One for the audiophiles. Just looked at 105 on Freeview and Freesat. Picture quality very similar. On the two current programmes I have looked at audio is way better on freesat. (Neighbours and Home And Away). I will check others later.
Freeview 2.0 Stereo. Freesat 6.1 audio (not a typo there is a rear centre channel in the mix, split between the two rear surrounds on my 5.1 speaker setup). Anyone with suitable AV kit and both options would be interested if you find similar.
I think that you may have asked the same question that I have been recently wondering about. Are you asking if the freesat version is more than just stereo upscaled to surround on freesat?
Luke - 7 minutes ago »
I think that you may have asked the same question that I have been recently wondering about. Are you asking if the freesat version is more than just stereo upscaled to surround on freesat?
Freesat appears to be genuine Dolby Surround. What would be the point of using DSP at source on a stereo source and using valuable bandwidth to create something anyone with a suitable AV receiver could do. Basically the Freeview version appears to downmixed to stereo, presumably due to bandwidth restrictions. On the stat muxed PSB3 Freeview mux using more bits for audio on channel 5 would impinge on picture quality on the other channels in the mux.
grahamlthompson - 19 minutes ago »
What would be the point of using DSP at source on a stereo source and using valuable bandwidth to create something anyone with a suitable AV receiver could do.
The point would be that Sky could say that all HD material is broadcast in surround.
But to get back to your reason for starting the thread ...
I didn't understand what you are asking. You are asking for a comparison of the two for those who are aware that they can hear the difference. So if you are saying that freesat is proper surround then what are asking?
Luke - 15 hours ago »
grahamlthompson - 19 minutes ago »
What would be the point of using DSP at source on a stereo source and using valuable bandwidth to create something anyone with a suitable AV receiver could do.The point would be that Sky could say that all HD material is broadcast in surround.
But to get back to your reason for starting the thread ...
I didn't understand what you are asking. You are asking for a comparison of the two for those who are aware that they can hear the difference. So if you are saying that freesat is proper surround then what are asking?
Not sure what Sky has to do with Channel 5 ? Basically so far all content I have checked is flagged on satellite as multichannel dolby surround, the same programme content is flagged on Freeview as Dolby 2.0.
Why is this, at least some of the content on satellite does appear to be true DS ? Are they in error flagging all content on satellite as 6.1 ?
Sky do not broadcast channel 5 HD or many other channels either. They only broadcast there own channels.
Here is the audio details for Channel 5 HD as broadcast on Freesat
http://www.dolby.com/us/en/technologies/dolby-digital-ex.html
I might wire a rear speaker as a experiment.
Channel-5-HD-Freesat-Audio.jpg (167.6 KB, 4 downloads) 8 years old My Denon also indicates 6.1 ,hope it is genuine as my setup is 6.1 due to a poorly shaped room.
Bitterman - 3 minutes ago »
My Denon also indicates 6.1 ,hope it is genuine as my setup is 6.1 due to a poorly shaped room.
I think the EX is genuine, less convinced on all programmes actually being 6.1. Waiting for something like a movie that might actually demonstrate all channels. With 6.1 speakers you are in a better position to find out 
Do you have Freeview-HD to compare ?
grahamlthompson - 1 day ago »
Luke - 7 minutes ago »
I think that you may have asked the same question that I have been recently wondering about. Are you asking if the freesat version is more than just stereo upscaled to surround on freesat?Freesat appears to be genuine Dolby Surround. What would be the point of using DSP at source on a stereo source and using valuable bandwidth to create something anyone with a suitable AV receiver could do. Basically the Freeview version appears to downmixed to stereo, presumably due to bandwidth restrictions. On the stat muxed PSB3 Freeview mux using more bits for audio on channel 5 would impinge on picture quality on the other channels in the mux.
I think you'll find that both the programs mentioned in the first post are recorded in stereo, so it isn't genuine Dolby Surround. From this I'm presuming some films maybe broadcast in genuine 5.1 (possibly upscaled to 6.1, possibly genuine 6.1 or from a 7.1 source) and many others will be upscaled from stereo which is just going to be highly annoying.
Nice to finally have 5HD
Finally watched a Film to compare, the Sound on Freesat comes across as 6.1 and is clearer and better defined than on Freeview transmitted on Dolby 2 channel. I almost always have the amp converting to 6 channels so the comparison was equal.
Never thought of buying a Satellite PVR, wish I had as I found the PQ very difficult to separate, possibly prefering the Satellite 1080i over the Freeview 1080p.
I changed the FVP4000 to 1080i output as a test and I could then see a definite lack of quality compared to Freeview 1080p and Satellite 1080i.(guess that is some internal processing of the FVP)
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