Dolby Digital Plus: Which TV program has it and which Motorola model is DD Plus capable?

StephanieA said:
Hi cannga,

Sometimes are hands are tied by legal obligations. At this point, the technology is possible and we can pass it request to our Video Team for review. Whether or not we can change it is confidential and that information will only be released if there is a future upgrade to the service. Thank you for posting.

Thank you. I hope competition will speed up changes.

cannga said:

Health Edge said:

Im not sure exactly how much control Cox has over On Demand. They run the technical side of it, but what comes on and how is decided by those that own the content. I thought alot of it is controlled by the company "InDemand". Games of Thrones is HBO, so they likly decide what format it gets uploaded. Non original material is probably more complicated, and is a mixture of what the content is available in when HBO gets it into their network, combines with how they give it to Cox, and then how Cox gives it to the customers. Im not really sure where the format is standardized. It's a interesting question.

I think this conversation is parallel with the 1080i vs 1080p discussion. To that end, aren't some EOD 1080p? If so, any chance their audio standards could be different? In the end though, if the content is only being delivered at the lower standard, increasing that standard won't have any real improvement in quality. It would be like recording a tape onto a CD.

I am sure that for Video On Demand (NOT linear channel that's dependent on satellite feed), content creators such as HBO provides full resolution, lossless source (eg Game of Thrones) to distributors (Netflix/Cox). Netflix/Cox then store GOT on their servers and transcode to various video and audio formats (stereo, DD, DD Plus, etc.) for streaming. Each company has a team of engineers that deals with this; one example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQrsz3BrfwU

See Stephanie's response above - it is DOABLE, just not being done. Hopefully competition will speed up changes.

cannga,

Just because the technology is possible, doesn't mean it's doable. Our hands could be tied legally to were we are not able to make changes to the programming once it is given to us. Whether or not it's negotiations or technology, we will not be able to release any information as to any changes at this time. That type of information is confidential and proprietary. The post is a great topic and your request has been sent for review. 

One caveat that has not been discussed is STB compatibility. Among Cisco/SA DVRs, the 8240HDC will not decode DD+. The 8642HDC/8742HDC and 9865HDC will decode DD+. I'm not familiar with the Cisco/SA standard receivers, or with Motorola equipment.

Compatibility aside, perhaps the STB could just be a transport device.  Meaning, the STB would only decrypt  the encoded signal from Cox and pass it to the AVR.  Let the AVR do all the decoding.

If Game of Thrones is encoded with (sigh) DD+, I wouldn't care if my STB could decode the audio.  It's a cheaply-made and reissued component...so just "pass through" the signal.  I'd want my high-end Onkyo AVR to decode, convert and steer the audio and video signals.

Cannga, you're hung up on bit rates.  You want Cox to add more bits but that wouldn't make the audio sound better...it will only make the program bigger in size.  To add more bits means to take more samples.  You want Cox to take more samples of what a network provides.

For example, as AllenP stated, HBO provides a 16-bit/48kHz audio track.  You want Cox to take more samples...what, 96k?...of HBO's audio track.  What will the added samples catch?  There's nothing there for Cox to measure.

It's like me picking up 48 coins in 1 minute.  And then you picking up 48 coins in 30 seconds but you'd be grabbing air for the remaining 30 seconds.  There's only 48 coins.  What's left to grab?  You're asking Cox to take more samples but there's no data between the first and second sample, second and third sample, third and fourth sample, etc of HBO's audio.  Cox can't smooth out and improve HBO's original waveform.  If Cox added more bits, that would only make it louder.

To make your dream come true, HBO would have to take more samples and add more bits per sample while converting the original audio for Game of Thrones.  Then use DD+ to compress and distribute to Cox.  If Cox felt GoT was too big to distribute on their network, they would bulk compress the overall signal and make a mess out of it, such as 2-channel stereo and 480i.  But they wouldn't.

Just a matter of interest, GoT is available streamed on HBOGo, correct.  What audio format, number of channels and bit rate is HBO providing on that platform?

Hello AllenP,

HboGo auto-optimizes the bit rate based off of the speed that the user has. Because of this, we have no way to know the exact bit rate or format they use. 

Allan. - Cox Support Forums Moderator.