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CBS and Dolby Digital EX

post #1 of 7
8/16/09 at 7:48pm
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We were watching the PGA Championship today on CBS, and the receiver indicated that the broadcast was transmitting audio in Dolby Digital EX (evidenced by the LCD display and 3/3/.1 with MATRIX flag in the Audio Signal Information menu). Golf isn't exactly the best way to showcase this, and I don't think there was any surround activity at all (impossible to tell the exact channels anyway, since we have a 7.1 setup that uses the rear surrounds in PLIIx), but that's what the display said.

I was wondering if anyone else noticed this, and whether it's going to be a regular thing for sports broadcasts (at least). The commercials also indicated EX flags too. I wasn't aware that the broadcast standard allowed for Dolby Digital EX, but then again, I think it's just a regular Dolby track that has more info and flags only EX decoders can read.
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post #2 of 7
8/16/09 at 9:03pm
Sounds like your local CBS station had a flag set wrong, but that's just a guess.

In theory, EX uses the same number of discrete channels (6) as standard DD, so EX could be used for home applications. The one or two additional channels of EX are derived via matrix.

I haven't heard of any television productions using EX, but who knows.....
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post #3 of 7
8/16/09 at 11:46pm
It might have something to do with CBS network encoding as they send AC3 metadata via Dolby E to the station encoders.
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post #4 of 7
8/17/09 at 2:39pm
Not a bad idea as HT receivers since 2001 have had Dolby EX (6.1)
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post #5 of 7
8/17/09 at 4:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mgpt6 View Post

Not a bad idea as HT receivers since 2001 have had Dolby EX (6.1)

Not true, I have a receiver from 04 with no EX decoding
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post #6 of 7
8/18/09 at 7:43am
Lkr, you would still get 5.1 the center back channel is matrixed into the 2 surround channels.
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post #7 of 7
8/18/09 at 7:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lkr View Post

Not true, I have a receiver from 04 with no EX decoding

The first AVR that supported Dolby Digital EX (actually the THX version and also DTS ES) was the Denon AVR-4800. It had the processing for the rear channel, but you had to add an outboard power amp for the extra surround channel. It was introduced in 1999 and I purchased one in 2000. Later the DD EX and DTS ES 6.1 channel modes, plus an additional amplifier channel, were added to the more moderate priced Denon AVRs such as the AVR-2802 that came out in 2001 as I recall (I purchased one in 2002). However, it took several more years before 6.1 (or 7.1) channel AVRs were widely available in the lower to moderate price categories from most manufacturers. So you could have purchased one in 2004, but it appears the model you did purchase was a 5.1 channel AVR (without support for DD EX or DTS ES).
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