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Originally Posted by jason_els  A classic case of ass/u/me.
Not necessarily true. The content first has to be encoded for 5.1 sound. If the original source (TV show or movie) isn't encoded for 5.1 then the broadcaster or network distributes content in the original format. Casablanca was recorded in monaural so if it's distributed in HD then, naturally, the sound is sent to your home as monaural. On occasion, soundtracks are remastered from monaural or stereo into 5.1 or better (Lawrence of Arabia, Star Wars, etc.), and in those cases you'd get surround sound of a sort. The sad part is even content originally mastered in 5.1 or better won't necessarily be broadcast in its native format. Sometime broadcasters save bandwidth by not using 5.1 and downconvert 5.1 soundtracks to stereo. Not all HD content (think newscasts) is created in a native 5.1 format. Much is still stereo at best.
Right now it's all a crap shoot. Premium channels usually broadcast exclusively in HD/5.1 but again, older content which wasn't originally mastered in 5.1 nearly always won't be remastered to 5.1. |
My current receiver does pretty good with Neo6 on broadcast material. Although it does have to specifically say that its being broadcast in surround.
