Sound and Bar

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by LexInHD

I have two older Sony 2.1 soundbars - from the heyday of Blu-Ray - that take 5.1 audio and use the LFE channel. One does LPCM and Dolby/DTS and the other is a newer model that does LPCM, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD. Today's 2.1 soundbars - which are pretty much all the low-cost soundbar models - tend to only handle 2.0 audio signals in their DSP, with no LFE channel processing, while 5.1 audio processing has been kicked up to the 3.1 soundbar units that occupy the space in the market that my Sony units once did. Those less expensive 2.1 units which only do 2.0 and have a sub simply take the bass from the audio and throw it at the sub, making it go boom-boom.

When you have to sell a 2.1 system, which includes a soundbar speaker, subwoofer, built-in amplifiers, processing, etc for $99 to be competitive, corners obviously need to be cut and keeping everything in the 2.0 realm is one way to do that. As you state, the system can just high pass filter the main channels for the subwoofer content - which of course would require the main channels to actually have content in the subwoofer frequency range to have any output: hello 2.0 channel mix.

[Dr. T]

Originally Posted by Ruined

Oh sure, LFE is an optional enhancement channel.

So now you're questioning a paper written by Dolby on the subject? You can also see an analysis of the 5.1 track for Total Recall here. The fourth track down is the LFE. It's used occasionally for effect. By the way, that's what the "E" stands for in "LFE."

Originally Posted by Ruined

So are you going to sell your subwoofer then since its optional? lol.

Now you seem to be confusing LFE and bass management. That's two different subjects, chum, but please keep digging a bigger hole for yourself. Per the same Dolby paper, "As can be seen from the above explanation, the terms LFE and subwoofer are not
interchangeable..."

[PonyoBellanote]

I'm a bit lost, what the heck are we talking about now?

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by PonyoBellanote

I'm a bit lost, what the heck are we talking about now?

Dr. T is liveblogging his self-education on how Dolby digital works

[Dr. T]

How cute. My time with Dolby Digital goes back to the Laser Disc era, when it was called "AC-3." You're the person who has some problem with the 5.1 being included on Superman and every explanation you give is full of errors and misunderstandings.

Hey, we're up to page 188. That's the running time of the TV cut of Superman!

[starmike]

Well we have to compete with the T2 thread ��

[KC-Technerd]

BTW, Arrow's "The Last Starfighter" 2020 Blu-ray Disc is a great example of how to do it right. Both the 4.1 mix from the 6-track for the 70mm, and the 2.0 matrixed Dolby Stereo SVA mix from the 35mm sound great. They're both presented in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio. They're great for comparing the difference in the two audio formats. The first StarCar sequence is great for comparing the difference between having Low Frequency Effects (on the 4.1), and not (on the 2.0), assuming that you have one or more subwoofers capable of properly reproducing them. Again, unlike "Superman," the 2.0 sounds great. It just doesn't have the extreme low bass effects. It's not lacking in normal bass. The disc also has a more recent 5.1 remix, for anyone who wants it. It appears all of these will be carried over to Arrow's upcoming 4K UHD BD. Warner should be following Arrow's example here.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by KC-Technerd

BTW, Arrow's "The Last Starfighter" 2020 Blu-ray Disc is a great example of how to do it right. Both the 4.1 mix from the 6-track for the 70mm, and the 2.0 matrixed Dolby Stereo SVA mix from the 35mm sound great. They're both presented in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio. They're great for comparing the difference in the two audio formats. The first StarCar sequence is great for comparing the difference between having Low Frequency Effects (on the 4.1), and not (on the 2.0), assuming that you have one or more subwoofers capable of properly reproducing them. Again, unlike "Superman," the 2.0 sounds great. It just doesn't have the extreme low bass effects. It's not lacking in normal bass. The disc also has a more recent 5.1 remix, for anyone who wants it. It appears all of these will be carried over to Arrow's upcoming 4K UHD BD. Warner should be following Arrow's example here.

Arrow doesn't encode a dozen languages for worldwide distribution though.