Dolby Surround

Home theater systems are designed to provide the real theater like environment. Besides the visual effects, sound is very crucial to creating the real theater like environment. You must have watched movies in a theater. One thing that always captivates the audience is the sound- the Dolby Surround sound, which makes you feel like you are in middle of the action.

So what is Dolby surround sound? The Dolby Surround process involves encoding four channels of information into a two-channel signal. A decoder then decodes the signal and sends it to appropriate destination- Left, Right, Rear, and Phantom Center. In Dolby Surround, the main sounds come from the left and right channels, the vocal or dialog come from the center Phantom channel, and finally the ambience effect is generated from the rear channel.

Dolby surround system was the first to introduce surround sound in home theater system. It evolved into Dolby Surround Pro Logic, Dolby Digital EX, and THX Surround EX. Presently the current standard in surround sound is Dolby Digital 5.1 channel. Dolby Digital is widely used in laser discs, satellite programming, and DVDs. To get Dolby Digital surround sound you should have a discrete Dolby surround sound decoder in the DVD player and Dolby surround sound preamplifier or Dolby digital surround sound receiver.

In 1992, Dolby digital was introduced in Batman Returns. The surround sound was stored in digital format and all the channels were discrete. When movies began to be recorded on laser discs and VHS, the original Dolby Digital surround sound also came along. To bring the surround sound to homes, Dolby Digital and surround sound processor was developed- the home theater system.

Today Dolby Digital is facing a stiff competition from another audio surround sound Dolby- the DTS (Digital Theater Systems). If you are looking for a home theater and you are not sure which surround sound format to choose, you can opt for a system that comes with multiple surround sound formats. To get the perfect Dolby surround effect you need to buy a good home theater system, ensure that you have the right Dolby surround sound speaker, and the right receiver. If you are buying a built-in home theater system, you can ask for a Dolby surround demo to see if it has the proper receiver and speakers.

Dolby surround sound is incorporated in all major brands of DVD players and HDTV. Whether you go for Zenith Virtual Surround Dolby or Sony HDTV Digital Surround Sound, you will be getting the best from Dolby surround system.