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May 11 2011

Why films on TV in their original widescreen ratio is good for you

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Dom Robinson reviews

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Cert: E

Running time: 31 minutes

Year: 1999

Pressing: 2000

Region(s): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, NTSC

Chapters: 17

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Languages: English

Subtitles: None

Widescreen: ratio varies

16:9-Enhanced: No

Macrovision: No

Disc Format: DVD 5

Price: £17.04 (from their website)

Dolby: What does it mean to you? A misspelling of the "Dobly" word used in This Is Spinal Tap or a jaw-dropping aural experience (*I* said AURAL!) ? If it's the former then you may as well read that review, but if it's the latter then stick with this one.

Following on from the days when Ray Dolby (below) created the Dolby Noise Reduction system for professional and home-based tape recordings, life in mono progressed to stereo in 1977. It seemed to be a myth though that the first feature film to use Dolby Stereo was Star Wars although that is what this disc claims here - I understood that the honours when to A Star Is Born. The home version of this format is known as Dolby Surround and the next step, Dolby ProLogic, adds a centre speaker to the setup to centralise dialogue. Dolby SR (Spectral Recording) was an improvement but such films still played as Dolby Surround on video in the home.

Until early 1992, as stereo was also making a foothold in the home, Dolby had to do one better and created Dolby Digital 5.1 and the first film to use the format was Batman Returns. Whereas surround sound featured mono rear speakers, DD5.1 featured five separate speakers with stereo rears and improved sound separation, plus a ".1" channel which produces bassy Low Frequency Effects (LFE). Although it's become the format of choice for the relatively new DVD format, others have sought to challenge its dominance, such as DTS (Digital Theatre Sound) and SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound). A number of DTS discs have also been produced, but they have yet to knock Dolby of their perch.

Dolby Rain Trailer

It's latest trick is Dolby Digital Surround EX 6.1, which adds an extra speaker, placed centre-rear. However, this isn't another discrete speaker, but one that produces a matrixed effect from the regular rears. The jury's still out on exactly how effective it is and its use in films is still in its infancy, so far making a stance in blockbusters such as Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.

Technology pays with a price though and just when I thought I'd got things sussed, because Manchester's Showcase Cinema still only has four of its fourteen screens equipped with Dolby Digital 5.1 and the more recent UCI at the Trafford Centre has all twenty screens kitted out this way, along comes another sound format to push the envelope further.

Still not convinced? Well, to these ears, the difference between Dolby Stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1 is as big an advancement as that from mono to stereo. Plenty of Laserdiscs (not UK PAL ones) and DVDs from any region utilise DD5.1 sound and it will eventually be used as a sound format for Digital Television.

Dolby also have something else up their sleeve for the future :

Dolby Headphone is a unique signal processing system that enables your stereo headphones to realistically portray the sound of a five-speaker playback system. It can be incorporated into virtually any type of audio or video product normally featuring a headphone output, and is identified by the Dolby Headphone (left) and Dolby Headphone Stereo (right) symbols on the unit or one of its controls. For more information on this new development, visit Dolby's website from the link at the bottom of this review.

Ray Dolby

So, what do you get for your seventeen-quid-and-a-bit? Quite a lot that's going to deafen your neighbours if played at the right volume.

First off are a couple of six-minute pieces, an Introduction to Dolby Labs and The Dolby Digital Story, which tell the tale of what Ray Dolby (above) achieved and include examples of Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. However, they don't touch upon either Dolby Digital Surround EX 6.1 or the invention of Dolby Headphone.

If you wanted a collection of top-notch Dolby Digital trailers that you may have seen in the cinema then look no further. The first four I've seen before and there are three that are new to me.

City : Until now I knew of this one as the Helicopter demo as a chopped flies through a cityscape and past a cinema showing a Dolby Digital film, "The Sound Of The Future". It's a loud one and sounds superb.

Train : Starting with a misty, grey haze and extreme surround effects from separate speakers, a train eventually emerges and thunders off into the distance.

Canyon : More subtlety as what starts off seemingly as a jungle scene ends in the Grand Canyon.

Egypt : Another clever use of DD5.1 that quietly begins but closes in a crescendo of sound as an Egyptian temple is revealed.

Aurora : A space-based demo with the Dolby Digital logo appearing after what looks like a rip in the space-time continuum.

Rain : The Dolby Digital logo appears amongst a brilliant CGI effect of raindrops falling on water.

Game : My favourite of the trailers I hadn't seen before. One to test the speakers to the limit, this combines the feel of Battlezone, Carmageddon and Half Life into a few seconds of Dolby Digital joy.

Finally comes some short musical pieces to try out on your system.

Earth Wind and Fire: Even If You Wonder : An 80-second soundbite available to listen in Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround and Stereo.

Allegro in D Major : Performed by Pacific Guitars, this is a piece of classical music lasting 140 seconds and available in the same sound formats.

San Fernando Valley : Performed by Flying Without Instruments, this is a near-3-minute encapsulating acapella number performed in Dolby Digital 5.1 only.

Dolby City Trailer

The picture is faultless, the Dolby Digital trailers having an average bitrate of 8Mb/s, while the rest is mostly a collection of static images. Most of the content is in a fullscreen 4:3 ratios, although some of the trailers are in a 16:9 ratio.

Note that the disc has been mastered in NTSC so ensure you connect your DVD player to the TV with the SCART or S-video socket.

If I was to say anything bad about the sound, I'd expect Mr. Dolby to come round and break my legs, but you can rest assured that the sound from this Dolby Digital Demo is spot-on. However, while I only have a surround sound setup so was not able to check out the DD5.1 samples on this disc in all their glory, I have seen some of them in the cinema and both those and good uses of DD5.1 sound in films are enough to make you stand up and applaud.

Dolby Egypt Trailer

Extras :

Chapters/Trailer :

There is also a "Loop" option which plays everything in menu order. I guess this is how the website got a total running time of just over 60 minutes as the whole content is included twice: once individually and once in a loop.

Languages/Subtitles :

Wot, no more extras...? :

Menu :

The sound accompanying the menus is a medieval affair of soft guitar music.

Main Menu

Overall, if I could want something more from this disc it would be a set of test signals outside of the "Dolby Digital Story" - and a nice bonus might have been to include something along the lines of "Video Essentials" to help set up the geometry of my TV, if this had been possible.

Other than that though, it's a first rate demo collection and one to dig out when your friends pop round and you want to impress them.

Dolby are right when they say "We've got the whole world listening". When I'm watching a film, I let *ALL* my neighbours know by turning the volume up to eleven.

N.B.: The website states a price in US$ but a copy of this disc can be ordered by phoning 01793 842100 ext. 2236, faxing 01793 842130 or e-mailing DDH@dolby.co.uk and tell them you saw the review on DVDfever.

FILM	 		: *****
PICTURE QUALITY		: *****
SOUND QUALITY		: *****
EXTRAS			: N/A
-------------------------------
OVERALL			: *****

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000.

Visit the Official Dolby Website

As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B 37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.

PC games reviewed by the editor are on: