3 ms·

NR is noise reduction. It’s the thing that made Dolby a household name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

NR is noise reduction. It’s the thing that made Dolby a household name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system SNR is signal to noise ratio.

newsclues 4y ago
Wasn't surround sound what made Dolby a household name to the later generation?
- Wistar 4y ago
  Perhaps although I have always associated the name with noise reduction.
- chasil 4y ago
  Dolby B Noise reduction was followed by Dolby C some years later. This was visible in the market first, and very prominent to later users of cassettes in HiFi systems. I still have a deck that implements Dolby B and C, as well as dbx NR. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dbx_(noise_reduction) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dbx_(noise_reduction)
  - listenallyall 4y ago
    I remember paying a lot of money for a tape deck with Dolby C (B was pretty ubiquitous) and being disappointed, like it flattened the music too much. Dolby C reminded me of the Apple ///, it was over-engineered and simply not better than the enormously popular product preceding it.
    - dylan604 4y ago
      Lots of high hats were lost in the Dolby NR schemes, especially if you had it enabled on a recording that was not encoded Dolby at all.
- danachow 4y ago
  By the time surround sound was brought about in the 80s, Dolby was already a pretty well recognized brand and the Double D symbol associated with noise reduction on audio cassettes. And it's doubtful whether Dolby would have been around to bring Surround sound to market if it weren't for their success with tape NR. Adults with disposable income introduced to Dolby Surround in the 80s for their home theater were still commonly using audio cassettes (no other recordable medium in the US really took off until CD-Rs - MiniDiscs had a small following, DAT even smaller and DCC failed completely (and probably just as well)) - so it's not even a later generation. However, it wasn't uncommon for a household to have multiple HiFi systems and maybe a Walkman or two - while Dolby Surround and home theater was comparatively less common.
  - newsclues 4y ago
    Sorry later generation of humans. Between cassette and surround sound there wasn’t much brand awareness for people who weren’t around for the era of tapes being popular. As an 80s baby, I had no clue about Dolby tape technology, they are (to me) surround sound as that was becoming a consumer product around when Twister came out.
    - dylan604 4y ago
      That's like saying Apple never created a product before the iPhone, or that MTV never played music videos
    - danachow 4y ago
      Twister the movie? That came out in 1996. You're off by about a decade and a half. Perhaps this is more that 1996 is around the time you were old enough to know/care about these things? Dolby Surround was always a consumer product (in movie theaters the multichannel/surround system was called Dolby Stereo and was released in 1976) and was released in 1982 as a fully analog 3 to 2 channel down-mixing encoding technique. It was commonly used on VHS and Laserdisc releases throughout the 1980s and 90s. The upgraded Dolby Pro Logic system was released a few years later -- and home receivers with this capability like the Pioneer VSX line were pretty popular sellers in late 80s/90s. By the time Twister came out, Dolby Digital 5.1 aka AC-3 (which is still in common use today) was already in consumer laserdisc releases. Rapid uptake of Dolby Digital coincided with adoption of the DVD a few years later, since Laserdiscs were always a more niche/enthusiast/yuppie product (at least outside Japan). If you were born in the 80s, yes, Dolby and it's Double D logo was already a well established and recognizable brand on movie credit rolls and movie posters well before you were born. https://logo-timeline.fandom.com/wiki/Dolby_Stereo https://logo-timeline.fandom.com/wiki/Dolby_Stereo https://alchetron.com/cdn/dolby-stereo-55fcc7c8-8e9c-414b-b9ce-67add76d228-resize-750.jpeg https://alchetron.com/cdn/dolby-stereo-55fcc7c8-8e9c-414b-b9...

newsclues 4y ago

Wasn't surround sound what made Dolby a household name to the later generation?

Wistar 4y ago
Perhaps although I have always associated the name with noise reduction.
chasil 4y ago
Dolby B Noise reduction was followed by Dolby C some years later. This was visible in the market first, and very prominent to later users of cassettes in HiFi systems. I still have a deck that implements Dolby B and C, as well as dbx NR. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_noise-reduction_system https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dbx_(noise_reduction) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dbx_(noise_reduction)
- listenallyall 4y ago
  I remember paying a lot of money for a tape deck with Dolby C (B was pretty ubiquitous) and being disappointed, like it flattened the music too much. Dolby C reminded me of the Apple ///, it was over-engineered and simply not better than the enormously popular product preceding it.
  - dylan604 4y ago
    Lots of high hats were lost in the Dolby NR schemes, especially if you had it enabled on a recording that was not encoded Dolby at all.
danachow 4y ago
By the time surround sound was brought about in the 80s, Dolby was already a pretty well recognized brand and the Double D symbol associated with noise reduction on audio cassettes. And it's doubtful whether Dolby would have been around to bring Surround sound to market if it weren't for their success with tape NR. Adults with disposable income introduced to Dolby Surround in the 80s for their home theater were still commonly using audio cassettes (no other recordable medium in the US really took off until CD-Rs - MiniDiscs had a small following, DAT even smaller and DCC failed completely (and probably just as well)) - so it's not even a later generation. However, it wasn't uncommon for a household to have multiple HiFi systems and maybe a Walkman or two - while Dolby Surround and home theater was comparatively less common.
- newsclues 4y ago
  Sorry later generation of humans. Between cassette and surround sound there wasn’t much brand awareness for people who weren’t around for the era of tapes being popular. As an 80s baby, I had no clue about Dolby tape technology, they are (to me) surround sound as that was becoming a consumer product around when Twister came out.
  - dylan604 4y ago
    That's like saying Apple never created a product before the iPhone, or that MTV never played music videos
  - danachow 4y ago
    Twister the movie? That came out in 1996. You're off by about a decade and a half. Perhaps this is more that 1996 is around the time you were old enough to know/care about these things? Dolby Surround was always a consumer product (in movie theaters the multichannel/surround system was called Dolby Stereo and was released in 1976) and was released in 1982 as a fully analog 3 to 2 channel down-mixing encoding technique. It was commonly used on VHS and Laserdisc releases throughout the 1980s and 90s. The upgraded Dolby Pro Logic system was released a few years later -- and home receivers with this capability like the Pioneer VSX line were pretty popular sellers in late 80s/90s. By the time Twister came out, Dolby Digital 5.1 aka AC-3 (which is still in common use today) was already in consumer laserdisc releases. Rapid uptake of Dolby Digital coincided with adoption of the DVD a few years later, since Laserdiscs were always a more niche/enthusiast/yuppie product (at least outside Japan). If you were born in the 80s, yes, Dolby and it's Double D logo was already a well established and recognizable brand on movie credit rolls and movie posters well before you were born. https://logo-timeline.fandom.com/wiki/Dolby_Stereo https://logo-timeline.fandom.com/wiki/Dolby_Stereo https://alchetron.com/cdn/dolby-stereo-55fcc7c8-8e9c-414b-b9ce-67add76d228-resize-750.jpeg https://alchetron.com/cdn/dolby-stereo-55fcc7c8-8e9c-414b-b9...