Gamecube in DTS 5.1


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i just got a gamecube yesterday and i found the component wires online so i can hook it up to my hdtv BUT i dont see any cables for getting DTS 5.1

does the cube even have the capabilities?

i have component/dts for my xbox but i would also like it for the cube.

anyone know how?

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I think the best it can do is Dolby Surround, which is sent through the RCA cables. Since the Cube doesn't play DVDs, there really isn't any need for DTS 5.1. The RCA will work with any stereo surround system anyway, and sounds fine for games.

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The GameCube does Dolby Pro Logic II Surround, which sounds a hell of a lot better than stereo in most games, but isn't anywhere near as good as "true" 5.1 sound.

The xbox on the other hand does Dolby Digital 5.1 in most (all?) of it's games. The xbox does not do DTS ingame, only Dolby Digital. DTS is for movie playback.

The PS2 can do DTS ingame, but it's pre-recorded iirc, and not on-the-fly. It's also limited to 4 speakers, and is not 5.1 sound. In my opinion the GameCube's DPL2 sounds better than this.

The PS2 has DPL2 in some games, but it's not as common as the GameCube.

Edited typo.

Edited by andrewfee
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The GameCube does Dolby Pro Logic Surround

I know you said DPLII later in your post, but for clarity Gamecube has Dolby Pro-Logic II. When I buy a DPLII capable receiver, I'll know the true meaning of Rogue Squadron II. :D

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I know you said DPLII later in your post, but for clarity Gamecube has Dolby Pro-Logic II. When I buy a DPLII capable receiver, I'll know the true meaning of Rogue Squadron II. :D

Heh, thanks for pointing that out. :blush:

Unfortunately I traded in Rogue Squadron II before I got my new speakers etc, so I couldn't tell you, but I imagine it sounds great.

The Dolby Pro Logic II in Metroid Prime sounds especailly good though, almost as good as DD5.1 at times, in terms of positioning.

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While we're on the subject, DPLII is supposed to be very close to DD.

I need to buy that receiver!!!

It is very close, the only thing is that the positioning isn't quite as good as DD5.1, and because it's from the gamecube, in some games it can sound tinny/compressed (but that's to do with the gamecube, not the DPLII format)

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GC only supports Dolby Prologic 2, the successor of Dolby Prologic.

They claim DP2 sounds waaayy better than DP.

But it's not digital, and lacks 6 discreet audio channels

There is physically no possible way to extract true Dolby 5.1 sound from a GC.

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GC only supports Dolby Prologic 2, the successor of Dolby Prologic.

They claim DP2 sounds waaayy better than DP.

But it's not digital, and lacks 6 discreet audio channels

There is physically no possible way to extract true Dolby 5.1 sound from a GC.

What is Dolby Pro Logic II?

Dolby Pro Logic II is much like Dolby Surround, but has several major enhancements. Most importantly, Dolby Pro Logic II encoding allows five channels of audio to be encoded into an Lt/Rt signal.

A Pro Logic II decoder relies on amplitude and phase differences between the two channels of an Lt/Rt signal to extract five channels: Left, Right, Center, Left Surround, and Right Surround. All five channels of Dolby Pro Logic II are full bandwidth.

The advanced steering algorithm in Pro Logic II allows it to gracefully decode any two-channel source material, ranging from stereo music to Dolby Surround content, as well as Dolby Pro Logic II content.

Content encoded with Pro Logic II is backwards compatible with Pro Logic decoding, as well as stereo playback.

Taken from: Dolby Tech FAQ

Yes, it's not Digital, but you can get positional sound from it.

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That's because it uses a matrix (Lt (Left Total), Rt (Right Total) ->L,R,C,Ls,Rs) to extract the rest of the channels, which is no where near as good as 5 seperate tracks of audio because bleed is still possible (think of Pro Logics dialogue in rear speakers). However, I have heard from many people as well as read in many reviews that Pro Logic II is quite good at decoding and rarely misdecodes (is that even a word?).

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That's because it uses a matrix (Lt (Left Total), Rt (Right Total) ->L,R,C,Ls,Rs) to extract the rest of the channels, which is no where near as good as 5 seperate tracks of audio because bleed is still possible (think of Pro Logics dialogue in rear speakers). However, I have heard from many people as well as read in many reviews that Pro Logic II is quite good at decoding and rarely misdecodes (is that even a word?).

Like I said, it's still nowhere near as good as DD5.1, but it still sounds amazing. I haven't heard any "bleeding" yet (I've only used my gamecube) and in games where it's done well (Metroid Prime) it can almost sound as good as DD5.1 but not quite.

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While we're on the subject, DPLII is supposed to be very close to DD.

Um, no. Never.

Dolby PL/PLII doesn't have NEAR the dynamic range of Dolby Digital/DTS, nor will it EVER. Not to mention that the physics involved disallows it from having the discrete separation that DD/DTS has.

As for the GC doing DD/DTS, no, simply because the numbnuts at Nintendo didn't allow a digital audio output port. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Mike

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Um, no. Never.

Dolby PL/PLII doesn't have NEAR the dynamic range of Dolby Digital/DTS, nor will it EVER. Not to mention that the physics involved disallows it from having the discrete separation that DD/DTS has.

As for the GC doing DD/DTS, no, simply because the numbnuts at Nintendo didn't allow a digital audio output port. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Mike

I said "close", not "absolutely the same".

Dolby Pro Logic II is an advanced matrix decoder that derives five-channel surround (Left, Center, Right, Left Surround, and Right Surround) from any stereo program material, whether or not it has been specifically Dolby Surround encoded. On encoded material such as movie soundtracks, the sound is more like Dolby Digital 5.1, while on unencoded stereo material such as music CDs the effect is a wider, more involving soundfield. Among other improvements over Pro Logic, Pro Logic II provides two full-range surround channels, as opposed to Pro Logic?s single, limited-bandwidth surround channel.

Also, a digital port would have raised the price of the 'Cube, something Nintendo didn't want to do.

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It wouldn't have raised the cost enough to warrant not putting it in.

It's not as simple as just adding optical out, they would have had to have a much more powerful audio processor to do Dolby Digital 5.1 ingame, which would have definitely raised the costs. Whilst it's not as good as DD5.1, DPLII still sounds great ingame.

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It's still wouldn't have cost that much. What probably kept it out of the system is more a matter of space. The Gamecube would've had to use DVD's instead of the proprietary discs it uses.

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It's still wouldn't have cost that much. What probably kept it out of the system is more a matter of space. The Gamecube would've had to use DVD's instead of the proprietary discs it uses.

You keep saying it wouldn't cost that much, do you know something a multi-billion company doesn't?

Different discs, different encoding, different R&D, different console materials, etc.

Why do it if you don't have to? This was never intended to play DVDs, as stated numerous times.

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It's not as simple as just adding optical out, they would have had to have a much more powerful audio processor to do Dolby Digital 5.1 ingame, which would have definitely raised the costs. Whilst it's not as good as DD5.1, DPLII still sounds great ingame.

Not to mention that DD and DTS encoding in realtime was still thought impossible, or at least very expensive and hard to do, through most of the GameCube's development. Once it was discovered that it can be done it was probably too late to change the audio processor, especially when it adds cost.

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I have a Dolby Pro Logic II hooked up to my GameCube, and games such as Rogue Leader are freaking awesome, really true 3D sound... do the sound test where the tie fighter flies in a circle around you, you would swear one was flying around in the room

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I just read Rebel Strike is designed for Pro Logic IIx.

It decodes a subwoofer channel (the .1) in addition to the 5 others.

A lot of recievers could already do something like that, but this means Dolby created a standard for the technique.

A step closer to DD/DTS. But of course it still isn't as good as the real thing.

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