any reason to keep AC2 2-ch audio?

[sydemon]

I normally just keep the AC3 5.1-ch audio track but was wondering if there was any reason to keep the AC3 2-ch audio. Like if i only have a 2-ch setup or only have tv speakers will having the 2-ch come in handy? or is it just a waste of space? is 5.1 compatible with 2-ch setups? what do you guys think?

thanks
sydemon

[Tiny71]

I think it mostly depends on your players. Though most if not all newer players that are able to play DVD-+Rs should be able to output 5.1 sound.

I have never kept the 2.1 sound, and I sometimes play the dvds on my sony player that is hooked up to just my t.v. wich only has the two speakers and it plays and sounds just fine for being just two speakers.

[FulciLives]

All DVD players can convert 5.1 AC-3 to normal 2 channel stereo often even pro-logic surround at that.

However I think the "quality" of this 2 channel downmix is up to the DVD player. I've never heard of anyone complaining but I think some DVD discs include a 2.0 AC-3 because that way THEY aka the film maker can control the downmix in a studio so they know EXACTLY what you are getting.

These days though I see many titles that have 5.1 AC-3 and DTS but not a 2.0 AC-3

So it's not really a big deal.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[sydemon]

thanks for the tips guys. thats good info to know. these forums are great.

[ukcat]

This could be related to this topic so maybe someone could answer this. I never keep the 2 Channel sound but I noticed the other day when I tried my headphones to listen to a DVD there was no sound though them. The main surround sound speakers produced great sound but nothing from my headphones. Do I need to keep other audio versions when I re author if I want Headphone sound?

Thanks

[FulciLives]

This could be related to this topic so maybe someone could answer this. I never keep the 2 Channel sound but I noticed the other day when I tried my headphones to listen to a DVD there was no sound though them. The main surround sound speakers produced great sound but nothing from my headphones. Do I need to keep other audio versions when I re author if I want Headphone sound?

Thanks

1.) Where the headphones plugged directly into the DVD player or your Stereo/Surround receiver?

2.) Where you listening to multi-channel Dolby Digital or DTS?

Most DVD players can ONLY downmix Dolby Digital to normal 2 channel stereo. Very few do this with DTS.

So if you make a back-up with ONLY the DTS track then you MUST play it back in DTS using a capable receiver.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[jbenj01]

Isn't the 2-ch track sometimes the director's commentary? I keep that once in a while when backing up.. But on sizeable DVD's, i.e., episodic TV series, I actually get rid of the 5.1ch and keep the 2-ch, allowing a little extra space for video..

[ukcat]

This could be related to this topic so maybe someone could answer this. I never keep the 2 Channel sound but I noticed the other day when I tried my headphones to listen to a DVD there was no sound though them. The main surround sound speakers produced great sound but nothing from my headphones. Do I need to keep other audio versions when I re author if I want Headphone sound?

Thanks

1.) Where the headphones plugged directly into the DVD player or your Stereo/Surround receiver?

2.) Where you listening to multi-channel Dolby Digital or DTS?

Most DVD players can ONLY downmix Dolby Digital to normal 2 channel stereo. Very few do this with DTS.

So if you make a back-up with ONLY the DTS track then you MUST play it back in DTS using a capable receiver.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

The Headphones are plugged into Stereo/Surround receiver,I think I was listening to Dolby. I really don't use headphone much but I just noticed this.

[FulciLives]

This could be related to this topic so maybe someone could answer this. I never keep the 2 Channel sound but I noticed the other day when I tried my headphones to listen to a DVD there was no sound though them. The main surround sound speakers produced great sound but nothing from my headphones. Do I need to keep other audio versions when I re author if I want Headphone sound?

Thanks

1.) Where the headphones plugged directly into the DVD player or your Stereo/Surround receiver?

2.) Where you listening to multi-channel Dolby Digital or DTS?

Most DVD players can ONLY downmix Dolby Digital to normal 2 channel stereo. Very few do this with DTS.

So if you make a back-up with ONLY the DTS track then you MUST play it back in DTS using a capable receiver.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

The Headphones are plugged into Stereo/Surround receiver,I think I was listening to Dolby. I really don't use headphone much but I just noticed this.

Try headphone output on the DVD player if it has one.

Otherwise hook up the analog RCA Stereo jacks from the DVD player to your receiver. This will be on a different input than the digital output of the DVD player.

Now when you want to listen with headphones use the input on the receiver that corresponds to the stereo analog connections.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[adam]

The main reason for the additional 2.0 track for the main audio is for people with Dolby Surround sound only receivers. If you play anything other than a Dolby surround sound mixed track (the 2.0 track) then you just get stereo. But with the 2.0 track you get Dolby Surround (4 channels).

[FulciLives]

The main reason for the additional 2.0 track for the main audio is for people with Dolby Surround sound only receivers. If you play anything other than a Dolby surround sound mixed track (the 2.0 track) then you just get stereo. But with the 2.0 track you get Dolby Surround (4 channels).

So you are saying that a DVD player downmixes 5.1 Dolby Digital AC-3 audio into just plain STEREO without any "normal" Dolby Surround Sound?

If so then I didn't realize that!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Donny661]

Dolby Digital 5.1 has to be downmixed by DVD players to a Dolby Surround stereo format.

For stereo output (analog or digital), all players have a built-in 2-channel Dolby Digital decoder that downmixes from 5.1 channels (if present on the disc) to Dolby Surround stereo. That is, 5 channels are phase matrixed into 2 channels to be decoded to 4 channels by a Dolby Pro Logic processor or 5 channels by a Pro Logic II processor. PAL players also have an MPEG or MPEG-2 audio decoder. Both Dolby Digital and MPEG-2 support 2-channel Dolby Surround as the source in cases where the disc producer can't or doesn't want to remix the original onto discrete channels. This means that a DVD labeled as having Dolby Digital sound may only use the L/R channels for surround or "plain" stereo. Even movies with old monophonic soundtracks may use Dolby Digital with only 1 or 2 channels. Some players can optionally downmix to non-surround stereo. If surround audio is important to you, you will hear significantly better results from multichannel discs if you have a Dolby Digital system.

http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#3.6

[adam]

So you are saying that a DVD player downmixes 5.1 Dolby Digital AC-3 audio into just plain STEREO without any "normal" Dolby Surround Sound?

Well that was what I was saying, but obviously I was mistaken. I guess you were right on earlier in this thread when you just said that the additional 2.0 track is really for those people who aren't satisfied with the downmix quality of their DVD player.

I think another consideration though is the dynamic range of a 5.1 track versus a 2.0 track. The 5.1 has to be much more dynamic, and when downmixed to 2.0 and played back on non-surround sound equipment it has to be normalized otherwise you get the typical, speech too quiet/effects too loud syndrome. In this regard the 2.0 track sounds much better than the downmixed 5.1 track if you don't have a surround sound receiver. If your DVD player has built in dialogue normalization you are fine with the 5.1 track, but not all players have this option.