Non-digital 5.1 Surround in DVD's?

[KingPariah777]

I have a DVD of Matrix Revolutions...I am using my onboard nforce 2 5.1 surround sound...I am NOT using digital surround, only analog.

Are regular (cheap) DVD's capable of non-digital (non-dolby) surround sound? Or do I need to have a surround system that is capable of digital to enjoy surround in my movies?

Currently, I am not getting surround sound when I play movies.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Kingofl337]

It will show up in powerdvd if its in DD.

 

[Duck-BOT]

You have things a bit confused. Soundstorm encodes Dolby Digital on the fly so you can output it to a receiver to have it decode (just nanoseconds later) so you get surround sound on an external decoder/receiver hooked up to speakers.

Using analog, your sound quality won't be terrible, but it won't be the best either, and if you have an analog 5.1 (4.1, whatever) hooked up to your board, then yes, you can still get surround sound. Just because Dolby Digital has "digital" in it does not mean you need to output it via optical or coax just to get surround sound.

Most DVD software will have the option of outputting in surround sound, provided you have it set up properly. WinDVD Platinum has a nice way of doing so, just select 5.1 as your sound system and it'll automatically send out in surround sound, and you select your type of sound in the DVD Audio Sub-Menu.

Most DVD's nowadays are either shipped with Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Pro Logic II, or DTS surround sound, so either way, you can get the surround, the sound part is whether you have the proper equipment to do so.