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View Full Version : Why are none of the music channels DD Stereo. Why?

Paradox-sj
06-14-05, 10:25 PM
Does providing DD 2 ch take that much bandwidth? Or is there another reason they dont provide DD on the music channels?
TNGTony
06-14-05, 11:00 PM
I don't think Sirius offer the channels to Dish in DD2.0 I know Muzak doesn't offer their channels in DD. Heck, half the Muzak channels aren't even in stereo from the source! (by design) Dish cannot offer the channels in DD if they are not available to them in DD.

Problem number 2: Those without their Dish receivers hooked up to DD receivers or decoders and those with older or cheaper receivers with no DD capability would not be able to get the audio channels in DD so the same channel would have to be offered twice (just like the audio on Starz and HBO DD5.1 channels is provided twice in regular and extra crispy). THAT would definitely take up much more bandwidth.

See ya
Tony
SimpleSimon
06-14-05, 11:49 PM
Tony, I'm not so sure you second scenario is true.

HBO, SHO, and a few others have DD, yet not all receivers have digital output.

I'm gonna bet that they are either sending 2 audio streams (unlikely) or that they all have DD-to-analog-stereo decoders. ;)
BobaBird
06-15-05, 04:27 AM
I think it actually is 2 streams. From a time when the only receivers with digital output were the D-VHS, 4700, 6000, DISHPlayer, and via add-on module for the 4000 and 5000:Dolby Digital audio level is about 3db lower than the regular soundtrack using the digital output. ... 6000 has a DD decoder built-in to provide a stereo down-mix, so it will have the volume difference on the analog outputs as well as the digital.Having a DD decoder was unique to the then-new 6000. Also, the receivers' setup menu lets you limit output to DD or PCM, or most commonly, DD when available.

To clarify Tony's problem #2, there would not be 2 separate channels but the audio would be carried twice, selected in the DD setup menu.
TNGTony
06-15-05, 09:34 AM
Tony, I'm not so sure you second scenario is true.

HBO, SHO, and a few others have DD, yet not all receivers have digital output.

I'm gonna bet that they are either sending 2 audio streams (unlikely) or that they all have DD-to-analog-stereo decoders. ;)

This is why I included "(just like the audio on Starz and HBO DD5.1 channels is provided twice in regular and extra crispy). " in my previous message. All the DD channels on Dish have TWO audio tracks. One regular and the other DD. It uses significant bandwidth and this is why not all the premiums and PPV channels are DD. There just isn't enough room to duplicate the sound tracks.

See ya
Tony
JohnH
06-15-05, 10:22 AM
For every channel which has DD 5.1 offered there is an extra stream for the DD(AC3).
Paradox-sj
06-15-05, 10:37 AM
I guess I just dont understand the technology....So what is being said is that when DD is sent there are two streams being sent 1. DD stream and 2. PCM stream

Is this correct?
TNGTony
06-15-05, 10:42 AM
Yes.

PCM and DD are incompatible so both signals have to be sent.

See ya
Tony
SimpleSimon
06-15-05, 09:41 PM
Yes.

PCM and DD are incompatible so both signals have to be sent.

See ya
Tony
I stand corrected. :)
David_Levin
06-16-05, 09:06 AM
I don't believe that's true.

When I rip HBO directly from the 501 HDD I do get two streams. One is Dolby Digital and the other us usually mpeg2 spanish.

I believe the box must have the capability to convert DD back to Prologic (just like every DVD player on the market).
Slordak
06-16-05, 09:10 AM
This has actually been analyzed and discussed a number of times in the past, including by folks using a PC with appropriate hardware. On channels such as HBO-E, there are literally two different (English) audio channels which the receiver can select between, one of which is the Dolby Digital (AC3) stream, and one of which is the MPEG-2 compressed stereo stream (which gets uncompressed to provide PCM audio).
TNGTony
06-16-05, 09:28 AM
I don't believe that's true.

To paraphrase "Belief is irrelevant." :)

There are two ENGLISH audio streams linked to Showtime, HBO, Starz and the PPV channels with DD. One PCM and the other DD. If you notice, DD receivers have a setting of which track it picks up. The settings are PCM, DD and both.

The HD channels only have the DD stream since that is the HD standard.

See ya
Tony
JohnH
06-16-05, 09:51 AM
HBO has English, Spanish and AC3
As far as HBO HD goes, there is likely a PCM track as well as AC3, since the stereo L+R outputs work as well.

A plain ole box likely knows nothing about converting AC3 to Mpeg1.
David_Levin
06-16-05, 02:56 PM
Well, sorry if I gave out wrong information.

There are many threads from people in the ripping news group having problems with getting Spanish instead of English. The solution is to choose the DD track instead of mpeg.

There's never been any indication that another mpeg track is available (I guess the rippers don't know how to access it).