Dolby Laboratories UEX/650 Installation Instructions Manual - Page 10

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Dolby

UEX/650 Upgrade Kit Installation Instructions

The Dolby Digital Surround EX Format

The Dolby Digital Surround EX format adds a third surround channel to digital film

sound, a concept first envisioned by sound designers at Lucasfilm's Skywalker Sound

postproduction facility. It gives sound mixers a new level of creative freedom.

Dolby Digital Surround EX processing is fully compatible with all current 5.1 digital

sound formats and theatre systems. Prints that use it play normally with current

systems, and provide the extra surround channel when played using a CP650 cinema

processor equipped with a Cat. No. 790 (or the earlier Cat. No. 794 board).

A center screen channel is necessary to ensure the precise localization of front sounds

for all viewers, including those seated on the sides. Dolby Digital Surround EX audio

brings similar benefits to the surround sound field. With the Surround EX process, a

Back Surround channel is reproduced by the speaker array at the back of the theatre,

while Left and Right Surround is reproduced by the side arrays. This means that

sounds can now be positioned behind the audience, opening the door to exciting

effects, such as true 360-degree pans.

The Back Surround channel also makes front-to-back and back-to-front transitions

more realistic. Flyovers really seem to pass overhead, rather than down the sides of

the theatre. Even ambient sound reproduction is improved, being less affected by the

width of the theatre. Equally important, the new Back Surround channel ensures that

even viewers seated close to the left or right side of the theatre experience the total

surround ambience intended by the filmmaker.

The UEX650 kit upgrades the CP650D 5.1-channel digital cinema sound processor to

three surround channels that can play digital prints prepared with the Dolby Digital

Surround EX process. The installation requires wiring the surround speakers into

Left, Back (split into two groups), and Right. Two power amplifier channels are

required for powering the two groups of Back Surround channel speakers. Figure 6

shows the surround signal distribution for conventional 5.1-channel surround format

and for Dolby Digital Surround EX format.

Auto Surround EX

On Dolby Digital soundtracks that contain a data bit signifying Surround EX

encoding, the CP650 automatically switches to Dolby Digital Surround EX decoding

(when CP650 operating software is version 1.2 and above).