Surround sound is an integral part of the home theater experience and there are several formats in use. The most well-known are part of the Dolby Digital family. Below we will discuss three of them: Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX and Dolby Digital Plus.
Dolby, DTS and THX Surround Listening Modes Explained
Dolby Digital is a digital audio coding system designed for DVD, Blu-ray Disc, Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc, and, in some cases, cable television and streaming content. This format provides efficient transmission of audio signals, which can have one or more channels that can be decoded by a home theater receiver or AV preamplifier or processor equipped with a Dolby Digital decoder and distributed to one or more speakers.
Nearly all home theater receivers have a built-in Dolby Digital decoder. All DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc players can pass Dolby Digital signals, using a technique called bitstream, to properly equipped receivers for decoding.
These are the channel options when using Dolby Digital:
