DTS ES 6.1
Star Wars:Episode I was the first film to use an additional rear channel routed to the array of speakers along the back wall of a cinema. In the cinema, this center surround channel is not discrete, but is matrixed into the left surround (LS) and right surround (RS) channels. Embedded in the soundtrack print master, this matrixed channel works with all cinema digital sound formats. DTS calls this process Extended Surround, or "ES."
When the film soundtrack is transferred to DVD, the matrixed center surround channel again automatically appears in the 5.1-channel soundtracks on the disc. With its greater bandwidth, DTS is also able to offer a fully discrete center surround channel, which can be recovered by a new generation of decoders. These soundtracks are fully compatible with existing 5.1-channel DTS decoders, which decode the center surround channel information to be heard in and between the LS and RS speakers. Thus "ES" is the general term for DTS tracks with a center surround channel, and "ES 6.1 discrete" is the particular case where the center surround channel is discrete.
About DTS in Consumer Electronics Products
* The center surround channel is always matrixed into the LS and RS channels.
* A discrete center surround channel can optionally be encoded.
* A DTS-ES 6.1-discrete decoder will play the discrete center surround channel and will subtract the discrete center surround channel from the matrixed LS and RS channels.
* Any DTS-ES track, discrete or not, is fully compatible with 6.1-matrix decoders because the matrixed tracks are always present.
* Any DTS-ES track is fully compatible with 5.1 decoders because the center surround channel information is matrixed into the LS and RS channels and will be heard in and between the LS and RS speakers.
Hardware features:
Devices carrying the logo handle DTS 6.1 Matrix and DTS 6.1 Discrete decoding, and offer DTS 5.1 capabilities.
