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VideoLogic DigiTheatre 5.1 Early
Impressions
Published: July 26, 1999 - Mikael Hagén
Update: The
full review is now available
DigiTheatre 5.1 is a complete Dolby Digital 5.1 system. The 6
speakers, 2 front speakers, 2 rear, one center speaker are all connected to the
amplifier/subwoofer unit. The amplifier unit has separate inputs for each speaker. The
part that do the AC-3 decoding is a separate unit which has optical and coax digital in
and analog front and right channel. As output it has a 9 pin DIN and separate out for
front, center, surround and subwoofer. The DIN is used to connect to the 6 inputs of the
amplifier/subwoofer unit. The other outputs is intended to be used for people that haven't
bought the full kit but just the decoder.
The Digital decoder box is the one you use to change speaker mode, balance, bass power etc
and you also got a remote control to control these functions. The amplifier unit only has
a power button, a master volume control and switch between stereo and AC-3 mode.
That the Digital decoder only has front left and right input (FL and FR) means that you
cannot get surround mode in games if you connect to the AC-3 decoder box but you can
connect your soundcard directly to the FL/FR/SL/SR inputs of the integrated amplifier but
Videologic says that "but no signal would get to the sub as the LFE on AC-3 is a
distinct channel (into which you wouldn't have any input) - so that wouldn't be
ideal." Not sure exactly what they mean with no signal to the sub since the sub still
produce a good bass if you connect like this but of course when it comes to DVD movies
this won't be a good setup so you'll have to switch cables when you play games compared to
when you play games. The cables necessary to connect to the soundcard isn't included btw.
Videologic offered another suggestion when I asked about this a few months ago "We've
actually gone the other way in fact, and added the facility in the Sirocco Crossfire amp
to input the LFE channel from our DigiTheatre Decoder. You can then set up the decoder to
run in 4.1 mode (with virtualized centre), and get the benefit of the even better audio
quality from Crossfire." I'm not sure what the benefit of this will be compared to
using the DigiTheatre since you still need to change the cables when you switch from DVD
movies to playing games.
So how do it sound then? Unfortunately the set I got from Videologic has only an English
power adapter to the Digital Decoder so I have only been able to test the DigiTheatre
without it so I have not been able to judge how it works as a Dolby Digital or Dolby
Prologic system. I will of course not do a review before I get the decdoer box to work.
When it comes to use it as a 4.1 system I think the satellites produce sound of
very good quality, better than the ACS54, especially when you crank up the volume but they
are not as powerful as Videologic's Sirocco. These have only a sub of 20 Watts and
satellites of 7.5 compared to 20 and 40 respectively for the Sirocco. I do found them
powerful enough though and if the DVD quality is as good as I expect it to be I may end up
buying a set.
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