DTS-ES Matrix???

[mistergsf]

My BD copy of "Up" arrived yesterday so we watched it after dinner. Amazing audio and video.

Towards the end of the movie there is a scene where the 3 dogs are flying old fighter planes shooting and chasing Russell who is in the house in the air alongside Muntz's blimp. Anyway, the sound during that scene caught my attention because the sensation of hearing the planes coming from behind me was awesome.

I glanced over to my Onkyo SR706 and noticed that instead of the usual DTS-HD MA that is lit up (in white) on the front panel, what was displayed was "dts ES HD MSTR (in red lights) and ES Matrix (in white)". This is the first time/first movie I have seen this display. We have a 7.1 setup but always play in 5.1.

Is my Onkyo capable of something I never knew about? Can someone explain this format so I can understand what my system is doing? And is this better or equal to DTS-HD Master Audio? Sorry to say but I'm a bit confused by all this.

Thanks to anyone who jumps in to give me a little lesson.

Marcus

 

[agarwalro]

We have a 7.1 setup but always play in 5.1

Now why would you be doing that? Now that I am over the quoted statement...

Nope, your Onkyo is not manfunctioning, in fact, the opposite.

From this website, Up BD audio options are

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 ES Matrix
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 EX
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 EX
English: DTS-HD 2.0... (more)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 ES Matrix
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 EX
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 EX
English: DTS-HD 2.0
English: DVS 2.0

What "matrixed" means is that, if you had a 6.1 setup, for this movie, when listening to the DTS HD MA encoded track, the back center channel (the 6th speaker) is not a unique track. Instead, the 6 the track is a mix from the left and right surrounds.

If you have a 5.1 AVR, it will be decoded as 5.1 but if you have a 6.1 AVR, it will be decoded as 6.1. If you have a 7.1 receiver, both the rear surround speakers will get the same track.

 

[mistergsf]

Now why would you be doing that? Now that I am over the quoted statement...

I guess what I should have said was even though we have a 7.1 setup, we frequently watch movies in 5.1 and have never used any additional processing that is available on our Onkyo to output to 7.1. Does that make sense?

Anyway, thanks for your answer to my question. I understood everything you said. As I mentioned, this is the first BD I've owned that had this type of soundtrack and I have a lot of current releases. Have I been missing out on other releases? It sounded fantastic.

 

[agarwalro]

I guess what I should have said was even though we have a 7.1 setup, we frequently watch movies in 5.1 and have never used any additional processing that is available on our Onkyo to output to 7.1. Does that make sense?

Perfectly! Good clarification .

Have I been missing out on other releases?

To the best of my knowledge, most mainstream BD releases are encoded in 7.1 HD tracks.

 

[jostenmeat]

To the best of my knowledge, most mainstream BD releases are encoded in 7.1 HD tracks.

A small fraction. Currently 126 BDs have a 7.1 track, out of the 2075 titles on this list. warning: modem burner.

OK, I don't know what is meant by mainstream, but most of what I have is 5.1 for sure, including what I deem as mainstream.

http://www.blu-raystats.com/Stats/Stats.php

Go to the filters above, specifically audio, choose "7.1".

Of the 126 that have 7.1, 102 of those are using DTS-MA.

 

[agarwalro]

OK, I don't know what is meant by mainstream, but most of what I have is 5.1 for sure, including what I deem as mainstream.

I meant, big budget, Hollywood kind of fare.

I mistyped in my earlier post. Instead of "7.1 HD" I should have said DTS HD -MA.

 

[jostenmeat]

I meant, big budget, Hollywood kind of fare.

Doesn't really change a thing. The qualifier only confused the discussion, and I was joking around about it. It actually doesn't change anything I said; the fraction is small regardless.

I mistyped in my earlier post. Instead of "7.1 HD" I should have said DTS HD -MA.

652 come with DTS-MA, or that would be 31%. However there are many blockbusters that come with TrueHD, or mch PCM as well.

 

[GlocksRock]

If you are able to apply Dolby Pro Logic IIx to all of your 5.1 tracks, you will have matrixed 7.1 sound from everything. Extra channels are not created, but some of the sound is just beeing steered from the side surrounds to the rear surrounds. I use this with everything and it sounds great, it makes things sound more natural, like if a plane is coming from behind you to in front of you, the sounds come from behind you instead of from the sides.