Jamers

OK, I'm here to bitch about the inconsistentcy in the order of Language Tracks. Depending on a number of factors, i.e. DTS, DD, DPL, French, Spanish, Commentary 1, Commmentary 2, the language track from DVD to DVD and from studio to studio doesn't follow an logical order. I personally think the best track should always be Track 1. I have several DTS/DD DVD's where the DTS is Track 2 or 3. Very annoying. And get this, my Die Hard Trilogy 5 star has DTS as Track 2 on DH1 and DTS as Track 1 on DH2&3. Does that make sense? I have a new Sony player but it doesn't know to default to the DTS track when it is something other than Track 1. Heck, I have some older DVD's where Track 1 is DPL and Track 2 in DD5.1. I guess that was before DD5.1 was popular. I guess I should be lucky the French track or the commentary isn't on Track 1. Can't remember which movies at the moment but I do have some you can't change the audio track while the movie is playing. You actually have to go back to the main menu and chose if from the language selection. Those are mostly my older movies though. I guess the DVD authoring tools and techniques are improving somewhat. But for the love of God, just put the best audio on Track 1, i.e. DTS

renaldow

I don't think I've ever seen a DVD that defaults to a DTS track, in fact, more like the opposite. Many DVDs make you confirm you want to play DTS. While HT receivers built now usually have both DTS and DD 5.1, not too long ago DTS was scarcer and many people did not have the ability to play it. If the track defaulted to DTS, they would have a nice silent movie experience. Not fun.

Most consumer products (and other things in life, you'll find out) always default to the lowest common denominator. Keep in mind also that it does not matter what order the audio tracks are on the DVD if the DVD software tells the player which track is the default audio track. It doesn't matter if it's 2 or 3, that's what it's going to play.

D-Ball

If discs were made with DTS as the default track, Block Buster would be getting 50 calls a night from people asking why there is no sound. It would be nice if you could program your player to always select the DTS track when available, but the 5 seconds it takes to select it from the menu isn't much of a problem.

Jamers

I actually have a funny story on this topic. Back in 1999 when I bought my 1st DVD player and DVD (Star Trek - Generation), it defaulted to the Track 1 which was DPL. I just bought a new receiver and speakers to accomodate DD5.1 and couldn't figure out why the receiver wouldn't say DD 5.1. Since I was a total rookie, I had to call Sony customer assistance for help and after 30 mintues we figured it out; quite by accident really.

Robert George

Actually, the latest batch of Superbits from Columbia have been authored to default to DTS audio. As DTS is not one of the required audio formats approved by the DVD Forum, I feel Columbia is wrong to do this.

boe

I'm stoked Columbia did this. I understand why some don't but I'm annoyed when I upgrade to a DTS DVD and then have to tell the DVD player I want to play the better version.

I'm hoping my next DVD player will have the option of playing all DVD's DTS track by default. I don't know if that could be done but it would be nice.

TomOpus

Kinda on-topic rant but one thing that bugs me is when you select "DTS", it takes you to another menu with the "ARE YOU SURE????" message. And to add insult to injury, (sometimes) the DD box is defaulted. Jezuuus....

C'mon! DTS is more prevalant nowadays but they still use this menu on newer discs.

Okay, rant over... thank u

Robert George

What annoys me is that the average DVD buyer still thinks half bitrate DTS is an upgrade.

Josh H

Some DVD players have an option in the menu to play the track with the most channels, which pretty much eliminates this issue.

karnblack

I've read about this, and I would rather take a good DD 5.1 DVD with tons of extras over a half bitrate DTS barebones DVD. I thought they were working on producing full bitrate DTS DVDs. Do any exist?

cultshock

Full bitrate DTS discs have been produced in the past. There is a list of them posted around here somewhere.