Just Magic! Well Done

ismarketing · Thu Jun 05, 2008 7:51 am

Got the box yesterday. Plugged it in (component video and optical audio) and was up and watching in 5 minutes.

Bravo to Roku and Netflix for such a well thought out device. My wife and daughter had no trouble using it either.

Image quality is about what I expected (with 4 dots of wireless strength). Not quite DVD quality, and some macroblocking on solid fields of color.

That said - it was very, very watchable. Audio processed with Dolby Pro-Logic II was quite impressive.

For any one into film or TV, this is simply a great way to spend $100.

Bravo!

pnoyes · Thu Jun 05, 2008 7:54 am

I thought that all Audio was in stereo pcm. Is there really some content encoded with Dolby Pro Logic II, and if so, is it multi-channel? That would be awesome!

ismarketing · Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:01 am

Sound out of the Roku is stereo. My a/v receiver then applies Pro-Logic II. There's no such them as "pro-logic encoded." PLII processes stereo into 5.1 surround (or 7.1 for PLIIx).

Tarantulas · Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:12 am

There have been a couple of flicks ive watched on the box that didn't make good use of Dolby prologic, but that's more of a netflix issue than a Roku one

Wondercow · Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:20 am

ismarketing wrote:
There's no such them as "pro-logic encoded.

A small point but, yes there is. In movie theaters it's call Dolby Stereo and at home it's called Dolby Surround (or Pro-Logic). Many TV shows are still recorded using it for standard broadcasts.

TaylorH · Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:14 am

The audio is stereo PCM, but Pro Logic is surround sound encoding in a stereo sound track. Dolby Digital like that on a DVD requires discrete multi channel encoding, which the Netflix movies do not contain.
But Pro Logic can, and usually is, mixed in to the sound tracks of movie's stereo sound tracks.

Pro Logic encoding uses an audio phase shift to create the rear channel. The technique is not something that affects normal stereo playback.

"When a Dolby Surround soundtrack is produced, four channels of audio informationÃ¢â‚¬â€Left, Center, Right, and Mono surroundÃ¢â‚¬â€are matrix-encoded onto two audio tracks."
http://www.dolby.com/consumer/technology/surround.html

pnoyes · Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:58 am

RokuTaylor wrote:
The audio is stereo PCM, but Pro Logic is surround sound encoding in a stereo sound track. Dolby Digital like that on a DVD requires discrete multi channel encoding, which the Netflix movies do not contain.
But Pro Logic can, and usually is, mixed in to the sound tracks of movie's stereo sound tracks.

Pro Logic encoding uses an audio phase shift to create the rear channel. The technique is not something that affects normal stereo playback.

"When a Dolby Surround soundtrack is produced, four channels of audio informationÃ¢â‚¬â€Left, Center, Right, and Mono surroundÃ¢â‚¬â€are matrix-encoded onto two audio tracks."
http://www.dolby.com/consumer/technology/surround.html

Do you know if any of the Netflix conent is encoded in this way, where the surround sound is encoded in the stereo pcm data. That was my question. The Wii for instance only has stereo hookups, but does in fact support surround sound as an example.

TaylorH · Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:18 pm

If the TV show or Movie has Dolby Pro Logic is in the source, then yes it should be in the stream.
All it takes to retain pro logic is adequate reproduction of the stereo channels which at least the higher bit rate encodes should do adequately.

ismarketing · Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:45 pm

Thanks for the clarifications about Pro Logic and encoding.

My post was about the newer Pro-Logic II and Pro-Logic IIx. If your receiver has these, it can take stereo soundtrack and create 5.1 or 7.1 surround.

Just Magic! Well Done

Just Magic! Well Done

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