We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Cinema surround TV speakers
Options
Comments
-
Am I right in saying that doesn't matter what set-up you have you can not get 5.1 from a tv signal anyway ? you will only get prologic/nicam stereo because that is all that is broadcast ? you are correct saying you can make the sound come from all speakers but it will sound strange on the ear and even very tinny. I have a sony home cinema set up. great for blue ray movies/sound etc but on normal tv only have prologic from the speakers at the side of telly0
-
It may help if I clarify some terms (Sorry if you already know this)
Surround sound - a range of techniques for enriching the quality of an audio source via additional, discrete speakers. The ultimate system would give 360* coverage by adding audio channels above and below the listener as well as the to the left and right.
NICAM - A way of broadcasting TV sound in near CD quality, has nothing to do with surround as such.
Pro Logic - A way of taking a stereo signal and processing / deprocessing the sound so that the left and right channel are out of phase to each other. The difference of the out of phase signal is the surround channel. This has nothing to do with how the signal is broadcast.Acehole wrote:Am I right in saying that doesn't matter what set-up you have you can not get 5.1 from a tv signal anyway ?
No, the type of surround you get depends on what equipment you have and what is broadcast by the broadcaster. You cannot get a 5.1 signal from a regular broadcast 2 Channel STEREO soundtrack though.Acehole wrote:you will only get prologic/nicam stereo because that is all that is broadcast ?
Again lets be clear on the terms and the technology. Stereo sound can only ever faithfully produce at best a 4 channel signal. Leaving aside all the fancy modes on amps that claim to make surround sound all you can get is Prologic II which has a stereo surround track, as well as the front two speakers from a 2 channel source.
Some Channels broadcast a dolby digital sound channel (BBC HD do) and this CAN give you true 5.1 sound, but it's not NICAM, thats different technology. You also need some digital link (optical or coax) between the recieving device (TV/ Set top box/ Sat reciever) and the amp. It CANNOT be carried over a pair of Phono cables.Acehole wrote:
you are correct saying you can make the sound come from all speakers but it will sound strange on the ear and even very tinny. I have a sony home cinema set up. great for blue ray movies/sound etc but on normal tv only have prologic from the speakers at the side of telly
Normal TV in Prologic WILL come out of the back speakers, but remember surround is supposed to be for effects NOT general sound output.
What you get from the TV depends what you are watching and how it's connected, Watching the BBC HD from Freesat my TV sends the digital signal to the amp and I get 5.1 sound.
Watching BBC1 on the same system will only send a two channel signal as thats all that is broadcast by them. This is then decoded by the amp running in Pro Logic mode to give me the surround channel.0 -
Am I right in saying that doesn't matter what set-up you have you can not get 5.1 from a tv signal anyway ? you will only get prologic/nicam stereo because that is all that is broadcast ? you are correct saying you can make the sound come from all speakers but it will sound strange on the ear and even very tinny. I have a sony home cinema set up. great for blue ray movies/sound etc but on normal tv only have prologic from the speakers at the side of telly
the quality of things like Pro logic depends greatly on your Amp IMO .
my old Yahama used to Murder things in Pro Logic , yet my old HK amps Logic 7 mode used be great with things like 24
all these processing modes are not as good as raw Dolby Digital 5.1 , but the modes my Onkyo can output do sound a lot better than plain old 2 channel sound from my TV ect .Better in my pocket than theirs :rotfl:0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 351K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.6K Spending & Discounts
- 244K Work, Benefits & Business
- 599K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.9K Life & Family
- 257.4K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards