Do I need both 5.1 Surround and Stereo?

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rosede
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Dec 09, 2022 6:51 pm

Do I need both 5.1 Surround and Stereo?

Post by rosede »

Now that I got my 5.1 surround working, I am wondering if I need to capture both 5.1 surround as well as stereo?

The majority of my movies will be watched on my large screen with the surround, but every so often, I will start a movie and the move to another room that doesn't have surround and resume the movie. Those TV's would be stereo. I've been experimenting. One movie I'll capture both, another I'll capture only the 5.1. The one that has only 5.1 sounds just fine, on a 2 channel TV, but before I go and re-rip ALL of my movies, and there are considerable number, I would like to verify.

I just want to make sure that I won't lose any output by just getting the DD 5.1 channels.

Thank you

Daryl
Woodstock
Posts: 10293
Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:21 pm

Re: Do I need both 5.1 Surround and Stereo?

Post by Woodstock »

Technically, stereo is includes in the 5.1 audio. If you have the 5.1 audio track, you already have stereo.

MakeMKV splits them out because not all stereo audio players know this, though... And some people ONLY want stereo, which makes the channel smaller.

If those are not a problem for you, then you can lose the stereo-only track.
rosede
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Dec 09, 2022 6:51 pm

Re: Do I need both 5.1 Surround and Stereo?

Post by rosede »

Great. That answers my question.

Thank you very much.

Daryl
thetoad
Posts: 233
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2016 4:18 am

Re: Do I need both 5.1 Surround and Stereo?

Post by thetoad »

the stereo mix isn't always a subset of the 5.1 mix. the 5.1 mix can be independent.

For older movies they may have been originally mixed at 2.0 and sometime later (recently) for the DVD or bluray release wuld have been upmixed to 5.1. Sometime the 2.0 mix included wont be the original 2.0 mix, but a downmix of the 5.1. If 5.1 was originally included with the movie's release or the stereo track is a downmix of the 5.1, there's little reason to include the stereo track. However, if there was only originally a stereo track and the included stereo track matches that, then there can be reason to include it (if one values archiving the original production's intent for user experience).
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