SRS Gear

[^Tripper^]

hi. just wondering if anyone here has used the SRS encoders. thoughts? comments? hows it like to use in the studio? do your mixes translate well onto consumer systems?

just trying to get a real world idea about the gear. comments apprecited.

Thanks!

[dr sound]

Tripper,
I am beta testing the new SRS gear. The plug in for pro Tools is still around 90 days away. It is getting better. I will post some more information as it comes available. As for the hardware, there is a new revised update version that will soon come out.

[Pirate Post]

As for the hardware, there is a new revised update version that will soon come out.

Something I don't know about?

[TVPostSound]

[dr sound]

Pirate,
You and I were there when they (SRS) said that a new e prom was going to be put out in the near future. Or don't you remember since you've been out swashbuckling in the Caribbean?

[Noiz2]

I haven't done enough mixes to really make any comparisons. SRS was great to deal with though, very helpful an responcive. Our lead mixer who has had quite a bit of experience, said it was a tad more squirly than the Dolby box. But that the diferences were mostly diferences, sort of a flavor choice. We had a couple of issues that needed a work around (but there work arounds and they ended up adding maybe fifteen minutes over a two day mix. And the issues we had have aperently been addressed in the new firmware. I will use them again.

[martian]

I mixed around 30 features with them over here in Hong Kong.

They are a workable affordable alternative to you know who's. The mixes had SR applied for optical by the lab and they played back just fine in any standard cinema.

[^Tripper^]

thanks for the input guys.

been checking the site, pdf, etc. one of the things i was wondering was if you encode a mix with the SRS gear for say a DVD, would consumer playback systems know what its dealing with? would they decode the SRS encoded tracks? most playback systems would be expecting to see 'you know who's' data, or is the SRS encoded track compatiable with Dolby?

Sorry for all these questions, just trying to get more background before i make the commitment.

Thanks!

[Noiz2]

It will play back through ProLogic. Who ever encodes the DVD (AC3 stream) needs to flag it as ProLogic, but I believe that is tro of the expensive spread also since ProLogic and it's compatables are not a digital data stream but an analog LtRt.

[martian]

A LCRS mix is encoded to LtRt which is analog! so if you put it on as a PCM stereo track that's that, your listener may choose to put their reciever into prologic and they will enjoy a surround sound mix.

does dolby actually own the patent on matrix surround encoding? wasn't it a spin off from those quad stereo's? which is why you can buy ultrastereo encoders, SRS circle surround, and I thought I saw a Lexicon one once.

If you are making a DVD then you can AC3 encode it in which case it really is 5.1 and Dolby. I would still put the SRS encoded LtRt on there, just like they put SR on to optical as a redundancy in case of drop out's ( happens more with dolby digital than SDDS.

If time and budget is tight You might consider mixing with SRS encoder in 5:2:5 then sum the left and right surrounds for a 4:2:4. Monitor that with the SRS decoder in "prologic" mode and you will see what you get. I have done this and the advantage is you know it'll sound OK as analog surround. ( ie steering errors are avoided.) It will save you time if you need to make a 5.1 dvd later. (ie you have already made a 5 channels mix..

The dis- advantages are you don't take advantage of real 5,1 ( dynamic range etc. LFE channel needs to be considered - etc )

but probably good enough for rock and roll ;-)