Xbox Dolby Digital

[HaHaUK]

when playing games in dolby digital, does it only work using the optical cable, or can you use the analogue phono cables?

[beecee]

optical only......phono will give you pro-logic

[HaHaUK]

so theres no way of getting xbox games to play in surround sound by using phono cables?

[charlesr]

phono cables give you surround if you press pro-logic or pro-logicII on your amp.

[HaHaUK]

how much worse is PL2 than dolby digital?

[charlesr]

If the game is encoded in PLII then it's of a similar quality to DD and doesn't suffer from lag. Not that normal humans can notice DD lag on the Xbox. I don't know if any Xbox games are encoded in PLII though. Lots of GC games are and it sounds superb.

[charlesr]

However in an attempt to answer your question a bit more usefully, I've tried xbox games using the PLII mode on my amp and it sounds ok. Not as good as DD but that's due to the games not being encoded in PLII.

[HaHaUK]

yeah, both ps2 and gc games mainly use pl2 and i think xbox games only support dolby digital iirc.

[Yoshimoto]

I've never been too impressed with PLII until i played Resident Evil 4. Amazing sound mix on that game.

Its not all about crashes, bangs and stuff swooping overhead. A subtle but enveloping sound field is infinitely more impressive imo.