Pioneer VSX-2021 - Manual (Page 87)

En 87
13 Additional information
Surround sound formats
Below is a brief description of the main sur-
round sound formats you’ll find on BDs, DVDs,
satellite, cable and terrestrial broadcasts, and
video cassettes.
Dolby
The Dolby technologies are explained below.
See http://www.dolby.com for more detailed
information.
Manufactured under license from Dolby
Laboratories. “Dolby”, “Pro Logic”, “Surround
EX” and the double-D symbol are trademarks of
Dolby Laboratories.
DTS
The DTS technologies are explained below.
See http://www.dts.com for more detailed
information.
Manufactured under license under U.S. Patent
#’s: 5,451,942; 5,956,674; 5,974,380; 5,978,762;
6,226,616; 6,487,535; 7,212,872; 7,333,929;
7,392,195; 7,272,567 & other U.S. and worldwide
patents issued & pending. DTS and the Symbol
are registered trademarks, & DTS-HD, DTS-HD
Master Audio, and the DTS logos are trademarks
of DTS, Inc. Product includes software. © DTS,
Inc. All Rights Reserved.
About THX
The THX technologies are explained below.
See http://www.thx.com for more detailed
information.
THX, the THX logo and Select2 Plus are trade-
marks of THX Ltd. which are registered in some
jurisdictions. All rights reserved. All other trade-
marks are the property of their respective owners.
THX Cinema processing
THX is an exclusive set of standards and tech-
nologies established by THX Ltd. THX grew from
George Lucas’ personal desire to make your
experience of the film soundtrack, in both movie
theatres and in your home theatre, as faith-
ful as possible to what the director intended.
Movie soundtracks are mixed in special
movie theatres called dubbing stages and are
designed to be played back in movie theatres
with similar equipment and conditions. This
same soundtrack is then transferred directly
onto Laserdisc, VHS tape, DVD, etc., and is
not changed for playback in a small home
theatre environment. THX engineers developed
patented technologies to accurately translate
the sound from the movie theatre environment
into the home, correcting the tonal and spatial
errors that occur. On this product, when the
THX indicator is on, THX features are automati-
cally added in Cinema modes (e.g. THX Cinema,
THX Surround EX).
Re-Equalization
The tonal balance of a film soundtrack will be
excessively bright and harsh when played back
over audio equipment in the home because film
soundtracks were designed to be played back in
large movie theaters using very different pro-
fessional equipment. Re-Equalization restores
the correct tonal balance for watching a movie
soundtrack in a small home environment.
Timbre Matching
The human ear changes our perception of a
sound depending on the direction from which
the sound is coming. In a movie theatre, there is
an array of surround speakers so that the sur-
round information is all around you. In a home
theatre, you use only two speakers located to
the side of your head. The Timbre Matching
feature filters the information going to the sur-
round speakers so that they more closely match
the tonal characteristics of the sound coming
from the front speakers. This ensures seam-
less panning between the front and surround
speakers.
Adaptive Decorrelation
In a movie theatre, a large number of surround
speakers help create an enveloping surround
sound experience, but in a home theatre there
are usually only two speakers. This can make
the surround speakers sound like headphones
that lack spaciousness and envelopment. The
surround sounds will also collapse into the
closest speaker as you move away from the
middle seating position. Adaptive Decorrelation
slightly changes one surround channel’s time
and phase relationship with respect to the other
surround channel. This expands the listening
position and creates-with only two speakers- the
same spacious surround experience as in a
movie theatre.
THX Select2 Plus
Before any home theatre component can be
THX Select2 Plus certified, it must incorporate
all the features above and also pass a rigorous
series of quality and performance tests. Only
then can a product feature the THX Select2 Plus
logo, which is your guarantee that the Home
Theatre products you purchase will give you
superb performance for many years to come.
THX Select2 Plus requirements cover every
aspect of the product including pre-amplifier
and power amplifier performance and opera-
tion, and hundreds of other parameters in both
the digital and analog domain.
THX Surround EX
THX Surround EX - Dolby Digital Surround EX
is a joint development of Dolby Laboratories
and the THX Ltd. In a movie theater, film
soundtracks that have been encoded with
Dolby Digital Surround EX technology are able
to reproduce an extra channel which has been
added during the mixing of the program. This
channel, called Surround Back, places sounds
behind the listener in addition to the currently
available front left, front center, front right,
surround right, surround left and subwoofer
channels. This additional channel provides the
opportunity for more detailed imaging behind
the listener and brings more depth, spacious
ambience and sound localization than ever
before. Movies that were created using the
Dolby Digital Surround EX technology, when