5.1 on stereo system?

[nosaj]

hello all,

was just planning to backup a dvd-9 to dvd-5 and have a quick audio question. to save space i was planning on only keeping one of the 2 audio tracks (stereo or 5.1). i thought id just keep the 5.1 as someday i may actually have the 6 speakers - at the moment i only have stereo...which led me to ask - what would happen if i played 5.1 out though a stereo system? would i lose some channels?

listening to 5.1 versus stereo on my soundcard output (stereo) through my headphones i couldnt tell a difference but maybe i didnt look too hard.

thanks for any help,

jason

[MvB]

That's why your DVD-Player converts 5.1 audio to stereo on the fly.
You should keep the 5.1 track anyway. Every DVD-Player has the capability to downgrade to stereo. And if you ever have a 5.1 system you'll be lucky to have kept the track.

[nosaj]

thanks MvB, looks like ill go ahead with the project as id originally planned

out of curiosity - if all dvd players can downgrade 5.1 to stereo on the fly (im assuming you mean both standalones and software based), then why include a stereo track at all?

jason

[hendrix]

Originally posted by nosaj
if all dvd players can downgrade 5.1 to stereo on the fly (im assuming you mean both standalones and software based), then why include a stereo track at all?
jason

5.1 has been mixed to take advantage of 6 speakers
2.0 is mixed to take advantage of a 2 speaker system

5.1 can be downmixed to stereo on the fly for those who dont have the luxary as MvB said but a 2.0 track will sound better than a 5.1 track downmixed onto a stereo speaker system.
next time listen to a 5.1 track with headphones and compare it with the 2.0 track - you'll be suprised how much better the stereo separation is on the 2.0 track, i prefer the 5.1 sound personally

[benza]

What happens when you only have a DTS track? Is that one also going to be downmixed (to stereo, or 5.1 maybe?)? And not every DVD player has DTS support, so what happens when DTS is played?

[Amnon82]

If Your DVDPlayer don't support DTS You'll here nothing.

[Backwoods]

more like if your stereo equipment doesn't support DTS you'll hear nothing. you need a DTS reciever to hear DTS signals, far as I know all DVD players have DTS support.

[KpeX]

Originally posted by benza
What happens when you only have a DTS track? Is that one also going to be downmixed (to stereo, or 5.1 maybe?)? And not every DVD player has DTS support, so what happens when DTS is played? Every DVD that has DTS must also have AC3 or PCM, otherwise it is a non-specification compliant DVD afaik.