Blu-Ray Sound

[Messiah]

Hi Guys,

Now I kind of expect what the answer will be but my question is this:

Is the standard Dolby Digital soundtrack on a Blu-Ray disc the same as that on a DVD or is it possible that it is improved??

You see I have been watching a couple of films today and the picture quality, whilst sharper, is certainly not worth the upgrade (IMO). However, the sound is a different matter. Now I have a Cyrus AV Master so cannot decode or accept any of the new codecs so my only reason for getting Blu-Ray would be a better 'standard' Dolby Digital track. So is the DD 5.1 Soundtrack on the Transformers Blu-Ray (for example) the same as the DVD?????

 

[Liam19]

Messiah:

Hi Guys,

Now I kind of expect what the answer will be but my question is this:

Is the standard Dolby Digital soundtrack on a Blu-Ray disc the same as that on a DVD or is it possible that it is improved??

You see I have been watching a couple of films today and the picture quality, whilst sharper, is certainly not worth the upgrade (IMO). However, the sound is a different matter. Now I have a Cyrus AV Master so cannot decode or accept any of the new codecs so my only reason for getting Blu-Ray would be a better 'standard' Dolby Digital track. So is the DD 5.1 Soundtrack on the Transformers Blu-Ray (for example) the same as the DVD?????

On DVD, Dolby Digital is limited to a bit rate of 448 kbps. Blu-ray is capable of transporting Dolby Digital at a bit rate of 640 kbps. (By comparison, Dolby Digital in cinemas is limited to 320 kbps).

So there is a noticeable difference between the DD soundtrack on a DVD and that on a BD - I'm quite frankly amazed at the quality of the standard DD/DTS soundtracks on BDs such as The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Casino Royale and Batman Begins. This is useful since I have just a basic Onkyo setup which relies on sound through optical from PS3, so I'm hugely satisfied by the sound quality of BDs over DVDs!

 

[professorhat]

The max bitrate for Dolby Digital on DVD is 448 Kbps, whereas on Blu-Ray, the max bitrate can be 640 kbps so it's very possible you're noticing an improvement in the sound quality. Now just imagine what a 4.6 Mbps uncompressed PCM soundtrack can sound like...

Edit - oops, beaten to it!

 

[Messiah]

Cheers Guys,

Might have to go and get a PS3 now............