Season's Greetings to all:
As with most of you, this is a very busy time, so my present contribution will be brief observations, with more to come later.
-Reference: the ADA side contains two (2) TI DSPs for processing, HD decoding and processing such as PLII, BM, etc. ADA will have to respond regarding specifics regarding source sample rates and how they are processed by the DSPs. I do believe the maximum sample rate that may be output via the internal bus to the Trinnov is 192/24. Some media may be internally limited to 48/24, for reasons discussed. Again, ADA will have to clarify this.
-Almost all Blu Ray movies are 48/24. I know of only one major movie studio producing 96/24, and this may have changed. I can say all the BR discs I've watched are 48/24 native.
-I use a modified OPPO and my experiences are similar to Edorr's, though we don't share the same mod. Edorr's mod includes improved DSD to PCM encoding and an improved clock, both worthwhile if SACD is you choice of medium.
-2D/3D remapping
Trinnov Remapping is not intended to fix speaker locations or create phantom speaker images, rather its intended to properly place SPATIAL IMAGES. Given the discussion regarding replacing an image made by intended speaker positions, with comments about what remapping does or doesn't do, I'll suggest we instead consider Remapping using a different approach. This may clarify how remapping does work when going from 5.1 to 7.1, etc, as compared to upmixing such as PLII.
Let's consider a specific example to better illustrate Trinnov's Remapping benefits.
Assume one has an ITU 5.1 surround source. The intention of the format and therefore the option available to the mixer, is to create a 360 degree soundfield. From my many years experience as Chief Engineer for the Surround conferee working directly with mixers and their content, there are many cases where mixers used up all 360 degrees, with sound objects mixed at any angle, including spreads across the sides and back. The speakers themselves were really meaningless, other then setting up a listening orientation. What I mean specifically by this is that speaker orientation DICTATES speaker orientation because ITU 5.1 is optimized to HRTF (head related transfer function), with closely spaced speakers where we hear more spatial resolution (in the front, where there are 3 speakers covering 60 degrees) and less speakers (the back 2) where our spatial acuity is reduced. More speakers would merely add more spatial resolution in a given direction. The KEY is that the mixer has a 360 degree sound palette to mix to, and they often have, panning sounds at every direction. The recording has 360 degree spatial information, with the limitation that in the back, it's just harder to extract. Trinnov Remapping works to extract the spatial information, not the speaker position. Listen to some of the best surround recordings, face the rear, and while the speaker spread is a bit wide to be useful, there are images specifically places, just as there are across the front. The use of Trinnov Remapping will improve rear spatial acuity over more loudspeakers.
If we take 5.1 and apply Remapping to 9.1, the result is that 9.1 will have a lot more spatial resolution then does 5.1. Of course, things get a lot better with a 7.1. Remapping will do a lot more then try to reproduce the intended SPEAKER placement (not its job), it will actually use the higher spatial resolution to reproduce the intended SPATIAL placement, quite a different thing. The way to think about remapping is to not think of speakers, but of spatial resolution. If you want more spatial resolution, put more speakers in the direction where the resolution is desired, including the backs. In the example of 5.1 music, there is spatial content intended for sides or back, and Repapping can properly identify that and improve overall spatial accuracy over 7.1 speakers. Again, this is quite different then stating we're just going to fix speaker placement. As for other formats, they provide more or less spatial resolution. 7.1 provides more then 5.1, so yes, more spatial resolution provided to the remapping algorithm, the more spatial accuracy results. Just as we see new developments in spatial processing from others, we can expect Trinnov will improve in this area as well, offering more format decoding, as well as improvements in our remapping algorithm. When they come, Trinnov users, be they ADA or Trinnov systems, will benefit from an ugrade path.
It is my intention to start a new thread to discuss these and other possibilities that benefit Trinnov users. Look for that to happen after CES. If I don't get to it- provide a friendly reminder. There is a lot under the hood, and I'd like for all of you to benefit.
As with most of you, this is a very busy time, so my present contribution will be brief observations, with more to come later.
-Reference: the ADA side contains two (2) TI DSPs for processing, HD decoding and processing such as PLII, BM, etc. ADA will have to respond regarding specifics regarding source sample rates and how they are processed by the DSPs. I do believe the maximum sample rate that may be output via the internal bus to the Trinnov is 192/24. Some media may be internally limited to 48/24, for reasons discussed. Again, ADA will have to clarify this.
-Almost all Blu Ray movies are 48/24. I know of only one major movie studio producing 96/24, and this may have changed. I can say all the BR discs I've watched are 48/24 native.
-I use a modified OPPO and my experiences are similar to Edorr's, though we don't share the same mod. Edorr's mod includes improved DSD to PCM encoding and an improved clock, both worthwhile if SACD is you choice of medium.
-2D/3D remapping
Trinnov Remapping is not intended to fix speaker locations or create phantom speaker images, rather its intended to properly place SPATIAL IMAGES. Given the discussion regarding replacing an image made by intended speaker positions, with comments about what remapping does or doesn't do, I'll suggest we instead consider Remapping using a different approach. This may clarify how remapping does work when going from 5.1 to 7.1, etc, as compared to upmixing such as PLII.
Let's consider a specific example to better illustrate Trinnov's Remapping benefits.
Assume one has an ITU 5.1 surround source. The intention of the format and therefore the option available to the mixer, is to create a 360 degree soundfield. From my many years experience as Chief Engineer for the Surround conferee working directly with mixers and their content, there are many cases where mixers used up all 360 degrees, with sound objects mixed at any angle, including spreads across the sides and back. The speakers themselves were really meaningless, other then setting up a listening orientation. What I mean specifically by this is that speaker orientation DICTATES speaker orientation because ITU 5.1 is optimized to HRTF (head related transfer function), with closely spaced speakers where we hear more spatial resolution (in the front, where there are 3 speakers covering 60 degrees) and less speakers (the back 2) where our spatial acuity is reduced. More speakers would merely add more spatial resolution in a given direction. The KEY is that the mixer has a 360 degree sound palette to mix to, and they often have, panning sounds at every direction. The recording has 360 degree spatial information, with the limitation that in the back, it's just harder to extract. Trinnov Remapping works to extract the spatial information, not the speaker position. Listen to some of the best surround recordings, face the rear, and while the speaker spread is a bit wide to be useful, there are images specifically places, just as there are across the front. The use of Trinnov Remapping will improve rear spatial acuity over more loudspeakers.
If we take 5.1 and apply Remapping to 9.1, the result is that 9.1 will have a lot more spatial resolution then does 5.1. Of course, things get a lot better with a 7.1. Remapping will do a lot more then try to reproduce the intended SPEAKER placement (not its job), it will actually use the higher spatial resolution to reproduce the intended SPATIAL placement, quite a different thing. The way to think about remapping is to not think of speakers, but of spatial resolution. If you want more spatial resolution, put more speakers in the direction where the resolution is desired, including the backs. In the example of 5.1 music, there is spatial content intended for sides or back, and Repapping can properly identify that and improve overall spatial accuracy over 7.1 speakers. Again, this is quite different then stating we're just going to fix speaker placement. As for other formats, they provide more or less spatial resolution. 7.1 provides more then 5.1, so yes, more spatial resolution provided to the remapping algorithm, the more spatial accuracy results. Just as we see new developments in spatial processing from others, we can expect Trinnov will improve in this area as well, offering more format decoding, as well as improvements in our remapping algorithm. When they come, Trinnov users, be they ADA or Trinnov systems, will benefit from an ugrade path.
It is my intention to start a new thread to discuss these and other possibilities that benefit Trinnov users. Look for that to happen after CES. If I don't get to it- provide a friendly reminder. There is a lot under the hood, and I'd like for all of you to benefit.
