Dolby Digital Plus - simply explained
If you buy a television, BluRay player or a home cinema system, you will be confronted with the term Dolby Digital Plus. In this practical tip, we explain what is hidden behind the name.
Dolby Digital Plus: what is it actually?
Dolby Digital Plus is a so-called audio codec that transmits sound from A to B. Dolby Digital Plus is often abbreviated as DD +.
- While the predecessor Dolby Digital only reproduces a 5.1 tone, with Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 tone is also possible. In theory, DD + even supports 13.1 tone, so that the standard is also prepared for the future.
- The 5.1 sound has 5 speakers and a subwoofer. These include the left and right main speakers, a center speaker and the left and right surround speakers. The 7.1 sound has two back surrounds on the left and right, which are intended to refine the sound by further details.
- Dolby Digital Plus thus offers a significantly better sound quality, even though the signal is more compressed. The data rate is up to 6 Mbit / s, the sampling depth is 24 bit and the sampling rate is 48 or 96 kHz.
- Dolby Digital Plus is finally bringing surround sound to the Internet. This means that online video stores can broadcast their content not only with simple stereo sound but also with 7.1 sound.
Requirements for the audio codec
- In order to use Dolby Digital Plus, not only your television and your home cinema system must support the standard, the video material must also be available in Dolby Digital Plus.
- Amazon Video broadcasts a lot of content on Fire TV and Fire TV Stick in Dolby Digital Plus. In Germany, only a few channels use DD + via DVB-T2 or satellite. Almost all BluRays support Dolby Digital Plus for this.
- To transfer content in Dolby Digital Plus from a BluRay player to the TV and then to the home theater system, you need an HDMI cable. You need a reasonably up-to-date HMDI cable with the standard 1.3 or newer.
- Dolby Digital Plus is also conveniently backward compatible. This means that devices that support Dolby Digital Plus also play back content in Dolby Digital.