# HD Sound on HD-DVD's



## MikeSp (Aug 15, 2006)

Having been unable to say no to a box store special of 10 free HD-DVDs and an A3 for $176 (I used a coupon), I eagerly shopped for the beginnings of my high def library and was surprised by the small number of titles on the shelves that have TrueHD surround sound.

Why do so few HD-DVD's have TrueHD sound :huh: I would think that if they went to the trouble to create HD video, that equivalent HD audio would be present too on the same disk.

To me, HD Plus (found on most HD-DVD titles) sounds no better than DD5.1 on SD DVDs -- are my ears deceiving me?

Thoughts/opinions?

Mike


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## Big Worm (Mar 8, 2007)

Some studios are still saying it is because of space. Transformers comes to mind of the most recent example. I will say though that the Dolby Plus track on the dvd is awesome. So don't get caught up on the whole TrueHD thing.


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## bobgpsr (Apr 20, 2006)

Some say, including a Hollywood film sound mixer, Marc Fishman aka Filmmixer, that DD+ at 1.5 Mbps is perceptually transparent. He, with superb facilities, can not pick the difference between the original master and the DD+ track at that very high bitrate. Paramount and Universal use DD+ at 1.5 Mbps.


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## MikeSp (Aug 15, 2006)

bobgpsr said:


> Some say, including a Hollywood film sound mixer, Marc Fishman aka Filmmixer, that DD+ at 1.5 Mbps is perceptually transparent. He, with superb facilities, can not pick the difference between the original master and the DD+ track at that very high bitrate. Paramount and Universal use DD+ at 1.5 Mbps.


From your comment, can I assume that just because a particular surround format is used that different bitrates may be used... ??

Why can't this whole high def DVD thing be simplified -- when younger, I would have loved the challenge, but at my tender age, I just want it to work and enjoy the sights and sounds and not be concerned whether or not the high def DVD I just purchased has the best available audio or video.:gah:

Mike


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## bobgpsr (Apr 20, 2006)

MikeSp said:


> From your comment, can I assume that just because a particular surround format is used that different bitrates may be used... ??


Yes, Warner has been normally using 640 kbps DD+ (but has a record of more often also including a TrueHD track). The HD DVD spec allows 5.1 DD+ at up to 3.0 Mbps rates -- but no titles have used that yet. BTW Weinstein also uses DD+ at 1.5 Mbps.

The more recent Universal HD DVD's like Inside Man have been using 5.1 channel 48kbps/16bit TrueHD and (for some dumb reason) a 1.5 Mbps DD+ track.


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