Page 1 of Technical question `bout DD/DTS/5.1/6.1/ES/EX

Right I am just curious about this and I don`t really need to know, but what the hey. Ok.......

What does the ES and EX stand for or mean that I see sometimes attached to the end of some soundtracks? For instance Se7en (2-Disc Set) has a DTS ES 6.1 soundtrack. So what does that mean?

Cheers m`dears.

Aye up matey.

Basically 6.1 refers to yet another channel of sound between rear left and rear right (yup, rear centre, then). DTS ES 6.1 and Dolby EX 6.1 are essentially the same thing, although I would argue that DTS just edges it, as the sound is less compressed.

The system offers an even clearer soundstage for effects with "improved surround definition, image placement and detail" to quote Home Entertainment magazine, Jan 01 p.51

Amps that can decode these are usually mid to top range AV jobbies, and naturally you`ll need an extra speaker.

But no worries if you haven`t got that capability - it`ll just play in plain old 5.1 format.

Ex is dolby digital with a centre surround channel. Es is dts with a centre surround channel

ok,this is how it go`s.dolby ex is 5.1 with a matrixed surround track that is decoded from the rear left/right channels(much like dolby pro-logic)with a suitable amp and extra speaker(S).dts es is true 6.1,the extra channel being a discrete SEPERATE rear channel.
sooo,whilst 5.1 ex is backwards compatible with plain vanilla 5.1 systems,to hear the extra channel in dts es you`ll need a compatible amp and speakers to hear the extra sound.
to put it clearly,if there were a line of dialogue decoded in the centre surround,you would hear it on a normal 5.1 system,but if it wer recorded in dts es and you didnt have the extra speaker-you wouldnt hear anything at all.thats why most of the information in the rear centre is ambient detail to fill in the sound stage,rather than integral parts of the soundtrack like directionalised speech etc.
so if you want to hear surround ex,your preety safe as all your missing is just an extra speaker to open up the rear detail,you can still hear it on your 5.1 set up just not as pronounced,if its dts es,then best you save up to hear those air fresheners tinkling in seven-very spooky!!
this may have confused you even more,but read it a few times and you`ll soon understand.my denon has the capability and now ive been spoilt and cant go back!
what next,super dolby 10.3 wallet blaster deluxe?technology moves too fast-unfortunately our bank balances do not!

Cool! Thanks for the response guys and/or gals. Much appreciated.

I was just getting confused as I was not sure which bit meant what.

Thanks again.

Aye.