This thread is devolving into pure comedy.
Oddly enough, yes.
Interesting... I'll have to find someone who really knows. S/PDIF will usually transmit 2 channels of 24bit audio at up to 192khz, so if this dolby encoding option can transmit 6 channels at 48k, although admittedly at 16bit (which never seems to make a drastic change in disk space used, therefore surely 24bit can't use up much more bandwidth), why isn't it more widely used in pro audio? If I could bin those bloody optical cable for a couple of XLRs carrying 8 channels, I probably might. Or maybe not. Perhaps that's why they don't. That and the fact I didn't really read anything about it.
S/PDIF is just a digital audio transport specification. It can be used for many different audio streams. S/PDIF can carry uncompressed PCM audio at high bit and sample rates, such as 24bit/192KHz. It can also carry a multitude of compressed, multichannel audio configurations such as:
- Dolby Digital - Standard 5.1 surround. Typically at a lower bitrate (more compressed) than DTS.
- Dolby Digital Plus - This is extension of Dolby Digital supporting 7.1-channel surround sound.
- Dolby TrueHD - A lossless codec supporting up to 8 channels (7.1 surround) at high bit and sample rates.
- DTS - Higher bitrate 5.1 codec.
- DTS-HD - This is an extension of DTS supporting 7.1-channel surround sound.
- DTS-HD Master Audio - A lossles codec supporting up to 8 channels (7.1 surround) at high bit and sample rates.
Edit: And...if you are familiar with the old ADAT Optical spec, that handles 8 channels PCM 16/48k audio on a single connection.