC-3 and DTS are close in terms of audio performance.
When the DTS audio track is encoded at its highest legal bitrate (1509.75 kbps), technical
experts rank DTS as perceptually transparent for most audio program material (i.e.,
indistinguishable to the un-coded source in a double blind test). Dolby claims its
competing AC-3 codec achieves similar transparency at its highest coded bitrate (640
kbps). However, in program material available to home consumer markets (DVD,
broadcast, and subscription digital TV), neither AC-3 nor DTS typically run at their
highest allowed bitrate. DVD and broadcast (ATSC) HDTV cap AC-3 bitrate at 448
kbps. >>Convert M2TS with DTS to AC-3
However, even at that rate, consumer audio gear already enjoys better audio performance
than theatrical (35 mm movie) installations, which are limited to even lower bitrates.
When DTS audio was introduced to the DVD specification, studios authored DVD
movies at DTS' full bitrate(1509.75 kbps). Later, movie titles were almost always encoded
at a reduced bitrate of 754.5 kbps, ostensibly to increase the number of audio tracks on the
movie disc. At this reduced rate (754.5 kbps), DTS no longer retains audio transparency.
AC-3 and DTS are judged by their encoded bitrates. DTS proponents claim that the extra
bits give higher fidelity and more dynamic range, providing a richer and more lifelike
sound. But no conclusion can be drawn from their respective bitrates, as each codec relies
on different coding tools and syntax to compress audio.
Like AC-3, DTS surrounding has also stereo surrounds channel:
Mono (Center only)
2-channel stereo (Left + Right), optionally carrying matrixed Dolby Surround
3-channel stereo (Left, Center, Right)
2-channel stereo with mono surround (Left, Right, Surround)
29

3-channel stereo with mono surround (Left, Center, Right, Surround)

4-channel quadraphonic (Left, Right, Left Surround, Right Surround)
5-channel surrounding (Left, Center, Right, Left Surround, Right Surround)
Generally speaking, DVD's audio is AC-3 or DTS format, which is featured 5.1 surround
sound. When you play and watch DVD movie through the home theater system, this
multi-dimensional audio effect will make you immersive feel the fantastic of DVD movie.
Meanwhile, AC-3 and DTS audio format can also be converted and stored into video files
like MPEG and AVI. When playback them on your media player, it can also achieve
the5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound.

30

REFERENCES

1. Christos Manolas and Sandra Pauletto use of multi channel soundtrack in cinemas
2. Mark kernis narration in the cinema of Digital sound
3. Durand Begault audio visual communiation monitoring system for enhanced
awareness
4. Tomilson surround sound up and running

31