Comments on: Step Brothers Now Available For Purchase With DD 5.1 Surround Sound

By: ConorW

ConorW — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:51:44 +0000

From what I understand “Dolby Surround” is just another name for “Dolby Pro-Logic”.

The reason I believe this to be full 5.1 is my amp shows it as “Dolby Digital 5.1″ whereas I have certainly seen it show previous Apple TV purchases as “Dolby Pro-Logic”. Aswell as that the amp shows an image of what channels are on the source. “Dolby Surround/Pro-Logic” only ever shows two, as it is in fact encoded into stereo. “Dolby Digital 5.1″ always lists the full 5.1 channels and this is what I’m seeing on these tv shows.

Also from content I have encoded myself the amp has always been accurate in showing the correct audio track. It’s not a high end amp however but is reputable enough, a €350 Sony.

Of course I or my amp could be wrong and I don’t have anything else to go on.

By: Eddie V.

Eddie V. — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:09:01 +0000

ConorW, one question. Are you sure you aren’t confusing 5.1 Surround with “Dolby Surround”? How are you confirming that your SD downloads are 5.1?

There is a difference as some SD content contains “Dolby Surround”. If you scroll to the bottom of the Apple TV Spec page you will see this listed.

http://www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html

I would love to confirm the 5.1 added feature as I have downloaded the latest episode of Heroes and it does contain a Surround Sound track but I cannot confirm if indeed it is 5.1.

By: ConorW

ConorW — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:25:39 +0000

I can confirm that the latest episode of Desperate Housewives, ‘Me and My Town’ also comes with Dolby 5.1 even for the SD download! This is a great sign that my two most recent SD purchases also include 5.1

By: Nate Thompson

Nate Thompson — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:59:42 +0000

I’m just speculating based on some of the new things we’re seeing on the AppleTV (HD logo on movies, further streaming optimization of HD content, etc).

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:58:44 +0000

What announcement do you think they’ll make at Macworld?

By: Nate

Nate — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:55:28 +0000

That’s a pretty big leap… We’re just getting 5.1 in SD purchases. That said, I do think they are getting things ready for an announcement, maybe at Macworld.

By: matrix6028

matrix6028 — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:49:00 +0000

Maybe AppleTV is gearing up to release The Dark Knight in HD 5.1 as a purchase now?! (Like 24 that just came out. $19.99 do you think ?)

By: Eddie V.

Eddie V. — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:16:24 +0000

You are correct, my mistake with the “HD”. Thats been there from the beginning. I will say this, I believe it is the first time that Apple has made note of which HDTV shows have DD 5.1, and not all HD TV content appears to have it.

By: Nate Thompson

Nate Thompson — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:03:39 +0000

Regarding your update, my HD TV shows have all had DD5.1 soundtracks since they started selling them. I think he is pointing out that the SD version for the recent “The Office” episode also included it (instead of just AAC 2.0).

By: ConorW

ConorW — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:52:58 +0000

As I pointed out 3 days ago in the forums, the most recent SD episode of The Office (Frame Toby) also came with DD5.1 for me anyway
I have just downloaded the lastest Deperate Housewives so Ill be checking that out when I get home

By: Andrew Abate

Andrew Abate — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:18:29 +0000

That’s great news, but I would be totally sold if the movies were available for purchase in HD like TV shows. Do that and I’m sold. Hopefully soon-I don’t want to get blu-ray.

By: Nate Thompson

Nate Thompson — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:46:40 +0000

Wow, this is a very big step for the iTunes store… hopefully this is a sign of things to come. I’m much more inclined to impulse-buy SD movies if they include DD5.1.