Dolby Surround

[bgolsen]

I plan to capture my old VHS tapes and put them n vcd or dvd - I just wonder what happens with the Dolby Surround sound. I'd like to kep the surround sound, maybe convert it to dts, but will the capturing result in the loss of the surround matrix?

[jggimi]

Dolby Surround (TM) is part of the analog stereo signal. If your capture equipment captures in stereo (not all do), then the surround information will be retained.

[FlimsyFeet]

And you need to encode in "joint stereo" mode, is that right?

[jggimi]

I think you may have that backwards. Dolby Surround works by exploiting separation. If you use Joint Stereo, you might put the surround information at risk.

See http://www.dtg.org.uk/reference/glossary/joint_stereo.htm

[bgolsen]

Thanks jggimi :)

[KpeX]

As long as M/S joint stereo is used, joint stereo will preserve Dolby Surround information. This means that for MP3 (lame encoder) and AAC for sure, joint stereo is fine. For MP2 however, full stereo should definitely be used.

However, this is debated from time to time. And you will never lose surround information using full stereo.

[jggimi]

thanks for the clarification, Kpex!