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HM audio question

sycor

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So this is the first time seeing this, since I guess the other services don't offer it. But with HM I'm seeing 258 kbps DD+ 6 CH and 386 kbps AC3 6 CH.

Now I know higher kbps typically means better audio quality. But since I don't know much about Eac3 or DD+ (I know they are basically the same thing), would the lower kbps for DD+ be a better audio that the higher kbps for AC3?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, just want to try to grab the better audio. And yes, I do have 5.1 surround at home with a receiver and actual surround sound speakers.

Edit: and to add to that, now there is much higher resolutions. I don't even know what some of these are: 2560x1440, 3200x1800, 3840x2160 (which I this one is 4K).

So much for hard drive space!
 
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I did some testing to determine which option is better, comparing both to a lossless copy from Blu-Ray. While the DD+ codec is more efficient, I found it to not be efficient enough to overcome the low bitrate. I'd recommend regular ol' DD at 384.
 
My understanding is that DD is the same as AC-3 while DD+ is a format called E-AC-3. DD+ offers a greater number of possible channels at a higher bitrate and more data frequencies compared to AC-3 but considering in this case they are both offering 6 channels that the higher bitrate is the better option.
 
My understanding is that DD is the same as AC-3 while DD+ is a format called E-AC-3. DD+ offers a greater number of possible channels at a higher bitrate and more data frequencies compared to AC-3 but considering in this case they are both offering 6 channels that the higher bitrate is the better option.
DD+ (EAC-3) is supposed to be twice as efficient as DD (AC-3), but that doesn't exactly seem to be true in practice. My guess is that if comparing 448kbps DD (AC-3) to 448kbps DD+, the DD+ would indeed sound better, but the assertion of it being twice as efficient is highly suspect.
 
I did some testing to determine which option is better, comparing both to a lossless copy from Blu-Ray. While the DD+ codec is more efficient, I found it to not be efficient enough to overcome the low bitrate. I'd recommend regular ol' DD at 384.

That's what I was thinking too but just wanted to verify since I haven't see this situation before. Thanks!
 
I've downloaded a couple HBOmax offerings so far, movies that have yet to be released on Blu-ray. I then authored each to Blu-ray as I do with all my AnyStream downloads. When authoring to Blu-ray I included both the 256 kbps DD+ 5.1 and 384 kbps DD 5.1 tracks. (Note that AnyStream incorrectly states they're 258 kbps and 386 kbps.) Going to watch one of the movies this evening. Will be interesting to see which fares better with my audio system. We shall see. :p
 
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Definitely let me know. I'm not going to be able to watch anything tonight but I am curious.
 
I downloaded Tom & Jerry The Movie and when I play the file the audio is scratchy on all the 6 channel audio tracks. You can really notice it about 17 seconds into the movie.

I’m sure it’s not an AS issue as it’s just downloading whatever’s available from the DCN but, is there anything I’m doing wrong or can change to fix this?

I should mention I’m using English Original in the United States.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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I downloaded Tom & Jerry The Movie and when I play the file the audio is scratchy on all the 6 channel audio tracks. You can really notice it about 17 seconds into the movie.

I’m sure it’s not an AS issue as it’s just downloading whatever’s available from the DCN but, is there anything I’m doing wrong or can change to fix this?

I should mention I’m using English Original in the United States.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I just checked and the "scratching" is the sound of the birds flapping their wings. The audio is Dolby Digital Plus with Dolby Atmos according to MediaInfo and my guess is that it has something to do with all of the channels playing on top of each other and the volumes not being balanced or something, you can see this in other scenes too where background noise is particularly loud.
 
I just checked and the "scratching" is the sound of the birds flapping their wings. The audio is Dolby Digital Plus with Dolby Atmos according to MediaInfo and my guess is that it has something to do with all of the channels playing on top of each other and the volumes not being balanced or something, you can see this in other scenes too where background noise is particularly loud.

Thank you for checking. No way really fix it then hey? Wonder if 2 channels is any better


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
is there anything I’m doing wrong or can change to fix this?
If AS shows no better audio track, there is nothing you can do. Maybe you can try if a different quality also contains the errors.
 
I've downloaded a couple HBOmax offerings so far, movies that have yet to be released on Blu-ray. I then authored each to Blu-ray as I do with all my AnyStream downloads. When authoring to Blu-ray I included both the 256 kbps DD+ 5.1 and 384 kbps DD 5.1 tracks. (Note that AnyStream incorrectly states they're 258 kbps and 386 kbps.) Going to watch one of the movies this evening. Will be interesting to see which fares better with my audio system. We shall see. :p
Listen for more compression artifacts on sibilant sounds with the DD+, but it's quite a subtle difference. It basically took looking at spectral graphs to tell which was the best.
 
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