THX Surround EX
Lucasfilm technology with a centre
rear channel
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by: Carol Mazur
Just
when you thought that surround sound technology couldn't get
bigger and better, the Dolby Labs/LucasFilm collaboration pulls
the proverbial rabbit out of the hat. The technology ws actually
launched in Australia before the rest of the world and it's
called THX Surround EX, or THX-EX.
Like all THX technology it was developed by Dolby Labs for use in movie theatres. LucasFilm has licensed the technology and adapted it for home use. Before THX-EX was THX Ultra. THX Ultra-certified products are intended for use in dedicated, large home theatre rooms.
THX Surround EX has an extra matrixed rear-centre channel in addition to the standard 5.1-channel home theatre system. This new channel operates when EX-encoded DVDs are played back through a standard DVD player. If a home theatre room is very much larger than the average, the surround sound envelope doesn't always extend to the edges of the seating areas.
With other technologies the surround sound image envelop can 'collapse' on the sides of the room, leaving the viewers sitting off to one side of a large home theatre room outside the surround sound. THX-EX extends the envelope to immerse the whole room in the complete sound track.
THX Surround EX hardware will feature two additional surround outputs, one for the surround back-left speaker, the other for surround back-right. EX movie titles include Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, while Star Wars Episode 1, The Astronaut's Wife and The Haunting were recorded in EX for theatrical release ...and the EX soundtracks will automatically be transferred to disc when DVD versions become available.
EX-recorded movies include Toy Story 2, Bats, Chicken Run, The Fight Club, Minority Report, End of Days, House on Haunted Hill, Spooky House, The Bone Collector and Pitch Black.
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