It was exciting when we first got 5.1 from some of the movies and TV shows that we stream on Netflix, through the PS3. It was even more exciting that it is Dolby Digital plus. But, as it turns out, we are not getting a high bit-rate Dolby Digital plus, like on some early Blu-Ray titles. There have been articles mentioning that the only reason that the 5.1 is in Dolby Digital plus is because it is more efficient encoding that regular Dolby Digital. I'm betting that the audio bit-rate for 5.1 is even lower than what we are used to on DVD. Furthermore, I think that they are stuffing 5.1 into the same bit-rate as the stereo that we had. What results is audio that is overly compressed dynamically that sometimes almost sounds like you have a short in your cable every few minutes. I switch back to stereo and things improve slightly. At this point, the Dolby Digital Plus on Netflix is nothing more that marketing B.S. I always just choose the stereo option instead, since the 5.1 is that bad.
