David Bell(Mostly Harmless) posted this on Tuesday, 19th February 2002, 17:30
I now have my Sony HTK215. And very pleased I am too. Call me stupid, but is there any difference between DD and 5.1, assuming all the right connections are made, or are they one of the same thing. If they are not the same, which of all three is the best option and what determines their usage.
Lovely piece of kit, plenty loud enough. Got it from Unbeatable and had to wait just over a month.
One thing I find annoying is that no-one makes it clear as to what kind of connections will be required. I had a Sony DVD which says it was digital/DTS. Only when my 215 turned up, I find that it needs an Opticle lead where-as my DVD only had Coax. Lukily for me, Argos happily changed the DVD for the next model up. So I was fortunate.
If anyone can answer my questions, I would be most pleased.
David
RE: Dolby Digital/5.1/DTS - Sony 215
rockysafc(Elite) posted this on Tuesday, 19th February 2002, 20:27
Not sure about the technical side of things but Dolby Digital is the sound format used for all DVDs and the number after it refers to how the sound is presented on that disk. E.g A disk encoded in DD 2.0 will output all the sound from just the two front left and right speakers giving you stereo sound. DD 5.1 will give you a full surrond sound effect from all five speakers with dialogue coming from the centre speaker and the bass coming from your subwoofer. DTS sound is encoded with less compression on a DVD so is suppose to sound better. I think it all depends on the actual DVD so would advise you to get a disk with both on to compare. Mind you Gladiator sounds rather wonderful in DTS. If mutiregion is possible with your Sony DVD it`s worth checking the R1 releases of DVD`s you fancy cause they are more likely to have DTS on as an audio option. Hope this helps.
RE: Dolby Digital/5.1/DTS - Sony 215
David Bell(Mostly Harmless) posted this on Wednesday, 20th February 2002, 09:42
Thanks for your reply. It does help. But just one other question. If DD and 5.1 are the same, then what about the hook-ups. I am currently using the opticle with a Toslink. Does this mean that the 5.1 phono connections between the DVD and Amp are not neccessary or should I be using them as well. My Amp has a button for 5.1. Its all very confussing!
David
RE: Dolby Digital/5.1/DTS - Sony 215
Herman(Mostly Harmless) posted this on Wednesday, 20th February 2002, 10:19
If you are using the 5.1 phono connections the this will give you Dolby Digital 5.1 through the DVD player`s internal decoder. On the htk215 amp the 5.1 button means the 5.1 phono input (so I understand this could also be DTS/SACD/DVD-A, or anyhting which has 5.1 channels).
If you select DVD on the amp, this will give you the signal coming through the optical connection (DD/DTS), however the difference is that now the amp is doing the decoding.
I would suggest you decide which you think sounds better out of the two, but chances are the optical connection will sound better. In which case you would only need the 5.1 phono connections if your player does SACD/DVD-A or anything like that.
