Calling DTS...where are you??? [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

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PeruvianSkies
09-02-2007, 06:05 PM
With the recent HD format flare up still taking place it would seem that basic DVD sales are still holding steady, although there are still many titles still not available on DVD. There are however multiple editions of many films out there, but one thing that bothers me more than anything right now is the lack of DTS....

More and more regular DVD are not featuring DTS than ever before, which wasn't that high to begin with. Companies like Warner still do not really embrace DTS and same goes for a few others companies. Even Fox has backed off with DTS and since Columbia Tristar is no longer doing Superbit titles we are getting less DTS from them as well. Disney is here and there with DTS, as is Dreamworks etc.

Now if the HD formats were doing DTS as a standard audio format this would explain things a bit more, but even then we aren't getting that many HD titles in DTS, at least not as many as we should.

So what is going on with support for DTS? I haven't seen a DVD-Audio release in months that has DTS either, but then again that format is receding more and more in the advent of things.

Rich-n-Texas
09-03-2007, 06:24 AM
I just did a mini side-by-side of Oppo's latest offering of the 980 next to the previously released 981, and besides no Faroudja chip, it also doesn't offer DTS playback. Is this move related to it's $60.00 cheaper price point, or PS's observations? I like the DTS format better than DD, so this would be a disappointment for me if DTS went away.

westcott
09-03-2007, 07:30 AM
With the recent HD format flare up still taking place it would seem that basic DVD sales are still holding steady, although there are still many titles still not available on DVD. There are however multiple editions of many films out there, but one thing that bothers me more than anything right now is the lack of DTS....

More and more regular DVD are not featuring DTS than ever before, which wasn't that high to begin with. Companies like Warner still do not really embrace DTS and same goes for a few others companies. Even Fox has backed off with DTS and since Columbia Tristar is no longer doing Superbit titles we are getting less DTS from them as well. Disney is here and there with DTS, as is Dreamworks etc.

Now if the HD formats were doing DTS as a standard audio format this would explain things a bit more, but even then we aren't getting that many HD titles in DTS, at least not as many as we should.

So what is going on with support for DTS? I haven't seen a DVD-Audio release in months that has DTS either, but then again that format is receding more and more in the advent of things.

I am afraid it is the same old story. Us audiophiles are in the minority. DTS addresses a small number of people and its cost to ROI is marginal. Most people would not even be able to tell you the differences between the two.

It seems it is taking forever for mfgs to embrace HD audio formats, as well. I am wondering if we will ever get an all digital connection for HD audio and video. The format war between HD DVD and BR is not helping things either. The continued insistance of the studios to take sides has pushed the entire timeline for most astute buyers into next year or beyond, as well.

If you think like an accountant, it is not hard to understand. I think it is penny wise and pound foolish but what do I know. I am just one of those 0.5% like you of all the audio listeners out there that can actually appreciate the suttle differences these technologies provide.

anamorphic96
09-03-2007, 09:56 AM
I just did a mini side-by-side of Oppo's latest offering of the 980 next to the previously released 981, and besides no Faroudja chip, it also doesn't offer DTS playback. Is this move related to it's $60.00 cheaper price point, or PS's observations? I like the DTS format better than DD, so this would be a disappointment for me if DTS went away.

According to the OPPO website it does offer DTS playback. Thats kinda strange. Are your settings correct ?

PeruvianSkies
09-05-2007, 09:51 PM
I am afraid it is the same old story. Us audiophiles are in the minority. DTS addresses a small number of people and its cost to ROI is marginal. Most people would not even be able to tell you the differences between the two.

It seems it is taking forever for mfgs to embrace HD audio formats, as well. I am wondering if we will ever get an all digital connection for HD audio and video. The format war between HD DVD and BR is not helping things either. The continued insistance of the studios to take sides has pushed the entire timeline for most astute buyers into next year or beyond, as well.

If you think like an accountant, it is not hard to understand. I think it is penny wise and pound foolish but what do I know. I am just one of those 0.5% like you of all the audio listeners out there that can actually appreciate the suttle differences these technologies provide.

Yes, but no. I can understand this to a point, but here is what is frustrating to no end...what about outside the US? For example....why does Disney release THE LION KING of FINDING NEMO in DTS outside the US?? So, the audio track is already available and all they need to do is slap it onto the US disc. It's a no-brainer. It would be one thing if they weren't doing it anywhere else, but the US gets ripped off, and this is just a small sample of the films that fall into this category. This is also the biggest reason why I bought a all-region DVD player and started getting DVD's from all over the world, plus often times the non-US stuff gets better bonus features, better packaging, more limited editions, and other cool stuff.

Rich-n-Texas
09-06-2007, 05:03 AM
According to the OPPO website it does offer DTS playback. Thats kinda strange. Are your settings correct ?
I don't own an Oppo yet. I'll look again but I didn't see anything that said the 980 had DTS capability.

westcott
09-06-2007, 03:24 PM
Yes, but no. I can understand this to a point, but here is what is frustrating to no end...what about outside the US? For example....why does Disney release THE LION KING of FINDING NEMO in DTS outside the US?? So, the audio track is already available and all they need to do is slap it onto the US disc. It's a no-brainer. It would be one thing if they weren't doing it anywhere else, but the US gets ripped off, and this is just a small sample of the films that fall into this category. This is also the biggest reason why I bought a all-region DVD player and started getting DVD's from all over the world, plus often times the non-US stuff gets better bonus features, better packaging, more limited editions, and other cool stuff.

I'm cheap. I buy very few DVDs. I am happy to rent them via NetFlix and so across the pond DVDs are not really an option in our house.

Woochifer
09-07-2007, 05:02 PM
So long as DTS remains strictly an optional audio format, its inclusion on DVDs will remain a spotty proposition at best. That's how it has always been, and likely how it will remain. If a DVD includes DTS, it must also carry either a DD or PCM soundtrack, and aside from the shorter length music DVDs, few titles out can spare the disc space to carry both DTS and PCM. For studios such as Sony, Warner, Paramount, or Disney, it's no surprise that they would only sporatically support DTS. I don't think their release patterns have changed much. But, to me the biggest shock has been Universal, which early on was the biggest proponent of DTS, going as far as releasing multiple DVD versions and including the full 1.5k bitrate soundtracks. Their recent step back from DTS is surprising considering that they were one of the original investors in the company (I don't know whether they still retain an ownership stake in DTS, which might better clarify things).

As far as the HD formats go, DTS-HD is kind of redundant, given that it has no inherent advantage over multichannel PCM or TrueHD (unless you count Dolby's continued inclusion of dialog normalization). Where DTS-HD does provide benefit over the other formats is its backwards scalability, and ability to output a "core" 1.5k DTS through a normal digital audio output. (On Blu-ray though, even regular DD gets an upgrade, because it can output the Dolby Digital at full 640k resolution rather than the 448k limit on DVDs)

PCM and TrueHD both require outputing through either a HDMI connection or the multichannel analog outputs, and both still require a separate lossy track for backwards compatibility with existing receivers/processors. Multichannel analog has its own set of issues because receivers/processors typically come with much better bass management and setup options. On the plus side, it seems that Fox's upcoming Blu-ray releases have adopted DTS-HD as the lossless format of choice, and that's good news for people who don't own a HDMI receiver.

Woochifer
09-07-2007, 05:08 PM
I just did a mini side-by-side of Oppo's latest offering of the 980 next to the previously released 981, and besides no Faroudja chip, it also doesn't offer DTS playback. Is this move related to it's $60.00 cheaper price point, or PS's observations? I like the DTS format better than DD, so this would be a disappointment for me if DTS went away.

Why would the internal DTS decoding matter? In my experience, the setup options and bass management on DVD players with multichannel audio outputs suck. Most of the time, it's much preferable to output the DTS bitstream to a receiver/processor, and let that unit handle the decoding, bass management, and DSP processing. It's pretty much impossible nowadays to find a HT receiver that doesn't decode DTS.