Quote:
Originally Posted by mr.armadillo
Well, there is indeed a difference between "5.1" and "5.1 discrete": "5.1 discrete" compulsery means: "6 dedicated, separate channels" (not encoded AC3, DTS) while 5.1 can be anything. Period.
Well, I do have good news for you: Minister is right. An AC3 by itself isn't "discrete", but - it decodes into discrete channels. It's semantics. You can put it to a rest.
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I'm afraid I cannot agree with these statements.
The term "discrete" is one of two basic terms used to describe the channel encoding of various surround sound formats. Surround sound channels are encoded as either "discrete" channels or as "matrixed" channels, although the Dolby Digital EX format uses a combination of both. AC3, DTS and Dolby E are discrete formats, Dolby Surround and Dolby Pro Logic are matrixed formats.
Answering the OP; there is potentially a difference between 5.1 and 5.1 discrete. There are a number of different 5.1 formats and to the best of my knowledge they are all discrete except for Dolby Pro Logic II (which is matrixed). So in theory there could be a difference between 5.1 and 5.1 discrete.
If you have a delivery spec requiring 5.1 or 5.1 discrete, I would make a phone call and clarify what exactly they want. The terms "5.1" and "5.1 discrete" both describe groups of surround formats rather than a specific required delivery format. Delivery specs sometimes seem to be written by admin staff and are often vague and sometimes even contradictory.
G