ITV HD - 5.1 Audio.....??

crosstownk

I don't watch ITV HD that much but today, as it was the only channel I had access to showing the Man U vs Liverpool game, I turned it on.

The picture quality was OK (not as good as Sky HD or BBC HD) but the audio was rubbish. No surround at all. My surround system is old but does have Dolby Digital, DTS and all that jazz and it works great with Sky and other HD channels. The match today came through in 2 channel stereo and when I switched to Dolby Pro Logic (out of desperation) all sound came through the centre channel. Crappy when compared to the excellent surround sound experience when watching matches live on Sky Sports.

Is this just a glitch from ITV on the day or is something do with the fact that it's an 'other channel'?

My Sky+HD box is connected to my Sony surround system via TOS Link (optical). I don't use an HDMI cable as my surround system is older than the HDMI standard.

John mac

I havnt seen (or heard) any other mix than pcm on my amp.. for ITVDV (~or stv)
hdmi on a sky box only gives stereo anyway

optical is the only way of getting surround.

watty

HD has nothing to do with Surround Sound. It's a gimmick invented for Cinema effects tracks. TV is rarely anything other than Mono or Stereo.

crosstownk

watty wrote: »

HD has nothing to do with Surround Sound. It's a gimmick invented for Cinema effects tracks. TV is rarely anything other than Mono or Stereo.

I understand that HD is video but on many HD broadcasts the corresponding audio broadcast is much better than what I experienced today with ITV HD. I've tuned into Sky Sports HD programming and the audio content was so much better. Maybe it's that my surround system can 'process' the audio from SSHD but one thing is for sure the audio on ITV was muck.

I don't use HDMI at all. My display is not HDCP compliant. I use component out for HD video on my Sky HD box and optical for audio.

I've to collect my HD Fury from the local sorting office tomorrow so I can watch content from my Apple TV which will relay audio via optical to my surround system and hopefully it will be a whole lot better than ITV!!

mad muffin

watty wrote: »

HD has nothing to do with Surround Sound. It's a gimmick invented for Cinema effects tracks. TV is rarely anything other than Mono or Stereo.

Oh how wrong you are, so wrong it's not even funny...*looks for the face palm smiley*

To the OP,

itv 1 HD London transmit in DD 2.0 only at this time all other itv 1 HD variants transmit in MPEG 2 stereo (PCM).

watty

DD 2.0 = Mono, Stereo, or two channels.
MP2 = Mono, Stereo, or two channels.

Stereo can be in MP2, HE-AAC, or DD 2.0. Quality depends on Bitrate. It's never transmitted in PCM. PCM is a feature of a Setbox decoder to convert the codec's compressed data to uncompressed CD-Like Data. MP2 is NOT PCM There is ZERO advantage to DD2.0 over MP2 for quality if each is at appropriate bit rate. Both are able for Mono or Stereo and neither does higher quality or surround. You can carry DD2.0 "Surround" over MP2 or even analogue cables.

DD/AC3, DTS and such are really codecs for discs. They add extra bit rate without adding quality. MP2 is obsolete Cocdec needed for MPEG2 transmissions. MPEG4 (in SD or HD) can usually use MP2 or HE-AAC. HE-AAC can do Stereo or surround, and can do same quality as older AC3 (Dolby Surround) or DTS at a lower bit rate.

Actual 5.1 tracks was invented for Cinema Effects. Not really for natural Surround Sound, though any codec that does 4 to 5.1 tracks can be used for reasonabley natural "Surround sound" at a Sporting event. However proper Stereo (MP2, HE-AAC or DD2.0 codec) on a good 5.1 amp will give excellent ambiance at a Sports event if the microphones are deployed and mixed properly.

All of this has NOTHING to do with HD channels or HD Video per-se. SD TV can use all the above codecs and any quality you want on appropriate equipment.