Does surround sound work with Freeview

tm9

Hi, just thinking about buying a home cinema system (trying to decide between Panasonic SC-BTT590 and Samsung HT-E5550) and have a question about Freeview. We have a Samsung TV with HDMI, Optical and SCART out.

I understand that the DVD player built in to the system will play audio in surround sound but how does the TV work - does freeview send surround sound that then goes to the surround sound system or does the freeview only receive stereo and the surround system converts this, best it can, to a surround sound effect?

I guess we are really wondering whether it is worth have surround sound for watching the TV or whether we should get a good stereo amp and speakers and just connect this to the TV instead so that we have better quality sound for the TV and music but only in stereo.

Thanks for your help

bengalknights

The surround sound will convert it

Cornucopia

All stereo sources (including Freeview) have the potential to have Dolby ProLogic surround sound encoded upon them. A suitable Surround Sound system will decode this into 5.1 sound, as long as you connect up the requisite number of speakers. The effect will be more pronounced for sport, films, etc., where the material has been created with surround sound in mind.

With DVD players, Sky boxes, etc. there are special connections specifically for Surround sound. These are called Coax & Optical. Either will carry 5.1 channels of sound, pre-encoded. The results with a suitable surround sound system and speakers will be better than with Dolby Pro-logic.

edit: As a general rule, a separate amp & speakers whether it has surround sound or not, will give better sound quality than the speakers within the TV.

taffj

If your TV is a recent one it should be fitted with (ARC) Audio Return Channel. If a HDMI cable is connected between the TV's ARC HDMI output (should tell you which one in the handbook) and the home theatre system which if you are buying new should have the ARC function, all television sound will then be transmitted through the home theatre system.

MisterT

Hi, I've just done what you're describing.

I bough a new telly and combined blu-ray / home cinema system. I can get the 5.1 sound through the home cinema for normal tv channels but to be honest unless it's a movie or drama I switch it off - I find it a bit "too much" when watching normal day to day programs.

p.s. - I bought the Samsung E5500 and it works pretty well, setup is a bit of a faff as unlike some systems at its price level it doesn't have an automatic setup function for the speakers, you have to input how far each speaker is from your listening position. It's also a bit noisy when loading and scanning through a disc. I've got it hooked up to my home PC using the supplied "allshare" software which is extremely basic but works pretty well nevertheless. I can stream video using the inbuilt wireless connection from my PC to the box without any problems (so far!)

almillar

Freeview? As in FreeviewSD? It doesn't support any proper 'discrete' surround sound.
It does support Pro-Logic, which is a stereo singal, with encoding, that a Pro Logic amp can then decode and throw some sound to the back and centre.
Discrete surround sound (as in 5.1 proper channels rather than 2) is supported by FreeviewHD, FreesatHD and SkyHD (Dolby Digital 5.1). You'll find that very few programmes actually broadcast in it, and most are 2.1 channel (which again, your amp can play with). Examples of 5.1 are Jools Holland, Sky F1 HD, lots of films...
HDMI, coaxial and optical cables all carry proper surround sound. Note that due to a limitation of Sky boxes, they do NOT put out 5.1 channels over HDMI, only optical or coax.