For Beginners: Surround Sound Formats

At Custom Audio Video, we pride ourselves on not only providing our clients with the best products and services, but also educating them so they understand exactly what they want and need. To keep with our passion of education, we periodically publish a series of posts designed to provide entry-level information on various products and services. This particular post will highlight surround sound formats.

 

What Is Surround Sound & Why Are There Different Formats?

Although surround sound is fairly popular, how it functions on a technological level can be pretty confusing. At the very basics, surround sound can be thought of as a sound system that utilizes a variety of speakers to get the theater-like feeling of sound literally “surrounding” you. As I mentioned, this is fairly easy to understand, but did you know that surround sound comes in a variety of different formats, such as Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Digital (AC-3) and DTS?

 

Ah, the headache – Why so many formats? Well, basically, with each different format comes a unique speaker, quality and sound. To better help you understand the differences between formats, I’ll give a brief overview of some of the more popular ones.

 

Dolby Pro Logic

To get true surround sound, there needs to be speakers set up to the left and right of the screen. The unique characteristic of the Dolby Pro Logic sound is that it sends individual signals to the left and right channels in order to produce a truly unique audio experience. So the sounds coming from the left speaker is different from the one coming from the right.

 

Dolby Digital (AC-3)

Generally known as Dolby Digital, the AC-3 improves upon Pro Logic’s set up by providing higher sound quality. Dolby Digital also includes a subwoofer for the deep low-frequencies that makes any movie experience a thriller. Fun fact: Dolby Digital is the default surround sound format and is the format most commonly utilized for movies and sporting events.

 

Digital Theater Systems (DTS)

A rival to Dolby, Digital Theater Systems (DTS) surround sound was first utilized by movie theaters for the film Jurassic Park. What makes DTS surround sound unique is that it provides more audio information, which in turn produces an overall higher sound quality.

 

The Latest: Dolby Atmos  

The latest advancement in surround sound is Dolby Atmos. What makes Dolby Atmos so unique is sound quality, as it can process approximately 128 channels of sound while Dolby Digital 7.1 can only process around 8. Furthermore, Dolby Atmos also provides filmmakers the amazing capability of giving each individual speaker its own sound (as opposed to merely a left and right channel). This results in a more thrilling and detailed movie-viewing experience.

 

Custom Audio Video has been providing premier products and services since 1996, so our team of audio and video professionals have a multitude of experience to help you create the entertainment system of your dreams.

 

Feel free to give us a call or stop by our show room and speak with one of our audio-video professionals today!

 

Source: Digital Trends