Where is DTS?
 

Why all of a sudden is there such a lack of DTS tracks on newer movies? Shrek 2 lacks one, but one was included on Shrek. Shark Tale does not have one and neither does Ray. The Village has one in Region 3 as do many other titles. Is it a licensing fee that's too expensive to pay here? It's odd they put DTS on older titles that were originally only dolby 2.0 (new line is doing this) but not on something new. Only Spielberg movies seem to be guaranteed dts.

I never understood the hype about DTS. The Acronym stands for Digital Theater System. It's a system for movies shown in theaters that have audio on a CD, hnces the "digital" in the name. How does this translate to DVD? The disc itself is digital. Isn't it therefore a misnomer or a redundency to even describe any sound on a DVD as DTS? Some even consider other sound formats better than DTS.

People aren't really after the 'DTS' name, just a higher audio bit-rate.

Hey, the room for all those extra trailers (forced and not) have to come from somewhere.

On the other hand, the last two movies I rented (I, Robot and Bourne Identity) included what was LABELED as DTS 5.1 but REALLY was DTS 6.1 which my receiver could not play. :(

Spielberg has a large investment in DTS, if I remember correctly.

I watched Collateral over the weekend. It had DTS. :up:

DTS is the name of a company. That company (among other things it does)created and licenses a multichannel encoding system for home video media that it promotes as being superior to Dolby Digital, for a variety of reasons. Many people agree that it is indeed superior. The "hype" about DTS is from people who want this purportedly superior sound to be included on DVD, as it is on many.

RichC

My suspicion is that, while the cost of creating and possibly licensing a DTS track may have something to do with it, it's just as much a bandwidth issue.

When designing a release, the question is asked: what will sell more DVDs? A DTS track or a gag reel? A DTS track or some more deleted scenes? A DTS track or a special-effects featurette?

More often than not, particularly if they go with a one-disc package, the DTS track gets squeezed out.

That's the feeling I get, anyway.

RichC

I guess my hearing (or my system ;)) just isn't that good because personally I could never really tell the difference between DTS and 5.1. Or if I did I really didn't care enough about it to be cognizant of it -ptth- JMO

The real truth.......the whole truth is, region one has too many different languages that the studios wanna cater too.
Obviously we'll get a English Dolby track, it's mandatory.
Then you gotta add a French track for the Canadians and/or a Spanish track for the growing hispanic population and out the window goes the DTS track a lot of us want. There just isn't enough room left for it.

I said to hell with it a long time ago and have been enjoying a region free DTS lifestyle ever since. -smile-

of the major studios FOX seems like the only one committed to the DTS audio option, strangely Universal and Dreamworks are lacking.

On the current DVD spec, DTS is optional on discs. Also it is not mandatory in equipment, thus there are a few lower end players and receivers that can't do DTS. For next-gen Blu-ray and HD-DVD, DTS technology is mandatory on all equipment so hopefully we'll see some more discs out there with DTS audio.
DTS also takes up more space on the disc so some studios prefer to put in that one extra documentary and such.
Spielberg was one of the original investors for DTS so that's why we see a lot of DTS tracks on his movies.

rfduncan mentioned:
"On the other hand, the last two movies I rented (I, Robot and Bourne Identity) included what was LABELED as DTS 5.1 but REALLY was DTS 6.1 which my receiver could not play."
DTS tracks are backwards compatible. So in this case, I believe the information for the surround back speaker will be mixed in with the surround right and surround left so we don't lose any information.
BTW-if you haven't figured out already, I'm a big fan of DTS and search out a DTS track when I can. There's a never ending Dolby vs. DTS debate that really comes down to personal preference after awhile.
_______________

Just to clarify your point (I think), a DTS decoder will be mandatory in the HARDWARE (players) not the SOFTWARE (discs). While I hope there are more DTS tracks in the next gen format, it wouldn't surprise me if there weren't.

On the other hand, the last two movies I rented (I, Robot and Bourne Identity) included what was LABELED as DTS 5.1 but REALLY was DTS 6.1 which my receiver could not play.



Should of played fine, as they are backwards compatible

I hope HD/Blu-ray DVDs have more DTS tracks as well.
I think its mandatory that 6.1 be backwards compatible isn't it? I have several DTS 6.1 discs but only a 5.1 reciever and they play fine. As far as superiority, it is personal preference, but after comparing LOTR DD vs DTS I found a major difference in sound, especially the LFE. DTS sounded MUCH better on my system. As mentioned though, some systems you may not be able to hear the difference.

I dunno - my DTS works fine on older titles (like Saving Private Ryan) but did NOT work with those two newer titles. My player ID'ed the audio track as DTS 6 but nothing came out of the speakers.

Oh, come on. You know that pretty red logo just makes it sound better.

What were the titles, and what is your equipment? As has been said, DTS is backwards compatible, so with a 6.1 track, the sixth track (rear center) will be split to the left and right rear channels. It sounds like there is a problem with your equipment somewhere.

The company, Digital Theater Systems, existed years before DVD was invented. I doubt they were interested in renaming the company to make it less redundant, especially since DTS was already a name familiar with many filmgoers.

Besides the word "digital" being redundant, I guess DTS would also a misnomer because the T stands for theater, and you're at home, not in a movie theater. But that's a whole other can of worms.

It's like the old joke, "Why do we drive on the parkway and park in the driveway?" Really, who gives a shit what DTS stands for?

That's interesting because I can almost ALWAYS tell the difference - and DTS almost always sounds worlds better than 5.1.

Happy to see this hasn't turned into a sound format war ... yet ...

Can't really offer any reasons why reg.1 releases do not contain DTS tracks as an option. There could very well be many. What is frustrating, regardless of quality over or under Dolby Digital is simply, the option of not having it.

Even with lower tier releases overseas, there is a much, much greater percentage of DVDs with DTS and DD tracks as a standard. This is especially true for Korean (reg.3) and Japanese (reg.2) releases. Blockbuster releases from these areas will always contain a DTS track. In some cases the DD track sounds better, in other cases it's DTS that wins out. Either way, it's all about having this option available. Video quality may suffer while sharing space with two available soundtracks, but it's not as big of a concern for me since the largest screen I'll probably ever own won't be larger than 50". It's all about the sound ..

So, to answer your question, all the DTS tracks went overseas ..

When the DTS option sound better than everything else 9 times out of 10... it ceases to be 'hype'. :)

Seriously, I have no vested interest in any particular company/format/name. But on my system at least, the DTS option is better basically every single time.

Fixed. :)

Er...no. No matter what the acronym stands for, it also the name of a audio codec (or a family of audio codecs, anyway). There would be no other way to accurately describe the codec being used than to call it a DTS track.

This would be like complaining that "VHS" is a misnomer once it is being used outside of a home. :rolleyes:

DJ

"and DTS almost always sounds worlds louder than 5.1."

Yeah, same thing with me, the DTS tracks are usually louder, but better? dunno about that.

I can hear more clarity out of most DTS tracks, but will admit I always seem to have to turn my receiver 4 db's because it's louder.

DTS OWNS !!

it varies among movies but I hear more clarity, detail, spaciousness, low end, high end, etc. Watch Collateral, chapters "Getting Mugged" and "Club Fever" and tell me if you notice a huge difference. could just be my setup and yes I know DTS is encoded louder so I change up the volumes so they match, but damn... its night and day.

I know theres a huge debate over DD vs DTS but anyone whos heard Saving Private Ryan DTS will tell you its much better, may be the exception but it IS better than the DD version.

The DTS track for SPR was pulled from a different (better) master than the Dolby Digital version, hence the reason is sounds worlds better.


btw, I love DTS too.

When I first got my receiver I would select "Digital Theater Sound" but that was until I realized that at the volume I listen to my movies at, it makes no difference. I watch movies to enjoy them, not to blast them to impress my friends. I can't even remember the last time I selected such options and given the choice, I'd buy a standard Dolby 5.1 disc over one containing a "Digital Theater Sound" soundtrack. I used to like it when Universal gave you the option: Twelve Monkeys with a 2 hour documentary or Twelve Monkeys with no features.

First, as has been repeatedly pointed out in this thread, DTS stands for Digital Theater Systems, not Digital Theater Sound.

And sound quality and volume have little to do with each other. You don't have to blast the soundtrack at high volume in order to enjoy it.

If you have any programs that can tell file sizes of audio tracks, DTS is always way larger. I've also noticed that Dolby 2.0 tracks are larger than 5.1. That's my thing with Dolby. It often sounds compressed when you compare it to even the regular stereo version. This happens most often in concerts. The Japanese DTS dvd of Blade has over 1GB for DTS and less than half of that for Dolby 5.1. Some DTS titles seem to be also compressed, but never as much as the dolby track. I have noticed that some D-VHS titles have DTS where the dvds do not. I'd only written initially because I noticed that within the last month, almost no titles have dts except Mr. 3000. Ray should have had one. Hopefully the Japanese dvd will, $50 or not.

Three quick points:

1) Louder vs. better:
The relevance of DTS tracks being mastered at a higher level is that when comparing two otherwise identical tracks, most people will identify the louder one as sounding "better."

2) Size of audio tracks:
The PCM Stereo tracks on concert DVDs *are* uncompressed. That's why they sound better, even though they lack surround and .1 channels. And that's why they continue to be included on the majority of concert DVDs even though they're disappearing from movie discs. [It's important to remember to switch the system to stereo when listening to these, to avoid the stereo signal being decoded by Pro Logic.]

3) Inherent differences:
DTS and DD have different standards for handling center channel and LFE levels during encoding. Some decoders automatically compensate for this (or have menu settings to allow you to choose to) and some don't. This, combined with the loudness issue and the occasional title that use different master sources for DD than for DTS (such as Pvt Ryan) has made objective comparison of DD and DTS very difficult for ordinary individuals.

RichC

...erm... ALL DTS titles ARE compressed - albeit less so than DD...

. . . :o . . .

With regard to DTS often being encoded at a higher volume, I don't doubt that if this is true it will sound "better" to many.

However, sometime ago I measured the volume for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Extended Edition with a sound level meter, and found that the volume appeared to be the same for both DTS and DD. I would guess that Peter Jackson used the same soundtrack for both codecs. So, FOTR:EE might be a good choice for comparing DTS and DD. In my case, I couldn't discern a significant difference. But that might just be my system or my "ear". YMMV.

They aren't encoded at higher volume, it is a function of your receiver's decoding. FOTR DTS is clearly louder than the DD on my system, just like every other DTS/DD DVD. The bass is done differently and is WAAAYY over the top in DD on this disc, that may be swaying your readings. I definitely like the DTS better on FOTR because of this.

Can we please NOT debate this again? For those who clearly have no understanding, like anyone who says, "DTS sounds better than 5.1", go do some research. They are both great systems, DTS probably has more potential, but no one ever attempts to maximize the potential, probably because of disc space and/or because everyone thinks DTS is better already.