Still not convinced? Well, to these ears, the difference between Dolby Stereo and DolbyDigital 5.1 is as big an advancement as that from mono to stereo. Technology pays with a price though and just when I thought I’d got things sussed, becauseManchester’s Showcase Cinema still only has four of its fourteen screens equipped withDolby Digital 5.1 and the more recent UCI at the Trafford Centre has all twenty screens kittedout this way, along comes another sound format to push the envelope further. The jury’s still out on exactly how effective it is and its usein films is still in its infancy, so far making a stance in blockbusters such as Star WarsEpisode 1: The Phantom Menace and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. However, this isn’t another discrete speaker, but one that produces a matrixedeffect from the regular rears.

It’s latest trick is Dolby Digital Surround EX 6.1, which adds an extra speaker, placedcentre-rear. A numberof DTS discs have also been produced, but they have yet to knock Dolby of their perch. Although it’s become theformat of choice for the relatively new DVD format, others have sought to challenge itsdominance, such as DTS (Digital Theatre Sound) and SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound). Until early 1992, as stereo was also making a foothold in the home, Dolby had to do one betterand created Dolby Digital 5.1 and the first film to use the format was Batman Returns.Whereas surround sound featured mono rear speakers, DD5.1 featuredfive separate speakers with stereo rears and improved sound separation, plus a “.1” channelwhich produces bassy Low Frequency Effects (LFE). Dolby SR(Spectral Recording) was an improvement but such films still played as Dolby Surround on videoin the home. The home version of this format is known as Dolby Surround and the next step, Dolby ProLogic, adds a centre speaker to the setup to centralise dialogue. Dom Robinson reviews Dolby Digital Demo”We’ve got the whole world listening.”Distributed byĭolby: What does it mean to you? A misspelling of the “Dobly” word used in This Is Spinal Tapor a jaw-dropping aural experience ( *I* said AURAL!) ?If it’s the former then you may as well read that review, but if it’s thelatter then stick with this one.įollowing on from the days when Ray Dolby (below) created the Dolby Noise Reduction systemfor professional and home-based tape recordings, life in mono progressed to stereo in 1977.It seemed to be a myth though that the first feature film to use Dolby Stereo was Star Warsalthough that is what this disc claims here – I understood that the honours when to A StarIs Born.

Dolby atmos demo disc 2019