dts question

01-01-08: Mitch4t
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....er, um,...you guys should look at the date of the original post...the thread was originally posted more than four years ago in 2003.

Ha ha! Good one.

Nevermind.

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....er, um,...you guys should look at the date of the original post...the thread was originally posted more than four years ago in 2003. I'm sure the Tigerman has gotten his act together by now. Four years is a lifetime ago in audio/video.
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Tiggerpooh...even a basic $40 dvd player should decode DTS. Are you sure you don't already have the ability to do this?

Oh my, check out the bass in War of the Worlds DTS track!

We listened to the "Days of Future Passed" Moody Blues DTS last night. The surround sound was surprisingly effective. The quality of the recordings varied considerably from track to track, but boy do I love those long vamps in Tuesday Afternoon. My Sony 9100ES automatically picked up the DTS audio; all I needed to do was switch the pre/pro from stereo to surround. I'll certainly look for more DTS audio. Neat stuff.

db

I am thinking of upgrading my system by incorporating a dts decoder. I already have a dolby digital decoder though. Does anyone know the difference and know if it is worth getting into. Is there a noticable differnece betweene dts and dolby digital. And if there is a difference, is it small or large.

Damn, boy, how old is your pre/pro? And if IT can't process DTS, can't your DVD player process it? And if it can, does your pre/pro have 5.1 analog inputs? No? Damn, that's old.

I'm not dissing your gear; hell, I'm running my surround rig on a shoestring too cuz I can't work due to health problems.

Since this is a high end audio forum, I'll just have to jump in here and say that on average, the difference between DD 5.1 and DTS is HUGE. How huge? When a DTS soundtrack came on a few years ago my disinterested wife noticed and commented on it immediately. And at the time, I was deaf in one ear with an infection and even I could tell. I have a 7-speaker surround system powered by 1100 watts plus 200 watt subwoofer. This type of dynamic range will dramatically expose the difference between run-of-the-mill DD and DTS. With a 100 wpc AV receiver, you might not notice so much.

As others in this thread have mentioned, DD has gotten better, but here's the thing: If a DVD has a DTS soundtrack, you can take it to the bank that it's excellent. If they bothered to do the soundtrack in DTS, it's pre-HD DVD state-of-the-art. In the past few years, there have been better DD soundtracks, and some of them are THX DD, such as the Indiana Jones movies.

But what I've found is that while DD THX soundtracks are about as good as it gets in DD, the DTS ones are just that much better -- sharper with faster leading transients, bigger dynamic swings, better seamless soundfield, better everything.

If you are a fan of DVD concert videos, you've GOT to get DTS capability; most of the best concert vids I have include DTS surround, and this includes Alison Kraus and Union Station and Brian Wilson's Smile.

If you want to stay behind the technology curve, fine; you can save A LOT of money and get very satisfying sound performance. If you don't have DTS now, you can upgrade with either a pre/pro that decodes DTS or at least has 5.1 analog inputs, and a DVD player with internal DTS processor. I have both in an Oppo DV-980H (internal DTS decoding and 7.1 analog output0 and my pre/pro (Boston Acoustics AVP7), which can either pass on the Oppo's decoding with 7.1 analog input or via coax or toslink digital.

It's probably cheapest to get the Oppo plus a pre/pro that has 5.1 analog inputs, though at this point, a pre/pro with DTS should be easy and cheap to find.

And while we're nominating DTS soundtracks, let me weigh in in favor of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which has full digital discrete 6.1 DTS-ES at the source on the disk. The gold standard in std-def DVD soundtracks.

Fifth Element is incredible in Superbit DTS

You don't see many movies in DTS anymore because there is no room on the disc for the mpeg2 format dts uses.
"DTS uses a higher bit rate (or less lossy compression) for potentially better sonic performance and increased channel separation."

Superbit still uses DTS by getting rid of extras on dvd
Columbia tristar, a Sony Company, came up with Superbit dvd format, DD 5.1 or DTS.
If you get a chance check out a superbit dvd, you won't be disappointed,
The Dvd is thicker build, better video and audio.
http://www.timefordvd.com/feature/Superbit.shtml

"On October 9, 2001, Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment released a new series of DVDs that promises the best in picture and sound quality, dubbed as the Superbit™ DVD series. These are DVDs that devote the entire data capacity to accommodate higher video bit rates and two surround sound options, the highly regarded DTS 5.1 and de facto standard Dolby Digital 5.1. By omitting bonus materials, running audio commentaries, other audio (Dolby Digital 2.0) and language (e.g., French or Spanish) soundtracks, extra data capacity is freed up for the higher video bit rate, DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound tracks"

Dts old technology?
mpeg2 format is evolving to mpeg4,
toshibas got a new hd dvd recorder, available only in Japan right now, 300GB harddrive burns standard dvd to hd, mpeg4, upconverts to 1080p.

I don't know what is going on but lately (in the past year) I have only seen one or two new movies with DTS encoding). Before this there were a lot more movies available with DTS. Does anybody know why this is? I agree that the sound in most cases is somewhat superior to DD.

For music dts is best. For movies I think it's a toss-up, though some would disagree. Clearly, though for music dts is best. Furthermore with dts Surcode you can take multi-channel music and encode it to dts, sending whichever channels you want to whichever destination you want.

We took 4-ch material recorded on analog tape in the 1970s-90s and put them on dts using four of its 6 channels.

I couldn't agree more with Glen on his "Diana Krall
in Paris". It is spellbinding.
Now off to Netflix, and find out what all this talk
about "Attact of the Clones" is about. Thanks guys.

I can't imagine attack of the clones in DTS since George Lucas's DD-THX format competes with DTS.

Apology excepted Brainwater, I'm still going to check out the haunting again :^)

Another great DTS is Diana Krall in Paris

What I find to be the biggest difference between DTS and DD, is that the sound is more enveloping in DTS. Sometimes I could swear that there are speakers all around me, and not just in the front and back. I am still only using a 5.1 setup. It does seem that Dolby Digital has gotten better though.
My picks for best DTS movies would probably be:
Twister
Lost World (Jurasic Park)

Either way, i think Attack of the clones has about the best sound of any movie out there.

Ahh check that, it is not.

Galvatron, not sure what copy of Attack of the clones you have, but im looking at mine right now, and it is in DTS.

Attack of the Clones is not on dts. Titan A.E has a great dts soundtrack.

Glen , I just went back and watched 40 minutes of Final D 11 and I was mistaken. I watched it in DD this past weekend. The DTS version is incredible. My apologies dude.

I'll have to rent the haunting again this weekend. I'll admit the first time I saw it I wasn't running two sub-woofers in my system, I may have missed the deeper message:^)

As far as attack of the clones go, I blew a tweeter in my center channel during the pod racing scene. That's back when I was running three hundred watts a channel x 5.(nuf said)

Slappy may be correct. I forgot about Clones. Saw Final Destination 2 this weekend and we will have to agree to disagree . There is a couple of scenes in The Haunting that assuming your system is capable; will blow your mind. I stand by this selection as the most intense dts disc available. At least for a few select scenes.

I think the best DTS disc is Attack of the Clones.

When it comes to ambient and in-your-face sound effects nothing quite beats a well engineered SCI FI flick.

Final destination sounds pretty good too. I managed to see that on my HT rig before i lost it.

once i get my HT back up i think i will have to go rent the Haunting.

I disagree with brainwater the ultimate DTS disc is Final Destination-II.

Yes, DTS is the bomb if you've got a fairly good system to start with. In a mediocre system it may not be noticable at all.

Personally I think I'd wait till your upgrading your preamp to worry about it. Make sure your DVD player has it too or "No Joy"

There are DTS music disc's also, I have a few and they sound pretty good.

Dave

The differences are more subtle than in the past. DD has improved but dts is still superior with the noticable difference being somewhat deeper , tighter bass. The midrange is slightly cleaner but not dramatically so . However dts IS superior so if your system is capable of the extended bass response and the systems resolution is good then do it. Especially if you are a theatre nut , ......like me. The definitive dts movie is The Haunting by the way.

Small difference.

DTS does sound a little bit sharper, but the difference is not exactly jaw-dropping.
I personally favor DTS, but im more than happy with DD