GCvideo - Dolby Surround and Dolby Pro Logic over HDMI

[Borg Number One]

Hi,


Dolby Surround and Dolby Pro Logic is normally used in the world of analog audio and it is a technique to encode more than two channels in the (analog) left/right audio signals.
So the first or "normal" AV receivers detect and decode analog Dolby signals over the left/right "RCA connector"/"cinch" inputs.

Well, does anybody know good AV receivers, which can detect and handle Dolby Surround and/or Dolby ProLogic which is in the digital left/right audio signal which comes from a GCvideo device?

Or is it normal nowadays that every AV receiver can detect Dolby Surround / Dolby Pro Logic which is embedded in a plain left/right digital data stream over HDMI?

[Papy.G]

I have searched on the subject lately, and didn't manage to find anything except analog input amps to decode Dolby Surround/Pro Logic sound and digital input amps to decode DDS/DTS...
Some amps can process both, but still, analog formats have to enter in analog form, while digital formats have to enter in the digital form to be processed properly.

Maybe you'll be more successful than me, as I had a specific constraint, I wanted virtual surround in a headset.
I ended up buying a second-hand Sennheiser Lucas that I didn't have the time to test extensively. It's a Dolby Pro Logic (not II, afaik), in my Koss Porta-Pro (leather cushion modded), it provides at least a circular scene around, compared to the linear feeling of regular stereo, but distance is quite hard to feel, and some sounds don't feel consistent in the direction they come from (have to test more games to check if it's game or DSP related.)

I think there were 3.1 and 5.1 PC speakers kits back in the days, it may be a good alternative if just for a GC setup, as you have an analog output anyways. You can still get the analog output off the TV or amp, but you may experience unwanted/unpredictable delay that can ruin the benefits when you add them to the DSP's.