The all-too-cleverly named Doremi Cinema has reason to celebrate today after landing a swank licensing agreement with Dolby 3D. The outfit's DCP-2000 JPEG2000 Digital Cinema Server has been "approved as a licensee of Dolby 3D Digital Cinema, giving exhibitors even more options when screening 3D content." As it stands, Doremi's DCP-2000 servers are already installed in over 5,500 screens across the globe, and thanks to its interoperability, it ought to have no qualms with the third-dimension.

You know those four French national channels that decided to recently made the leap to high-def? Yeah, well those four are the first HD terrestrial TV channels to implement Dolby Digital Plus. In fact, both Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby Digital were chosen by those broadcasters for the Television Numerique Terrestre platform, and viewers tuning into TF1 HD, France 2 HD, ARTE HD, Canal+ HD and M6 HD will be able to listen to 5.1-channels of audio so long as they have the requisite decoding equipment. Interestingly enough, the French HD forum specification "requires that by December 2008 HD-ready TVs for sale in France must include Dolby Digital Plus and High Efficiency AAC (HE AAC) audio." Atta way to be proactive, France!

Granted, we've already shown you how to actually take advantage of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD, but if you're looking for a quick and dirty breakdown of what each audio codec means, what it can / can't do and how to wire things up with your current setup, Missing Remote's latest guide is for you. For starters, it hones in on Blu-ray audio format support -- quite relevant given the state of the format war these days -- and it continues on by explaining how to wire things up for superior results with S/PDIF, HDMI, analog, etc. There's even a special section dedicated to HTPC playback, which ought to help you folks not using a pre-fab deck. If you've been spinning your wheels of late in the wide world of multi-channel audio, have a look at the read link and see if things don't clear up.

Dolby's homegrown volume controlling technology has wiggled into a few HDTVs here and there, but now the tech is finally maneuvering into devices that HT amateurs / professionals will end up seeing. At CEDIA, Dolby is announcing that it's Dolby Volume will be featured in the all new Harman Kardon AVR 7550HD and Arcam FMJ AVR600. For those that forgot, Dolby Volume is an approach to "delivering consistent volume levels across a wide variety of content, channel programming, or input sources," giving users fed up with those astonishingly loud MHD Palladia commercials a better, more lawful way to deal. Whole release is after the cut.

Still hanging onto that old Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray player? Your faith has been rewarded now that the 4.20 firmware update adds Dolby TrueHD audio decoding. Support was rumored in past firmware updates, but as of 8/29, it's official, along with BD-Java fixes and BD-/RE BDMV compatibility. Remember when we thought $600 for a player with limited audio support and no Bonus View or BD-Live compatibility was cheap? Oh, how expectations change.

[Thanks, Mick]

As 3D technology takes over theaters in the U.S., cost considerations have kept European theaters from following, but now Dolby Labs is celebrating deals to put its technology in cinemas worldwide. Variety has the details on an agreement for more then 350 screens in Europe, Asia and the Americas, which differs from its main competitor Real D by avoiding the need for a new screen, and opting to sell the system outright instead of collecting royalties from ticket sales. All the same, no matter where you are, expect the opportunity to check out Journey to the Center of the Earth while wearing silly-looking glasses later this summer.

Earlier this month, ASUS introduced the "world's first HDMI 1.3a compliant audio / video enhancement combo card." Who knew numero dos was so close behind? Auzentech has just announced its very own HDMI 1.3-native PCIe audio combo card, which is built around Creative's X-Fi processor and enables PC users to easily output 7.1-channel audio with no downsampling. Essentially, the Auzen X-Fi HomeTheater 7.1 "accepts video from either an internal or external connection, mixes it with digital audio, and outputs the combined video and lossless multichannel audio via a single HDMI 1.3 port." Yep, that means Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio codecs are fully supported. The only digs? For one, pricing remains a mystery, but the real kicker is the September release -- talk about a long wait.

If you'll recall, Dolby Technologies actually introduced its Dolby Volume solution last fall, but now the firm has announced that it'll be a built-in component of several Toshiba HDTVs. The REGZA ZH500 and ZV500 families, which launch in Japan next month, are both set to include the outfit's audio-processing technology, and in case you couldn't tell, it specializes in keeping volume levels consistent regardless of audio source. Finally, a simple method to overcome those blaring commercials -- just buy a new TV!

Don't look now, but we've got yet another reason to talk about 3D. Cine-tal Systems has recently announced that it has conjured up "customized, image processing technology for Dolby Laboratories that facilitates the playback of 3D movies using a Dolby 3D Digital Cinema process while they are in production." Put simply, the technology is designed for use in movie studios for handling "post production operations such as color grading and screenings" on stereoscopic 3D films. Moreover, the system ensures color accuracy so that what's seen in the lab is what's seen in theaters. Is 2008 really shaping up to be the breakout year for 3D, or are we just hallucinating?

[Via AboutProjectors]

Yamaha's no stranger to the quickly-expanding sound bar arena, and its latest looks to be quite the winner. The YSP-600 offers up 62-watts of total power split between two woofers and 16 "beam drivers," Dolby Digital / Pro Logic II support, a pair of HDMI inputs (along with one output) and a "Night Listener Enhancement" mode to keep you involved in the action without getting any nastygrams from your neighbors. Heck, it's even set to receive commands from any remote belonging to a Toshiba REGZA or Panasonic VIERA HDTV. The pain? A stiff £499 ($988) when it arrives next month.

Well, would you take a look at that. Right on cue, Dolby and SIM2 are collaboratively showcasing a 46-inch 1080p display built around the former firm's high dynamic range technology. The HDR-enabled LCD HDTV boasts 1,836 LED-based backlight units (designed / developed by SIM2), a full 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, brightness level greater than 4,000 cd/m2, an "infinite" contrast ratio, 16-bits of luminance and a Xilinx Virtex field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) chipset. Additionally, the prototype employs a design created by Giorgio Revoldini, and while we can't imagine hearing of a release date anytime soon, the two firms aren't wasting any time putting the new set on a world tour to presumably wow onlookers. Hey SED, you taking notes here?

Just a month after Dolby and SRS Labs teamed up to deliver surround sound to mobiles, along comes word that Dolby has finally updated its PC Entertainment Experience program. The initiative was originally launched four years ago, and now, both the second-generation Dolby Home Theater and Sound Room are getting a little TLC. As for the former -- which aims to provide certified HTPCs with "tools to deliver a cinema-style experience in vivid surround sound" -- it's getting Sound Space Expander, a Natural Bass enhancer and Dolby Pro Logic IIx support among other things. The new iteration of Sound Room (which aims to help out in non-surround environments) offers up many of the same technologies mentioned above, save for the 7.1 support and all. Hit up the read link for more, and be on the lookout for those two badges to get stuck to Dolby-approved gear in the near future.

[Via ExtremeTech]

With all these companies honing in on bringing HD capabilities to handsets, we were beginning to wonder when someone would step up and lend a hand on the audio front. Thankfully, both Dolby and SRS Labs have come forward at Mobile World Congress to announce separate enhancements to mobile audio, so we'll touch on the former first. Dolby Mobile, hailed as an "audio processing technology platform that brings rich, vibrant surround sound to music, movies, and television programs on mobile phones and portable media players," is available as we speak on the FOMA SH905i and FOMA SH905iTV in Japan, but will hopefully float out to other handsets in due time. As for SRS Labs, it's boasting its own SRS CS Headphone technology, which reportedly "takes stereo or surround encoded 2-channel audio and processes it using an ultra-low-power Circle Surround decoder to create 5.1 highly accurate channels." Granted, we're still wondering exactly how 5.1 channels make their way though stereo earbuds, but we'd be up for a listen, regardless.

Read - Dolby Mobile
Read - SRS CS Headphone technology

With HD DVD and Blu-ray also came the ultimate audio options in a time when convenience trumps quality in most of the audio world. While SACD and DVD-Audio are all but a bust, audiophiles can turn to HD DVD and Blu-ray for the ultimate audio experience. But even if you aren't an audiophile, it's still worth it to many to take advantage of the master quality audio available on the HD discs that you've already paid for. Unfortunately, it isn't as easy as it used to be, and after realzing how much confusion there was surrounding these next-gen codecs, we decided to try to help clear up the confusion. So if you want to know how to take advantage of everything on the discs you already own, but don't know why Toslink doesn't cut it anymore (and what's so special about about HDMI 1.3), then read on, will ya?

Just when you thought high dynamic range was slipping into the background once more, we've received new information that the technology is not only alive and well behind certain closed doors, but that it will be making its debut relatively soon. Reportedly, SIM2 has teamed up with Dolby to create a prototype display incorporating Dolby's HDR technologies. More specifically, the unit will be an HDR-enabled LCD using Dolby's LED local dimming technology, which should provide "dramatically enhanced contrast." Regrettably, we're not told anything beyond that -- resolution, design, inputs, etc. all remain a mystery -- but you can go on and mark Q1 2008 down as the period in which we should see the first elusive prototype. 'Course, the key word there is "should."