What is the difference between Dolby Digital EX and THX Surround EX offered by ONKYO. I'm looking at the OUTLAW 950 set-up and the ONKYO TX-DS797 http://www.onkyousa.com/show_features.cfm?class=receivers&m=TX-DS797
I know that these two receivers are not the same! I'm just asking about the audio format.... THANKS IN ADVANCE!

THX Surround EX is only available if the receiver or pre/pro is THX certified (which from what I understand tends to dictate a lot of the design decisions and adds cost for licensing / testing thru THX); the THX EX decoding is based on DD EX (THX has licensed Dolby EX, which was developed jointly by Dolby and THX). With Dolby offering their EX decoding, it allows non-THX systems to do what appears to me to be essentially the same thing as THX Surround EX without going through THX. Check out this article at DVDFile.com for details on THX EX and Dolby Digital EX -- it makes a little more sense than my slightly fragmented explanation. Here's another article on the topic of THX EX.

While I am as disappointed as anybody else at the delay in getting my hands on a 950, I do think that it is impressive that Outlaw is going to be able to tuck DD EX into the 950 before it ships and still hope to get it here in time for Christmas. The 950's taken a while to get to market, but if you are chomping at the bit for one, take a minute to compare the current specs to the specs when it was originally announced. Originally it was going to include a one-channel amp for the center surround channel, would essentially re-use the 1050's guts, and would add (1) coax digital input, on-screen displays, and component video switching. Now it has all this plus Dolby Digital EX. Makes the wait worth it, I think.

[This message has been edited by gonk (edited November 05, 2001).]

i have been waitin in agony for the release of this preamp, but i guess all is well. It's been delayed so many times I have resigned to the fact that i wont be getting my hands on one probably until my b-day in January. But I do like that they added DD EX and kept the price the same. It just goes to show that good things do come to thos who wait. Also, i would have to agree with the poster below for a new outlaw logo, the squiggly lines do not show a very high-end, or even a clean look. It looks like the designers tried to make it fun and complicated but instead made it look like something that comes on the side of a cereal box. I would stay with the "O" but make it just an emblem, then in Silver, or gold, simple, stylish letters have outlaw written next to the symbol. just my two cents. But i cannot wait for the new preamp, its gonna be a keeper

Where was the news posted that the 950 was delayed? Is there a mailing list I am not on.


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Stott

[This message has been edited by stott (edited November 06, 2001).]

The Outlaws do have a mailing list, and they sent out a November news update last night that has not appeared on the site yet in which they reported that Dolby has begun allowing people (aside from THX) to license DD EX for consumer electronics. They're apparently going to sneak it into the 950 before it ships. The only way I see to subscribe to the list is through the online contact form (top link on this page). There may be another way that I couldn't find in my quick spin through the site.

i would love to subscribe to the mailing list but did not see anywhere to do so!

how can i get on the email list?

Hey there, Mediahound

I see why you couldn't find it, that took some digging...

Go to About Outlaw, then the Contact the Outlaws link, then the Online Contact Form link at the top. There's an "Add me to your mailing list" checkbox at the bottom of the form.

Why don't they add DTS 24/96 decoding while they're delaying the product?

And have a 7.1 surround mode that allows for stereo back channels during 6.1 decoding (discrete and matrix) like Lexicon's newly improved Logic7? And the ability to duplicate the left and right surrounds in the back left and right rears when playing a 5.1 soundtrack if you so choose.

These are all better formats than just "changing" 6.1 Matrix to licensed DD EX. They do the same thing. Symantics.

Dan

I think it's a matter of scale, Dan. Adding true discrete 7.1 in the last month of production (or in this case during the last weeks of testing and beginning of full scale production) seems unrealistic. This is particularly true if they would need to develop the decoding themselves (I'm not real up on Lexicon's 7.1, but I don't know how readily they license it out to other manufacturers). They've already crammed a lot more formats into the 950 than they originally planned to, and without changing the initial cost of the unit. Some of the features that you mention may be ones they have on their wish list for the planned high-end pre/pro, which they apparently don't plan to push too far along until they can integrate things like digital input from DVD-A/SACD and some other undisclosed features that are not ready for prime time yet. Discrete 7.1 may very well be on that list. As for your idea of steering the left and right surround signals to the rears of a 7.1 speaker setup, it is an interesting idea. Do you know of any manufacturers who have included it or plan to?

What would be the difference between the analog 5.1 input for DVD-A for the 950 and the digital 5.1 input for the future pre/pro?

A digital input on a future pre/pro (for use with DVD-A/SACD, separate from the coax and optical digital inputs were already used to) would very likely not use a standard coax or optical digital connection like we use now. It's not certain, but some of the things I've heard suggest that they'll use something like FireWire as the interface.

Thanks gonk for the links on THX EX and DD EX.

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