Dolby Masters Studio for True HD in Home Theater

Author: Wil Harris
Published: 10th January 2007
Comments (9) Stumble
Dolby Masters Studio for True HD in Home Theater

Dolby Home Theater certification is showing up in a lot of new laptops.

Dolby is continuing to work hard to crack open the PC market and get its approved sound systems into PCs and motherboards from manufacturers.

With the logo programme - Master Studio, Home Theatre, etc - consumers are starting to get the hang of what is going to be a decent audio experience when it comes to computer hardware. Keith Kowell, Dolby PC audio guru extraordinaire, told bit-tech that he expected to see more mobos and laptops with the certification in 2007.

With Vista on the horizon, so to speak, a new set of drivers developed in conjunction with SigmaTel is delivering ease of use and configuration to people setting up their sound system, and Vista work will continue well on into the year.

We loved the Master Studio system below from Niveus - it's completely passive inside (hence the fact the case looks like a big heatsink) and it looks, and sounds (or doesn't), spectacular.

Also on display was a little box from JVC that adds Dolby Headphone to any stereo input, and there was plenty of noise, so to speak, about TrueHD - the lossless audio standard for Blu-ray and HD-DVD that we are seeing on new discs. It really does sound fantastic in 7.1, as our test in the office can attest, and we can't wait until games start getting to the point where lossless soundtracks are an option. Halo 3, anyone? We can but pray.

One of the firm's big announcements this week has been the news of Dolby Volume. This is a new product in the lineup, and it aims to solve a pretty simple problem - volume spikes. Ever been watching a quiet TV programme only to be blown out of your seat by loud ads? Volume goes way beyond simple audio level compression and uses algorithms developed to work in the same way that you hear, giving you a much more pleasurable experience.

What kind of speaker set up do you have, and do you think Dolby Volume could be useful? Let us know your thoughts over in the forums.


Niveus passive media PC with AV outputs.


JVC Dolby Headphone unit and Sony Home Theater laptop with Blu-ray.
Quote Andreoid 10th January 2007, 16:39
Quote:
What kind of speaker set up do you have
teufel concept-e magnum

very nice case ,.. would like to have more pix of it
Quote Luukas 10th January 2007, 17:16
So... Dolby Volume is really just replaygain-on-the-fly? It does sound (urgh) useful, though.
Quote MrBionic 10th January 2007, 17:41
I'd like to see Dolby TrueHD integrated into motherboard chipsets ASAP.
Quote Djpuk 10th January 2007, 17:58
My Toshiba LCD professes to doing something similar to Dolby Volume but it does not really ever work and quite often I find myself dashing for the remote to save my eardrums from the crass adverts, so if Dolby can really make it work then I for one would find it a great relief.
Quote EQC 10th January 2007, 18:58
Dolby Volume would make me very happy if it worked.

I always knew commercials were louder than shows on broadcast TV...but it's even worse now that I've gone digital. The thing that really makes me mad is that the loudest ads are the one for the station itself. (ie: I'm watching ABC/Fox/NBC tv shows...on comes the set of commercials and things get a little louder....then on comes the commercial for the network news, and volume goes way up again. terrible...especially late at night.) I think ABC is the worst for this.

I think commercials *have* to be louder to meet some legal requirement of commercial volume compared to TV show volume...but since I can't imagine the network filing a lawsuit against itself, it is especially reprehensible when the network's commercials for itself are the loudest.
Quote Flibblebot 10th January 2007, 19:23
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrBionic
I'd like to see Dolby TrueHD integrated into motherboard chipsets ASAP.
TrueHD is a lossless compression of 7.1 surround sound capable of being transmitted via HDMI; if it were to be integrated into a motherboard chipset, you'd also need an amp capable of decoding that signal and a decent 7.1 speaker set.
I don''t think there are any TrueHD amps available yet, but when they do appear, expect them to cost upwards of a couple of grand...
Quote Kipman725 10th January 2007, 19:57
I lol'ed basicly all gimiky crap :)

want good sound get a decent amp source and speakers/headhpones. Don't buy a box to put between your crappy source and Ipod earbuds.
Quote ralph.pickering 10th January 2007, 19:59
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andreoid
very nice case ,.. would like to have more pix of it

Go to Niveus web site: http://www.niveusmedia.com/

You'll need very deep pockets if you want one of their machines though. I don't think the cases are available separately.
Quote DXR_13KE 10th January 2007, 23:13
JVC has done great things..... this is not one of them.

and about dolby...... i hope its not a gimmick or they are dead.
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