home cinema sky hd sound quality (movies)

[chiglee]

hi, can anyone help please?

my set up is...

onkyo 609 receiver

b&w 685 speaker package with x2 q acoustics 2070 subwoofers

my question is when im watching a movie on bluray the sound quality is fantastic! for example...

superman man of steel when the action kicks off in the first 5 mins the drums are dramatic & loud but when watching the same movie through sky hd i can hardly hear the drums at all.

its the same with many other movies

is there something wrong with my setup ?

if not is there anything i can do to improve the sound quality?

im am using the recent update to hdmi audio from sky.

i have tried using a conditioner & plugged both sky & reciever straight in to there own wall sockets but they both sounded the same.

cheers, lee...

 

[bigboss]

Have you checked sound settings in your Sky HD? Make sure you select Dolby D.

 

[chiglee]

thanks for your reply

yes i have done that

 

[atkins4725]

I noticed this earlier today.

 

[bigboss]

Try using optical output instead of HDMI and see if it helps. At least we'll know where the problem is.

 

[chiglee]

sorry i dont understand was there supposed to be a link in there???

 

[RobinKidderminster]

Are you comparing BD DTS Master audio with Sky DD? If so then you should expect a significant improvement. A better comparison would be a DVD in DD with Sky. Most Sky DD is good but rarely oitstanding IMO.

 

[bigboss]

Some Sky HD boxes do not carry Dolby Digital 5.1 via HDMI and you have to use optical cable from Sky HD to your AV receiver instead, for 5.1 sound. Worth a try.

 

[breadmaker]

Are you watching the movies live/recorded via a live broadcast or via the on demand option. Only 'live' broadcasts are in DD5.1 anything on demand is just in 2.0/pro-logic.

 

[Glacialpath]

hi, can anyone help please?

my set up is...

onkyo 609 receiver

b&w 685 speaker package with x2 q acoustics 2070 subwoofers

my question is when im watching a movie on bluray the sound quality is fantastic! for example...

superman man of steel when the action kicks off in the first 5 mins the drums are dramatic & loud but when watching the same movie through sky hd i can hardly hear the drums at all.

its the same with many other movies

is there something wrong with my setup ?

if not is there anything i can do to improve the sound quality?

im am using the recent update to hdmi audio from sky.

i have tried using a conditioner & plugged both sky & reciever straight in to there own wall sockets but they both sounded the same.

cheers, lee...

Hi Lee

Don't worry I'm pretty sure it's not your system. I would say 5.1 from Sky is not even at DVD quality 5.1 Try finding a sport event on the BBC. Wimbledon is coming up soon and to me the 5.1 sounds great. Or better still a film on the BBC. They have by far the best HD broadcast over anything Sky puts out.

I'm pretty sure it's to do with bandwidth. Example: DVD has both the video and audio compressed, Blu-Ray only has the Video compressed but remember there is twice the information in an HD picture than than an SD picture.

When Sky broadcasts a program/film in HD with a 5.1 audio the picture is taking up most of the space in the signal and the fact the audio is only Dolby Digital and not Dolby TrueHD will only be DVD qality at best. As it's being sent with a HD picture and I would hope they want us to see the best picture possible over the air the audio will suffer even more.

As the others suggested Use the Optical or Coaxial output on your Sky box and with it set to DD hopefully the 5.1 will sound a bit closer to the BD. Try different Optical/Coaxial cables too. I have a Chord Company Prodac from my sky box to my amp but most of all it will be down to the broadcast.

The Blu-Ray version will always be better as the audio is lossless, unless the manufacturers messed up at the authoring stage.

Let us all know how youo get on.

The Cable Madman (Glacialpath) :rockout:

 

[daveh75]

Hi Lee

Don't worry I'm pretty sure it's not your system. I would say 5.1 from Sky is not even at DVD quality 5.1 Try finding a sport event on the BBC. Wimbledon is coming up soon and to me the 5.1 sounds great. Or better still a film on the BBC. They have by far the best HD broadcast over anything Sky puts out.

I'm pretty sure it's to do with bandwidth. Example: DVD has both the video and audio compressed, Blu-Ray only has the Video compressed but remember there is twice the information in an HD picture than than an SD picture.

Nice theory, but how do account for the differences you hear between DD 5.1 on BBC and Sky when the bitrate is the same (384Kbps)?

 

[Glacialpath]

Nice theory, but how do account for the differences you hear between DD 5.1 on BBC and Sky when the bitrate is the same (384Kbps)?

The bit rate will be the same but it's all down to how much bandwidth is given to the broadcast. The BBC have fewer channels than Sky so can afford to broadcast at higher bandwidths hence the picture and sound is a better quality from the BBC.

 

[daveh75]

Wow. :rofl:

FYI, Sky's bitrates are generally higher (at least on their premium channels) than the BBCs

 

[Glacialpath]

Wow. :rofl:

FYI, Sky's bitrates are generally higher (at least on their premium channels) than the BBCs

Fine if they are but it's still to do with Bandwidth. If Skies Bitrates are higher than that of the BBC then they are getting squashed more thus why they don't sound as good on playback. Obviously the more info you try and send the bigger the bandwidth you need. Sky are spreading theirs over many more channels than the BBC so less bandwidth for each Sky channel against the bandwidth available for each BBC channel.

 

[daveh75]

:roll: :wall:

Wow and double wow. I'm genuinely astounded...