Sunfire III - Manual (Page 44)

User's Manual
44
CHAPTER 5
For multi-channel sources, the
TGIII will automatically select the cor-
rect mode from one of the following:
DOLBY DIGITAL
DOLBY DIGITAL EX
DTS
DTS-ES MATRIX
DTS-ES DISCRETE
Dolby Digital and DTS are “5.1”
sur round systems with fi ve main chan-
nels: left front, center, right front, left
sur round, and right surround. Each
channel can play the full frequency
range and is independent of the
other chan nels. The “.1” denotes the
sub woof er channel which plays the
low frequency effects (LFE), also in de -
pen dent of the other channels.
Dolby Digital EX and DTS ES of-
fer "Extended Surround." Both sys-
tems offer a surround back channel
which effectively fi lls in the otherwise
empty soundspace behind you.
If you want to try one of the
modes on the previous page, you
should select a 2-channel output from
your DVD player's options menu.
DOL BY DIGITAL (5.1)
This mode is available if the TGIII
au to mat i cal ly detects a Dolby
Digital en cod ed source on the cur-
rently selected input.
You should look for the Dolby
Digital Logo on DVDs, LaserDiscs
and other sources.
Many DVDs have the option of a
Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Digital or
Stereo soundtrack. You may have
to follow the instructions in your
DVD player's instruction manual
for your player to output Dolby
Digital bitstreams. Dolby Digital
must often be selected from the
Disc's menu.
DOLBY DIGITAL EX (6.1)
Dolby Digital EX mode is primarily
for playback of Dolby Digital Sur-
round EX encoded soundtracks.
One of its advantages over Dolby
Digital playback is that it fi lls in
the area behind the listener with
a completely separate full-range
channel.
The TGIII has the option of con-
necting one or two surround
back speakers. The calibration
and speaker size options allow
a seamless surround fi eld to be
created.
If you do not have the surround
back speakers connected, then
the extra information is sent to the
standard surrounds and no mate-
rial is lost. (Set the surround back
speakers to OFF in the SPEAKER
SIZE menu).
The TGIII will also create the back
surround channel if you are play-
ing a 5.1 source.
Surround Modes for Multi-Channel Sources
DTS (5.1)
This mode is available if the TGIII
automatically detects that a DTS
en cod ed source is present at one
of it’s digital inputs. Look for the
DTS Logo on DVDs, LaserDiscs,
CDs and other sources.
Make sure that you set your
player to output DTS bitstreams.
DTS must also be selected on the
disc's menu.
DTS ES (6.1)
All DTS-ES sources have the
surround back channel matrixed
in the left and right surrounds.
Newer DVD releases also have a
discrete surround back channel, in
addition to the same information
matrixed.
DISCRETE ES sources: the TGIII
DTS-ES discrete decoder will
decode the discrete surround
back channel. It also removes the
surround back matrix from the left
and right surrounds, and restores
them to be fully independent
channels.
MATRIX ES sources: If there is no
discrete surround back channel,
the TGIII decodes the matrixed
surround back channel from the
left and right surrounds, and
restores them to be fully indepen-
dent channels.