Dolby 5.1 Gets Vista Boost

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 1/30/2007 7:06:00 AM

San Francisco – The Ultimate and Home Premium editions of the Microsoft Windows Vista OS integrate Dolby Digital technologies for DVD movie and digital TV playback and give people the ability to create Dolby Digital soundtracks, Dolby announced.

Windows Vista is the first Microsoft OS to integrate Dolby Digital technologies, a spokesman said. With previous Microsoft operating systems, including XP, consumers who wanted to decode or encode Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks had to add a third-party application, such as DVD playback software from Intervideo and Cyberlink or DVD creation software from Nero, he said.

Mac OS 10 also includes support for Dolby Digital 5.1 decoding.

With included Dolby Digital 5.1 decoding, the Ultimate and Home Premium editions allow the playback of Dolby Digital content from DVD movies to digital television broadcasts. They also give people the ability to create DVDs with a Dolby Digital soundtrack when burning home movie DVDs, making their home movies fully compatible with millions of Dolby Digital enabled products sold worldwide.

For quality control, Dolby is working with the suppliers of audio codecs and PC makers to ensure full support for Dolby in Vista, the company said.