| Product: |
VideoLogic Digitheatre |
| Date: |
29/12/00 (1007 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Excellent sound quality!
Disadvantages: A few practical niggles - see review for more information
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UPDATE - 1/5/01
There is now a 'silver' Digitheatre DTS, which supposedly has improved speaker cones. There is no difference in pricing, but remember that this opinion relates to the original, black version.
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A few years ago, the prospect of owning a digital surround sound system in the home was little more than a dream for most mere mortals. A Dolby Digital amp couldn’t have been purchased for much less than £1000, or a decent set of speakers for less than £300. So, it is understandable that the original VideoLogic DigiTheatre ruffled more than it’s fair share of feathers when it was released in 1999 for only £250. At this price, the fact that it worked at all made it an instant success, but the fact that it included absolutely everything you needed in a single box made sure it stayed that way.
Now VideoLogic are building on their original success with the new DigiTheatre DTS – the device that is sitting beside my TV as we speak. Of course, it isn’t 1999 any more – for the £400 the DigiTheatre DTS will set you back, one could quite easily go down the Hi-Fi Separates route with something like a Sherwood 6095 amp (£200 from Richer Sounds) and a set of speakers from Gale or Eltax (about £150-£200). This means that if VideoLogic wanted to stay competitive, they had to make this system something really special, and judging from the number of awards it has won so far (15, at the last count), I’d say they have succeeded.
Setting up the system is so mind-numbingly simple that an average child could have it up and running in less than 30 minutes. The box contains a massive wooden Sub-Woofer, whose cabinet contains the 220 watt RMS amplifier used to power the system, four satellite speakers, and the Centre speaker which contains the Control Panel. Your audio sources must be connected to the back
of the Sub-Woofer, which contains Digital Coaxial and Optical inputs (which can be used to connect separate devices simultaneously, e.g DVD and CD Players). All four of the satellites must be connected to the Sub-Woofer using ordinary speaker cable, so if the supplied cables aren’t long enough, any similar substance should to the trick. Unfortunately, things aren’t quite so simple when connecting the Centre speaker to the Sub – you must use a proprietary VideoLogic serial cable, so if the supplied one isn’t long enough you have to go to them for an upgrade. Hmmm. Had I been designing the system, I would have had the audio inputs on the Centre speaker, as this would allow for greater flexibility when placing the Sub-Woofer, and a second analogue input would have been appreciated, but I really am splitting hairs now.
Of course, you could just have easily have looked all that up yourself. What you really want to know is how good it is going to make your movies sound, and that is exactly what I’m going to tell you. The DigiTheatre DTS supports the three most commonly used Surround Sound formats – Dolby Pro-Logic, Dolby Digital and (as the name suggests) DTS. Here is a description of each format, along with brief comments outlining my first impressions as I tried out a few highlights from my movie collection.
For the record, all tests were carried out using my new Aiwa XD-DV370 DVD Player and Wharfedale VCR-950 VCR. For the ordinary TV tests, I used my Philips ONDigital STB, but the effect would be identical were you to connect the DigiTheatre directly to your TVs audio outputs.
Dolby Pro-Logic
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This (analogue) format encodes information for an extra two channels (rear and centre) in the ordinary Stereo signal, meaning that just about anything from a VCR to a 14” Portable can produce Pro-Logic sound. This has actually been around for quite a few years, and is often built into new T
Vs, although the results are never as good as a separate surround package. Pro-Logic marks a significant improvement over standard Stereo, but the rear channel is mono-only and has a limited frequency response, meaning that it’s only really useful for atmospheric effects (such as rain or wind noises).
Most VHS tapes contain Pro-Logic encoded material, as well as a few older DVDs. So far, I’ve tried:
The Blair Witch Project (DVD)
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This is a tricky one. The Blair Witch Project isn’t really about flashy visual and audio effects, but I would certainly say that watching it on the DigiTheatre was significantly more enjoyable than through my TV, if only due to the massively superior quality of the speakers and amplifier. You do get a few creepy rear-speaker noises – nothing special, but I suppose it does add to the atmosphere.
Star Trek Voyager: Volume 6.12 (VHS)
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Okay, I’m sad. Shut up. Anyway, I was actually quite impressed with the difference the DigiTheatre made to this tape. Whenever the Voyager appears on screen, the Sub-Woofer lets out a mighty rumble, and makes certain that every Photon Torpedo explosion REALLY explodes. Also, when Doctor Zimmerman’s holographic fly, well, flies, around the room, you can’t help but smile.
Dolby Digital 5.1
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Now, this is what it’s really all about. Dolby Digital encodes information for 5 totally separate channels. The “.1” part of the name refers to the Low Frequency Effects (LFE) channel, which in a system like this gets sent straight to the Sub-Woofer. The difference between Pro-Logic and Dolby Digital is, in my opinion, at least as great as that between Mono and Stereo, and this system pulls it off brilliantly. Just about every DVD released nowadays carries a Dolby Digital soundtrack, and as far as I am concerned,
this is an even greater advantage over VHS than the improvement in picture quality.
Every film I’ve watched so far as blown my mind, so to speak, but here are a couple that really caught my attention, but for very different reasons.
Mission Impossible 2 (DVD)
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This was actually the first film I saw on the DigiTheatre without having tried it first through ordinary TV speakers, and although the movie itself is absolutely, 100% dreadful, it does sound very, very nice indeed. Every punch, gunshot and explosion comes through with impressive clarity, and really reminds you why you bought this system in the first place. Most impressive.
Alien (DVD)
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Unlike the rest of the series, Alien actually features incredibly little action, which means no explosions, no gunshots and no bloody death. Well, okay, that last one was a bit of a lie, but the point is that rather than use the capabilities of Dolby Digital to deafen you and your neighbours, Alien uses it to seriously, well, freak you out. The absolute best bit, in my opinion, is when the crew are exploring the derelict spacecraft and all those creepy noises fill your sitting room. I’ve seen this film literally hundreds of times, but this was the first time in ages that I have ever really found it unsettling. Of course, the fact that I now watch in the dark in order to simulate the cinema effect probably helped this, too.
DTS (Digital Theatre System)
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DTS uses the exact same speaker configuration as Dolby Digital, and stores the exact same number of channels. The difference is that where Dolby Digital uses a great deal of compression in order to fit the data onto the target medium, DTS leaves the soundtracks exactly in the form they were in when you heard them at the cinema – assuming that the movie was in DTS format to begin with, but since this includes just about everything si
nce Jurassic Park, it’s a pretty safe bet. Dolby claim that the human ear is incapable of detecting the difference between their format and DTS, but in blind tests 9 out of every 10 people prefer DTS. I think I’d count myself among them, but only just.
Gladiator (DVD)
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This is the only film released on Region 2 DVD to include a DTS soundtrack, and since I haven’t yet worked up the courage to buy a Region 1, I’ll stick with Gladiator for the time being. Conveniently, the disc includes a Dolby Digital soundtrack as well, which was useful for comparison.
I think the most striking difference between DD and DTS is that DTS as considerably greater Dynamic Range – the difference between the loudest and quietest sounds is much larger, yet neither ever seems to drown out the other. For example, during the fight scenes with the tigers, they can roar as loudly as they want, but you can still hear their chains drag across the floor at realistic volume in the background. The result is that your brain is better fooled into thinking it is hearing real sounds, rather than a recording. Also, the positioning between the speakers is greatly improved – if you imagine a plane flying from left to right, in Dolby Digital you get the left speaker, both speakers and finally the right speaker – whereas in DTS the process is far more gradual.
In conclusion, I think that while DTS does sound better than Dolby Digital, I probably wouldn’t have noticed these (rather subtle) differenced had I not had both soundtracks available for comparison. The difference between the two competing formats is nowhere near as great as that between Pro-Logic and Dolby Digital, but it’s still worth getting the DTS versions if you can, it just isn’t worth cutting your throat if you can’t.
‘Music’
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Considering that my entire CD collection can be counted on the fing
ers of one hand, music performance was not exactly at the top of my list of priorities when choosing an audio system. Still, high quality sound is high quality sound, so it came as no surprise that even when played through my DVD Player (which make, at best, average CD Players), my virtually microscopic collection took on a life of it’s own. For CD playback, the DigiTheatre probably can’t match £400 worth of real Hi-Fi, but it will certainly trounce the mini/midi systems most people use, and is definitely better than my Computer speakers, which I had been using until now.
When listening to music, you are presented with four options: Pro-Logic, Stereo, Hall and Theatre. Pro-Logic uses the centre speaker for vocals, and the other satellites for most instrumentation and ambience, stereo should be self-explanatory, and Hall/Theatre use all the speakers to simulate the effect of listening in their respective types of room. Personally, I like to stick with plain old stereo for music, although I know that many people prefer Pro-Logic, so the key word here is experimentation.
That’s all the sound formats covered, so by now you should know whether or not this is the system for you. I can tell you now, though, that should you decide to buy it, you will not be disappointed. I bought mine from John Lewis, who have the system on display in most stores, as well as various rival systems, so you can see which you like the look of. Also, they will match Internet prices, which saved me £30 – you could probably do even better if you look around hard enough.
Summary:
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