Well, I hope most of you already know that DTS is a method to encode sound and that THX certified is a standard to meet a certain criteria for great sound.

So why am I comparing the two even though you may say it's like comparing apples to oranges?

If THX certification is so different from DTS than why isn't there any movie out there that has both on DVD or spread over several DVDs? It seems to me they are rivals against each other in sound quality and thus, should be compared even though their methods are different.

And many others...

Good call... I think there's some newer AB releases that are both DTS-ES and THX certified.

Is the dts track THX certified though? How many THX stings are in dts? - I only know of one.

Thinking of the two types: dts seems to create a wide soundstage ie makes the sound more 'open' whereas thx was created for pinpoint accuracy making the two mutually exclusive.

DTS and THX are two different things.

On any rate, THX means nothing; DTS means nothing. I have heard many garbage DTS tracks and seen and heard garbage THX DVDs.

Come to think of it, T2:UE was DTS-ES and THX certified.

from dvdanswers.com

Here is a thorough list, but it might be missing one or two titles:

102 Dalmatians
Alien Quadrillogy
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Bad Company
Bad Taste
The Beastmaster
Cape Fear
Cast Away
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Courage Under Fire
The Crow
The Crow: City of Angels
Die Hard (SE)
Die Hard 2 (SE)
Die Hard with a Vengeance (SE)
Dinosaur
The Emperor's New Groove
The Evil Dead Fantasia 2000
From Hell
Highlander (SE)
The Last of the Mohicans
The Man Who Fell to Earth
Maniac
Moulin Rouge
Near Dark
Opera
Pearl Harbor
Pirates of the Caribbean: TCOTBP
Planet of the Apes
Queen: We Will Rock You
Re-Animator
The Recruit
Remember the Titans
The Sixth Sense
Speed
Speed 2
The Stunt Man
Suspiria
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Titan A.E.
Tombstone
Unbreakable
Vigilante
The Watcher in the Woods
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
The X-Files
X-Men



Jello has spoken.

If there's money to be made by slapping a fancy logo on the cover, then you can rest assured we'll get it.

Can't wait to get my hands on all those re-releases of The Honeymooners lost episodes in dts/THX soon.

Edit: spelling correction

When it comes to DVDs, all "THX certified" means is that they did quality control on the disc and approved it. They do that regardless of what is on the disc: video aspect ratios, audio streams, etc... They get hired, they come in and make sure it works, and when it meets their standards, then they say "it looked and sounded good to us." That's it.

DTS, of course, is just the certain kind of audio stream, with it's own compression and decibel rating, etc... The two things have nothing to do with each other, and are not in competition with each other.

The old Highlander DVD was THX certified and we all know how terrible that DVD was so that should tell you how much the THX certification is worth.

I think that the THX certification applies only for the DD soundtrack and not the DTS one...

but I'm not 100% sure of that !

It's a good thing you're not 100% sure of that, because it's 100% wrong.

lol

So what exactly do they certify?

THX is basically a quality control for sound and DTS is a certain type of sound format. You could also say that THX is kinda like a medium for which sound is presented. THX is also a non-competitive company.

Here:

http://www.thx.com/mod/products/dvd.html

I guess I was 100% wrong !

After the original Highlander release, THX (other than with theater certification) meant nothing to me.

Agreed

Can't find anything about dts here


If you are refering to this, it doesn't imply anything.

I know it doesn't say anything about DTS. I simply posted it because there seems to be some confusion about what the THX DVD mastering program does.

I just spent my lunch hour looking for something on there about dts!



Any chance you could tell me why you are so sure about this?
cheers

The THX DVD mastering program is very simply about creating the very best digital master so that it can be used to create the best possible DVD from that source. The process has absolutely nothing to do with the sound formats that are included on the disc or the video bit rates that are used. All the content on the disc is completely up to the production company. All THX does is ensure they have the best quality for what they want to include on the disc.

It is a totally separate issue, but people keep bringing up the case of the first Highlander release. The video quality problems with the disc, was the fault of THX at all. The production company wanted to rush out the release of the disc, but they didn't have a very good film master for THX to work with. THX did they best they could with what they were given. Later on, the newer release looked much better because it was made from a better film master. Now in my opinion, THX should have refused the job and not certified the disc, but that is another issue all together.

Anyway, when I was getting THX certified, I visited their facility and we were shown the basic procedure of the DVD mastering process. In my opinion, they do incredible work, but I won't say that a DVD will look excellent because it is THX certified. There is far to many factors involved and they are just the last step in the process.