Any titles with Dolby Digital Plus?

[GregBe]

Hi all, I could use your help. I just bought a Roku 2 XDS to stream Netflix, and it sends out a Dolby Digital Plus signal. My receiver (Pioneer 94 TXH) decodes DD+, but unfortunately, I have never had an occasion to use DD+, but now I do. I am getting no sound at all when I choose DD+ through the Roku. I have tried every setting on my receiver to no avail. Before I return it, I figure if I can play DD+ through some other source, I would know if it was my receiver or the Roku. Someone said that some Blu-ray commentaries are in DD+. Do any of you know of any titles (hopefully in my collection) that have DD+ that I could try out. I have a Blockbuster down the street, so I could always rent one to troubleshoot (hopefully a catalogue title, so I could get it for $.99. )

Thanks!

[kpkelley]

Purple Rain

Black Rain

[ImportFanatic]

Originally Posted by kpkelley

Purple Rain

Black Rain

I'm pretty sure those are typos.

[dvdmike]

Originally Posted by kpkelley

Purple Rain

Black Rain

100% wrong.

[Rinzler]

Star Wars 2 and 3 have it on DVD I am not sure if the others do but I know they have it.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Rinzler

Star Wars 2 and 3 have it on DVD I am not sure if the others do but I know they have it.

Are you referring to the 2006 reissues? The original DVDs from 2002 and 2005 have DD 5.1 only.

[steve_dave]

Dolby Digital Plus is implemented differently for the Blu-ray Disc specification. Bear in mind that I will have to bring up HD DVD for this discussion so please feel free to ignore this if you absolutely are just focus on that piece.

With HD DVD, Dolby Digital Plus actually allowed 5.1 soundtracks to be encoded at much higher bit-rates up to 6mbs. Due to technical limitations, the highest bit-rate for HD DVD was 1.5mbs.

With streaming services such as Netflix and Vudu, the bit-rate had to be much lower to provide an optimal streaming service. These are usually around 256kbs.

Now here is the rub...

The HD DVD forum and specification allows the primary soundtrack to either be PCM, Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Digital Plus, and DTS-HD High Resolution. This means that you don't have to include a legacy Dolby Digital track alongside the TrueHD track.

The same goes for streaming services where the best and only choice is Dolby Digital Plus. Netflix always allows viewers to choose a legacy stereo track for compatibility.

For Blu-ray Disc, Dolby Digital Plus is not a mandatory codec option. If a Blu-ray Disc includes Dolby Digital Plus, it has to include PCM, Dolby Digital, or DTS. DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-HD Highe Resolution, and Dolby TrueHD are also optional tracks. Since DTS-HD MA & DTS-HD HR include DTS cores, they pass the rules for BD specifications. The same goes TrueHD where either a hidden or user selectable legacy Dolby Digital track is included, again passing BD specification.

This means that if disc space is used to include two lossy soundtrack options (much like DTS-HD HR). Dolby TrueHD is a much more efficient codec, thus that is the preference over including a 640kbs to 1.5mbs DD+ soundtrack AND a 640kbs Dolby Digital soundtrack. It actually is a redundancy issue of including pretty much two soundtracks that would be, in most cases, exactly the same.

With that out of the way, there are no Blu-ray Discs that offer DD+ that I am aware of. The ones printed as such are mistakes and were corrected in later pressings.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by steve_dave

With streaming services such as Netflix and Vudu, the bit-rate had to be much lower to provide an optimal streaming service. These are usually around 256kbs.

The reason Dolby Digital Plus was invented was not to allow DD at higher data rates, but to encode 5.1 at *lower* data rates, as well as allow discrete 6.1 and 7.1 tracks. The ability to have higher data rates was simply a "bonus". Due to the packing method of HD DVD, rates above 448kbps had to be in DD+ format. Dolby considers 640kbps to be completely transparent to the original master, the 1536 DD+ rate on HD DVD was done for marketing purposes: it eliminated DTS claim that they were "superior" based on the fact they had higher bitrates...when the truth was DTS wasn't as efficient and *couldn't* go below those rates and lose transparency. DTS @754kbps loses high frequency information above 15kHz.

Back on topic: DD+ was developed as a further refinement of Dolby Digital to allow lower data rates for things such as Netflix and digital cable/satellite and HDTV.

With that out of the way, there are no Blu-ray Discs that offer DD+ that I am aware of. The ones printed as such are mistakes and were corrected in later pressings.

Dolby Digital Plus is present on some Blu-rays: those discs with PiP "BonusView" (BD Profile 1.1) where the primary audio tracks are Dolby TrueHD/Dolby Digital. The audio of the PiP window is DD+. BDs where the primary audio is DTS use DTS Express for their PiP audio tracks.

[rubystone356]

the 2011 panasonic models can do the vudu & netflix in DD+. I have played them in that. it was cool to know that the players could do that.

Jacob

[GregBe]

Thanks for all of the help so far guys. If I can find some content that is DD+, I could rent it and I could eliminate my receiver as the problem.

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Dolby Digital Plus is present on some Blu-rays: those discs with PiP "BonusView" (BD Profile 1.1) where the primary audio tracks are Dolby TrueHD/Dolby Digital. The audio of the PiP window is DD+. BDs where the primary audio is DTS use DTS Express for their PiP audio tracks.

Peter, do you know of any titles that do this? Someone in another forum said that Shrek Forever After might have this. If so, how would this work? Are both tracks playing simultaneously, or do you toggel back and forth between audio tracks?

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by GregBe

Peter, do you know of any titles that do this? Someone in another forum said that Shrek Forever After might have this. If so, how would this work? Are both tracks playing simultaneously, or do you toggel back and forth between audio tracks?

The PiP track is a secondary audio stream that has to be selected.

[Mr. Movie Fan]

Feast's menu thinks it has DD+ track but it's really regular DD.