Blu-ray music discs - 5.1 Surround vs Stereo

[Bruce Morrison]

Although I invested in Blu-ray primarily for watching films, I also enjoy classical music concerts and opera on DVD, and latterly on Blu-ray as well. Having started a music collection on Blu-ray, I have a couple of basic technical questions.

1. Previously when playing music DVDs, I've always selected the PCM stereo track rather than the Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1 surround track. This was partly because I've always had an instinctive feeling that music is best heard in good old-fashioned stereo, but it was also because I read somewhere that, on DVDs, the PCM stereo track has a superior "resolution" (I hope that's the correct term) compared with the surround track(s).

My understanding is that, on Blu-ray discs, this distinction is no longer true, and the surround tracks will sound every bit as good as the PCM stereo track. Is this true? If so, I might be inclined to experiment more by listening to the surround tracks on Blu-rays and see what I think.

2. Whereas films of any age will benefit from being remastered in high definition for Blu-ray, my understanding is that this will not be true of material shot in standard definition video (whether PAL or NTSC). In other words, it isn't possible to extract any greater resolution out of SD video material.

If so, that presumably means that Blu-ray releases of music and opera will be confined to material that was actually shot in high definition digital video. Is this correct?

That makes me wonder when it became the norm to shoot music concerts and opera performances in high definition digital video. My impression is that this probably dates from the early 2000's, but I'd be interested to have a more exact answer if possible.

Sorry for the length of the post, but I'll look forward to any responses.