5.1 surround sound ('five-point one') is the common name for six channel surround sound audio systems. 5.1 is the most commonly used layout in home theatre.[citation needed] It uses five full bandwidth channels and one low-frequency effects channel (the 'point one').[1]Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II, DTS, SDDS, and THX are all common 5.1 systems. 5.1 is also the standard surround sound audio component of digital broadcast and music.[2]
All 5.1 systems use the same speaker channels and configuration, having a front left and right, a center channel, two surround channels and the low-frequency effects channel designed for a subwoofer.
A prototype for five-channel surround sound, then dubbed 'quintaphonic sound', was used in the 1975 film Tommy.[3]
5.1 dates back to 1976[citation needed] when Dolby Labs modified the track usage of the six analogue magnetic soundtracks on Todd-AO 70 mm film prints. The Dolby application of optical matrix encoding in 1976 (released on the film, Logan's Run) did not use split surrounds, and thus was not 5.1. Dolby first used split surrounds with 70mm film, notably in 1979 with Apocalypse Now. Instead of the five screen channels and one surround channel of the Todd-AO format, Dolby Stereo 70 mm Six Track provided three screen channels, two high-passed surround channels and a low-frequency surround channel monophonically blended with the two surround channels.
When digital sound was applied to 35 mm release prints, with Batman ReturnsAdobe premiere pro cc 32 bit torrent. in 1992, the 5.1 layout was adopted. The ability to provide 5.1 sound had been one of the key reasons for using 70 mm for prestige screenings. The provision of 5.1 digital sound on 35 mm significantly reduced the use of the very expensive 70 mm format. Digital sound and the 5.1 format were introduced in 1990, by KODAK and Optical Radiation Corporation, with releases of Days of Thunder and The Doors using the CDS (Cinema Digital Sound) format.
5.1 digital surround, in the forms of Dolby Digital AC3 and DTS, started appearing on several mid 90s Laserdisc releases, with among the earliest being Clear and Present Danger and Jurassic Park (the latter having both AC3 and DTS versions). Many DVD releases have Dolby Digital tracks up to 5.1 channels, due to the implementation of Dolby Digital in the development of the DVD format. In addition, some DVDs have DTS tracks with most being 5.1 channel mixes (a few releases, however, have 6.1 “matrixed” tracks). Blu-ray and digital cinema both have eight-channel capability which can be used to provide either 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound. 7.1 is an extension of 5.1 that uses four surround zones: two at the sides and two at the back.
A system of digital 5.1 surround sound has also been used in 1987 at the Parisian cabaret the Moulin Rouge, created by French engineer Dominique Bertrand. To achieve such a system in 1985 a dedicated mixing console had to be designed in cooperation with Solid State Logic, based on their 5000 series, and dedicated speakers in cooperation with APG.[4] The console included ABCDEF channels. Respectively: A left, B right, C centre, D left rear, E right rear, F bass. The same engineer had already developed a similar 3.1 system in 1973, for use at the official International Summit of Francophone States in Dakar.
The order of channels in a 5.1 file is different across file formats. The order in WAV files is (not complete) Front Left, Front Right, Center, Low-frequency effects, Surround Left, Surround Right.[5]
Regarding music, the main goal of 5.1 surround sound is a proper localization and equability of all acoustic sources for a centered positioned audience. Therefore, ideally five matched speakers should be used.
For play-back of 5.1 music recommendations of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have been released and propose the following configuration (ITU-R BS 775):[6]
At the end of May, Onkyo will start selling Dolby TrueHD 5.1-channel music downloads, first in Japan, and by the fall of this year worldwide. That's either a brave or foolhardy move.
Multichannel music formats -- starting with quadraphonic LPs and tapes in the early 1970s, DTS encoded surround CDs in the 1990s, and DVD Audio and SACD in the early 2000s -- have all suffered from a lack of consumer demand. Very, very few surround releases were initially recorded in surround; most rock and jazz titles are remixed from older stereo recordings. The Blu-ray format has now been around for six years, and you can count the number of new music-only 5.1 releases on your fingers (live-in-concert, surround-sound videos are much more common). I really enjoyed Steven Wilson's recent 'Grace for Drowning' music-only surround Blu-ray; the man really has a knack for mixing 5.1 music, but I can't think of anyone else making great new surround recordings.
So now we have the news that e-onkyo music is preparing to launch a new high-resolution Dolby TrueHD download service in Japan on May 30. I wonder how e-onkyo music plans on getting a sizable catalog of 5.1-channel recordings. The promised selection of high-resolution 24-bit/96-kHz or 24-bit/192-kHz 5.1-channel Dolby TrueHD recordings may turn out to be overly optimistic; most of today's rock recordings are 24-bit/48-kHz files. The initial e-onkyo music offering of 100 titles is mostly classical music. If the service just reissues the same old rock and jazz titles that failed on DVD-A and SACD, e-onkyo music will be doomed before it starts. Oh, and there's one other catch to the plan: only two of the newest Onkyo TX-NR818 and TX-NR717 AV receivers will support the service. I have no idea why other receivers won't be capable of playing the files.
I don't see the failures of music surround formats as failures of the various technologies; it's mostly because the market has consistently demonstrated a near total lack of interest in surround sound, unless it's accompanied by a picture. Few people actually listen to music at home anymore, which is probably the only place they could hear music in surround, but back in the 1970s and 1980s, a fair share of listening time was at home, and even then surround sales never added up to more than a trickle. Movies have had surround sound in theaters for more than half a century, and multichannel movies are now -- in theaters and at home -- the norm. We've had the opportunity to buy music surround formats for almost as long, and not one has ever gained widespread acceptance in the market.
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