DD and DTS on same disc, good or bad ?

[George Bellefontaine]

I have a few titles that have both the DD and DTS tracks and to be honest, I don't find much difference, with the exception of the low end , which seems to have more oomph on DTS. Other discs that are DTS only are exceptional in both the lows and the highs. Does this have something to do with DTS needing more room on the disc so there is less compression ?




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[Andrew Pratt]

Often when both DTS and DD are included on the same disk the DTS is recorded at the lower bit rate. When recorded at lower bit rates there is little diffference between DD and DTS...assuming of course they were mastered from the same mix. If diffierent mix's are used then its entirely up to the mixer not the codec

[John Holmes]

I was of the camp that DTS was better in it's early days to DVD. Now it seems to be so close that in most cases, I truly cannot tell a difference.

Now, besides the point that Andrew makes, I also considered, maybe the level of equipment narrows the what was gap even more...

I know that since DTS has become widely available on the same disc as Dolby Digital, my equipment has gotten a little better too. So, I was not able to use the same pieces to judge what I was hearing before. Then, I could be grasping at straws here. But, no matter what the reason, it seems clear that, the reasons to attempt choosing one over the other has become moot.




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[David Meek]

Andrew,

Is there a list of high- or full-bit rate DTS DVD's? My Panny RX-V80 doesn't have a bit rate meter so I can't judge from anything other than my ears. The DTS Website has a list of DTS DVD's but not the bit rate. . . Purely subjective observation here: DVD's that have DTS but don't have a DD 5.1 soundtrack generally sound cleaner, clearer and have more "impact". I'm guessing that extra room on the disc could equate to a higher bit rate.

- David -

[rlabarge]

I have done over 40 DVD titles that have both a Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS audio track. Every disc in the Naxos Musical Journey series offers both audio formats, and each is encoded at the highest bit rate. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is encoded at 448 Kbps, which is the maximum supported by the DVD-Video spec. The DTS track is encoded at 1,536 Kbps, which is also the maximum supported.

In general DTS tracks sound a bit louder than Dolby Digital tracks, and since the LFE channel on DTS is full bandwidth it can sound fuller than the Dolby Digital version.

In many cases you need a high-end receiver and speakers to hear the difference between a well encoded Dolby Digital 5.1 track and a well encoded DTS track.

DTS, at its best quality setting, takes about three times more space on a DVD disc as a Dolby Digital 5.1 track, also at its best settings. Many of the Hollywood titles that have both DD 5.1 and DTS have encoded the DTS track at 768 Kbps, rather than the max rate of 1,536 Kbps. It is hard to tell the difference between half rate DTS and full rate DTS, but if you have the right equipment you can tell the full rate version is better.




Ralph LaBarge
Managing Partner, Alpha DVD
Author, "DVD Authoring & Production"
rlabarge@alphadvd.com

[Andrew Pratt]

David I've seen a list posted before but I have no idea where or when! I'll see if I can dig up that info though

[Matt Broeska]

it's kind of a long way of finding out bitrates, but www.widescreenreview.com puts bitrates of the audio tracks in their dvd reviews...

[David Meek]

Thanks Matt!