For any movie buff out there, the thrills and the spills of
the latest Hollywood blockbuster film is enough to keep you on the edge of your
seat. But the technology behind what makes the sights and the sounds of an
unforgettable movie theatre experience has been slowly moving out of the movie
theatres and into homes. Let’s take a look at some of the best movie sound
technology that has made the leap into home theatre set ups that anyone can now
enjoy.
Multiple Speaker Systems
One of the biggest known theatre audio standards these days
is Dolby Digital, which was created by the Dolby organisation to help introduce
a standard of theatre audio across the board, to help directors give their full
theatre experience as it was intended to theatre-goers no matter which cinema
you went to.
Dolby Digital Standards
Dolby Digital is the name given to the compression
technology that the Dolby created to allow multiple audio channels to be fed to
specific speakers in order to replicate how a movie was recorded and follows what
is being done or said on screen.
Dolby Digital and Dolby Surround EX, the cinema version of
its surround sound system is now used in many home theatre systems, Blu-ray
players and other digital devices to bring a greater bitrate of audio. It was
first used in conjunction with Lucas film THX to make up the audio on the
modern Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and was later used to re-encode
the re-mastered Star Wars Blu-Ray.
The THX Standard Experience
THX is another theatre-grade audio specialist that licenses
some of its technology to be used in consumer-grade equipment such as
televisions, home cinema speakers and amplifiers. THX became popular through
its innovative designs as well as its own compression techniques that rely on
different codecs than used with Dolby Digital.
THX now has its badge on hundreds of different home theatre
systems which allows anyone who watches a THX encoded film at home to enjoy it
exactly how it sounded at the cinema, provided you have the correct
multiple-speaker surround sound setup that is compatible with THX.
THX is seen as a quality-assurance system that allows
consumers to purchase home cinema systems that will be compatible with certain
standards of audio quality, speaker arrangements and amplifier settings needed
to watch and enjoy a high quality audio experience.
THX standard goes much further to display whether a DVD or
speaker setup is compatible, for the THX certification in theatres, each cinema
needs to have a specifically designed theatre, with things like floorboards,
audio muting, soundproofing, echo, wash and even building materials taken into
account to provide the perfect setting to replicate the original soundtrack.
DTS – Digital Theatre System
DTS is another cinema audio system that is similar to Dolby
Digital, it is an audio compression standard that allows cinemas, consumers and
equipment to meet the standards necessary to playback media in the way the
director intended.
DTS, or Digital Theatre System has had a range of different
standards, ranging from 2.1 audio right up to 8.1, 10.2 and bigger speaker
arrangements. Many people use its DTS 5.1 system in their surround sound
amplifier and speaker distribution amp as it is one of the most popular
standards to date.
DTS have launched DTS-HD Master Audio which allows for a
nearly infinite number of discreet speaker channels to be added to a mix and is
now making that standard in custom theatres around the world.
The Future Is Bright for Home Theatre
These standards, whilst tested at the latest theatres,
always make it to the home theatre after a few years. By the time they reach
our homes, the systems have been specially redesigned for home theatres so we
can have the same kind of sound at home.
It’s important to note that the more speakers you add to your
system doesn’t equate to the better quality, but if you use one of these three
popular standards when purchasing your home theatre audio equipment, you really
can’t go wrong!
