Dolby Surround NOT Dolby Digital

[mattyc]

Hi, i am new to dolby surround and such like but struggling a little. I have sky HD connected to a panasonic home cinema system by Optical cable and also HDMI. When ever i watch a program on sky that has abreviation "DD" i get true dolby digital sound through all speakers, which is great. However, when i watch a program that has "DS", this is dolby surround and by reading all the sky info, this should still be transmitting surround sound but not the same quality as dolby digital. My Panasonic system says when i leave it in standard mode it plays the sounds as they are received, ie when watching a dolby digital program it is output through all 6 speakers. When i change to a dolby surround transmission, the sound only comes out of 2 front speakers and sub woofer but there is no centre sound or rear surround which i thought there should be? I can manually change the home cinema to multi channel mode but i dont think i should have to this? I am wondering if anyone else has this issue, have i misunderstood what "DS" stands for, am i somehow setup wrong or am i just stupid??!!

Thanks in advance

[Kenedin]

You should only be connected via Optical from the Sky box to your HomeTheatre. DD is Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and DS is only twin track stereo. Both are delivered to your Home Theatre via optical, and the HT will do the job from there. I use D-IN for both on my HT, and you should check with the HT manual for sound enhancements with 2-channel stereo.

[Koala5]

If think Dolby Surround DS is the old "Dolby Prologic" if you amp has a "Dolby Prologic" setting then if you turn it on you should get a single "Sudo" rear channel pumped through the rear speakers. My Sony amp doe's anyway Prologic doe's decode a mono rear channel for both speakers and a center channel, if it was encoded onto the orignal stereo channels in the first place.

[Kenedin]

Yes, there is PLII on my HT. Must also be on the OP's.

[Proppinupthebar]

You should only be connected via Optical from the Sky box to your HomeTheatre. DD is Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and DS is only twin track stereo. Both are delivered to your Home Theatre via optical, and the HT will do the job from there. I use D-IN for both on my HT, and you should check with the HT manual for sound enhancements with 2-channel stereo.

DD does not mean its 5.1
It can also be 2.0 or 2.1

Only certain channels carry DD (all HD and some premium SD channels). The other channels which carry the PCM stereo can carry Prologic information invisibly mixed into the stereo sound which gives you the Dolby Surround.

[wonnyjilkinson]

I must admit, where "DD" is shown in the programme description, the sound broadcast is Dolby Digital 5.1 according to my amplifier. Where it shows as "DS", the amplifier displays it as Dolby 2.0.

[Proppinupthebar]

I must admit, where "DD" is shown in the programme description, the sound broadcast is Dolby Digital 5.1 according to my amplifier. Where it shows as "DS", the amplifier displays it as Dolby 2.0.

Most programs will be 5.1 but there are some in 2.0 etc, I think adverts are also 2.0

[wonnyjilkinson]

I agree with the adverts, when watching a "DD" broadcast the amp will generally revert to Dolby 2.0 when the ads come on. I'm usually making a brew though then!

[mattyc]

Ok, thanks for help guys. Am running home cinema now on dolby prologic II mode when not watching 5.1 programs and all seems fine although its much quiter than running in standard mode.

Cheers.