Enjoy your films to the max ! (Tip how to get dolby 5.1 su..

External Since: Jan 25, 2006 Posts: 257

Hello,

Tonight I watched Aliens Special Edition DVD.

I was just happy to view this excellent film, with excellent video quality
and pretty good 3.1 surround sound.

However I have a 7.1 surround sound system and I noticed how Nero Show 2
complained about not being able to play dolby 5.1 surround sound because of
a patent issue.

It turns out one needs to download a dolby surround sound 5.1 plug in, but
that's not all !

This cool film has a dvd menu and it has a thx optimizer which plays a
surround sound sample for each speaker and I noticed it didn't sound
properly.

So first I tried different speaker combinations in Nero Showtime 2, but it
didn't really fix the problem.

It turns out my Creative Labs X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1 surround sound blaster has
a special THX Setup Console.

The speakerset options where set to 2 speakers.

So I set this to 7.1 speakers. This made the sound sound a bit more surround
sound but still did not fix it completely.

Finally I set Nero Showtime 2 to SPDIF (whatever that is, I'll check it out
later) (instead of 6 speakers), and SPDIF fixed the problem and all samples
sounded correctly, each for each speaker, so that fixed the problem ! and
then I listened to some scenes in the film and there are definetly surround
sound sample to be heard in the film, so it definetly increases the audio
quality.

So here is my short tutorial how to enjoy this film to the max and possible
other films as well:

1. Download dolby 5.1 surround sound plug-in.

2. Install it.

3. Configure the THX Setup Console for your Creative X-Fi soundblaster. Set
it to 7.1 speakers.

4. Configure Nero ShowTime to use SPDIF.

5. Set the movie to dolby surround sound (probably automatic).

6. Use the movie's THX Optimizer to check if everything is working ok, which
it now should =D

7. Then enjoy the film to it's max.

I wish I had known this upfront because then I could have heard all of it...
now I am NOT gonna watch the film again because that would take too long.
But someday I might listen it again... it was fun to hear the surround sound
in action though... pretty cool... 3.1 sound was pretty good as well.

Anyway now at least future films will hopefully play properly.

I rarely view films on my pc... so this is just a hint to other people who
might come across this thread.

Configure your dvd player/software/system properly... because it can
definetly work in surround sound ! =D

(First time I probably heard dolby 5.1... I thought it might work
automatically or not at all so I didn't bother... but now I know better Smile

)

Bye,
Skybuck.

External Since: Jan 20, 2005 Posts: 25

WOW, soundcard tips in a videocard newsgroup. Why don't you go TROLL some place else.
--
Dave Vair
CNE, CNA, MCP, A+, N+

"Skybuck Flying" wrote in message
> Hello,
>
> Tonight I watched Aliens Special Edition DVD.
>
> I was just happy to view this excellent film, with excellent video quality and pretty good 3.1
> surround sound.
>
> However I have a 7.1 surround sound system and I noticed how Nero Show 2 complained about not
> being able to play dolby 5.1 surround sound because of a patent issue.
>
> It turns out one needs to download a dolby surround sound 5.1 plug in, but that's not all !
>
> This cool film has a dvd menu and it has a thx optimizer which plays a surround sound sample for
> each speaker and I noticed it didn't sound properly.
>
> So first I tried different speaker combinations in Nero Showtime 2, but it didn't really fix the
> problem.
>
> It turns out my Creative Labs X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1 surround sound blaster has a special THX Setup
> Console.
>
> The speakerset options where set to 2 speakers.
>
> So I set this to 7.1 speakers. This made the sound sound a bit more surround sound but still did
> not fix it completely.
>
> Finally I set Nero Showtime 2 to SPDIF (whatever that is, I'll check it out later) (instead of 6
> speakers), and SPDIF fixed the problem and all samples sounded correctly, each for each speaker,
> so that fixed the problem ! and then I listened to some scenes in the film and there are definetly
> surround sound sample to be heard in the film, so it definetly increases the audio quality.
>
> So here is my short tutorial how to enjoy this film to the max and possible other films as well:
>
> 1. Download dolby 5.1 surround sound plug-in.
>
> 2. Install it.
>
> 3. Configure the THX Setup Console for your Creative X-Fi soundblaster. Set it to 7.1 speakers.
>
> 4. Configure Nero ShowTime to use SPDIF.
>
> 5. Set the movie to dolby surround sound (probably automatic).
>
> 6. Use the movie's THX Optimizer to check if everything is working ok, which it now should =D
>
> 7. Then enjoy the film to it's max.
>
> I wish I had known this upfront because then I could have heard all of it... now I am NOT gonna
> watch the film again because that would take too long. But someday I might listen it again... it
> was fun to hear the surround sound in action though... pretty cool... 3.1 sound was pretty good as
> well.
>
> Anyway now at least future films will hopefully play properly.
>
> I rarely view films on my pc... so this is just a hint to other people who might come across this
> thread.
>
> Configure your dvd player/software/system properly... because it can definetly work in surround
> sound ! =D
>
> (First time I probably heard dolby 5.1... I thought it might work automatically or not at all so I
> didn't bother... but now I know better Smile

)
>
> Bye,
> Skybuck.
>