LaserDisc Audio Guide – Part 3: AC-3 Dolby Digital

Culturedog Sam Hatch has returned with a small series of videos hashing out the convoluted history of the audio portion of LaserDisc history. Analog, digital, mono, stereo, surround, Pro-Logic, AC-3, Dolby Digital, DTS… all those confusing acronyms and output jacks… all will be broken down and explained.

In this third video, Sam powers through the advent of 5.1 surround sound and its transition from the cinemaplexes to home theaters in 1995. The primary focus of this discussion is on AC-3, the audio codec also known as Dolby Digital and the somewhat confusing selection of consumer-grade gear that featured it. Players, decoders and demodulators… oh my!

Strap in and crank it up!

Chapters
0:00 Opening Titles
0:14 Intro / Dolby Surround Recap
0:54 From Cinemas to LaserDiscs
1:30 AC-3 Dolby Digital Overview
2:58 Digital Surround Competitors
3:37 AC-3 Software
3:55 AC-3 Hardware
4:15 Audio Format Wars
4:51 AC-3 Implementation
5:45 AC-3 Compression
6:54 AC-3 LD Engineering
8:49 RF Demodulating/Decoding
10:00 Outboard RF Demodulators
11:47 Collecting AC-3 Discs
12:19 Player Compatibility
15:40 Disc Branding
16:11 Connections
17:31 Usage Experiences
18:40 Wrap-Up

Check out this awesomely comprehensive list of gear featuring AC-3 RF inputs:

Check out the roster of all known AC-3 LaserDiscs on the LaserDisc Database:

Listen to "Culture Dogs" Sunday nights at 8pm EST on WWUH, 91.3 FM in CT. Also streaming live (and then archived via StreamRewind) on:

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Intro music: "Anger Mgmt." by Sever the Drama.

[Riddler]

The first time I heard Dolby Digital 5.1 in a Home Theatre System was in the Spring of 1999 and I was blown away. The movie was Batman Returns and it was the old barebones snapper case DVD edition. It made sense because Batman Returns was the first movie to be released with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. I remember reading that Warner Bros planned to re-release Batman Returns on LaserDisc with Dolby Digital but it was cancelled.

One thing I love about audio on LaserDisc is that the Movie Studios often used the Theatrical Mixes which played with the movies during their theatrical run. Apparently they would not even reoptimize those mixes for a home theatre system so they were identical to what was heard in the Cinema. There were even some LaserDiscs where the Pro Logic mixes were considered to be better than the Dolby Digital mixes.

Even though Dolby Digital on LaserDisc wasn't as convenient as DTS, I agree that it was implanted better. It was very nice that the PCM Stereo/Pro Logic mixes were retained on Dolby Digital LaserDiscs whereas For DTS, PCM Stereo/Pro Logic was completely dropped the DTS mix could be stored in the digital tracks. It was nice that for DVD Dolby Digital was simply plug and play.

[alphabetaxenonzzzcat]

Great video. Dolby Digital 5.1(AC-3) and DTS was one of the things that made Lasrdiscs such a great form of film media for home cinema users in the mid 1990s.

[MrPhenom]

I still appreciate your enthusiasm for sound history! 🍻

[phoreal]

thanks Sam again for another fulfilling walk thru audio evolution episode. I remember dismantling the entertainment center several times long ago to get that "home theater sound" perfecto. Great job.

[LKH_Productions]

Such a great in-depth video! I often quote parts of it when explaining why I still have my laserdisc player setup for (if nothing else) the superior audio mixes... Most people's eyes glaze over until they just sit and experience a mix like the Phantom Menace from the imported Japanese Laserdisc. That's my go to example disc. Thanks for all the great work on your channel man. 🙂🤙💿

[LDFanVa]

Fantastic video. I have no idea why it took me this long to stumble upon your channel. As you can see from my username I am a fan of the format and to me that period in the 1990s was some of the most exciting and memorable. I remember getting the ken cranes catalogs and calling their phone number to find out the upcoming titles. Good times.
AC-3. Yes. It was awesome. My receiver in the late 90s had a built-in demodulator (Harmon Kardon AVR-75). Still might have it stashed in my storage unit. My current LD player is a Pioneer 704 and I also owned a 505 and 104 when I first got started. I always wanted an Elite CLD-97 or 99 but gave up on that years ago.

[The_Husband_of_Jane_Lane]

I'm investing on a Laserdisc Home Theatre room (complete with a Pioneer Laserdisc player, Onkyo AV Receiver certified by THX, 5 Klipsch speakers with a subwoofer). So in order to listen to Dolby Digital sound on Laserdisc (to be frank, I never watched a Laserdisc ever and I never heard 5.1 surround sound on Laserdisc), I need a RF Demodulator for it.

[-kv]

‘95 the year I first got “into” laser, barely affording it as everything was so pricey. I remember renting GoldenEye at Blockbuster, and reading over the AC-3 insert and getting so excited! Still own a DVL-91 today and 150+ lasers. AC-3 and inturn laserdisc, was very short lived as DVD was on the horizon in 1997. But ‘95 for laser fans was an awesome year.

[emmetgram]

Cheers Sam. These series of vids are great!

[theshadowman]

Thanks to my Yamaha demodulator I am enjoying my AC3 discs to the fullest.

[RetroSteamTech]

Another excellent video Sam, very educational. I have two AC-3 RF decoders, both of which I can recommend. The first is my main AV Receiver which is a Denon AVC-A1D an all round superb bit of kit, apart from AC-3 RF it can also handle DTS. The second is a Marantz DP870 which is also a great AC-3 RF Decoder. Cheers, Alan.

[themediapreacher]

Sam in the uk on Pal we never had ac3 at all, there wasn’t enough room on pal discs for this. The first time we had Dolby digital or DTS WAS imported laserdisc or dvd 👍🤗 Only had a pal player and it was the one thing I was missing so bad!

[kingcrimson]

Great video. Your stuff is always very well researched and presented.

I got into LD late, around 2004. I'm only now in 2021 about to dive into LD AC-3. I'm waiting on my demodulator to show up.

I've already enjoyed a couple of DTS discs, but they're so expensive and few that in the long run it's cheaper and better to get a demodulator and AC-3 discs than spend a fortune on each rare DTS release.

[MovieGuy]

Once again, a very informative video on the topic. In regards to third party companies that once provided mod boards, we had Precision LaserDisc in the states as well as their partner that you mentioned (Benedictus; DBA BDE Electronics).

I purchased and installed a number of these boards back in the day but now I’m installing them again with my own scratch built boards since they can’t be found anymore. I think I have about five more players that I still need to modify (including two that will also get an Internal RF Demodulator as well) when I get the chance to do it.

Also, AC3-RF Demodulators are no doubt expensive for what they do. I recommend (as was hinted in the video) to hunt down Dolby Digital processors that incorporate a digital output like the Sony, SDP-EP9ES & SDP-E800 and the Denon, AVD-2000 that can decode AC3-RF and convert it back to normal Dolby Digital and on to a modern day AV Receiver. These can be had for sometimes a lot less than a stand-alone Demodulator and it also has extra input jacks to boot.

[sylvainr.]

Awesome stuff as always. Do you happen to know of a list of players that have AC3 outputs? Thanks and congrats on the great content…so much knowledge!!!

[abcdefg-udcu]

Hello Sam, I'm fairly new to the LD world having just starting my journey a short 4 months ago and I LOVE it! I have learned a lot from your videos.
I have a Pioneer DVL-90 elite plugged into my Onkyo TX-SR444 receiver and all of that is plugged into my TCL 4k UHD. I run the picture through an upscaler and a filter. The picture is compatible with DVD's and some LD's are even better. The sound on the other hand Rocks! One question that I hope you can answer is one I have been chasing for 3 months now and haven't found any info. I have my LD player digital out connected to the digital in on my receiver, I get Dolby, Dolby 5.1 and DTS, when I play the disc the receiver shows the appropriate encoded sound track on its screen. I even have sound from AC-3 discs but I don't have AC-3 RF plugged in and the receiver doesn't display AC-3. Am I getting AC-3 RF sound from the LD players digital output? Or am I still missing an audio channel? When I watch Top Gun with AC-3 it sounds amazing! I can here the jets circle the room. So what am I missing?

[LaurenceChiu]

Interesting video. I just ran into this (Youtube random choice!). I got into AC-3 laserdiscs during its heyday but my player didn't have AC-3 output. So I purchased a kit for my Pioneer CLD503 player that output the AC-3 RF signnal. Then I purchased a Kenwood KR-V990D that has a AC-3 decoder builtin. That was my setup for a while until I replaced the Kenwood with a receiver that could do Dolby TrueHD etc. Then I needed to purchase a separate AC-3 decoder (can't recall the brand now since my LD player and AC-3 decoder have been packed away even though they still work)

[chamberlin]

BTW for the Panasonic fans, the Panasonic LX-H680 is your AC-3 RF huckleberry. Late '95 through 1996.

[bonkbonk]

Your wisdom is appreciated! I just got and restored a Denon la3000 from 1992. I had no idea ac-3 was a thing. Typically I only bother with analog stereo audio connections. That's where I got confused by the right channel being replaced with ac-3. I want to buy some movies like Stargate, BUT the player only has svideo and rca ports... So unless I mod it and buy a demodulator I'm stuck with the basics. My dumb question is, am I correct in assuming that being stuck with listening to mono audio only applies to older players that weren't equipped with digital stereo decoders and relied on the analog tracks? Also do you have any advice for making sure I don't buy any of the discs that had screwy audio synchronization? (Like Stargate did before they released corrected ones.) Thanks!

[allen]

Sam, I just want to say thank you for this great series on LD Audio. I came across your channel just as I'm about to setup an LD I just picked up (DVL-909) and was planning ways to setup my audio and your videos are a great resource. Glad to see I can buy a newer receiver to be able to decode some of these older SS technologies. I was lucky enough to find a Yamaha APD-1 on the Bay to be able to enjoy the AC-3 discs.


Aside from that, do you or anyone else on YT have a recommendation for a modern receiver that has decent analog upscaling conversion features as well as coaxial inputs for digital out? Thank you!