Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Non-Tech : Image Entertainment (DISK) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Fraser who wrote (188)	9/23/1998 9:31:00 PM
From: William T. Katz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 379

Jim is mostly right. DTS is like Dolby Digital. The latter used to be called Dolby AC-3 but it was too confusing to the consumer to hear Dolby Digital (DD) for theatre and AC-3 for home, so now it's just Dolby Digital for both theatre and home. The difference between DTS and DD is the amount of data allowed for sound. DD is on the film and therefore a great deal of compression is needed to get 6 channels into a limited track space. DTS, on the other hand, does not compromise on the bandwidth dedicated to the audio and so it has higher demands, maybe 4x (not sure) the requirements of DD. Because of this, only DTS-labelled DVD players will be able to handle DTS sound, even if they have digital output. DTS got around bandwidth restrictions by placing audio in a separate CD and only placing a sync signal on the film. So rather than cramming all the audio on a film audio track, the film only tells how to sync video with audio on a separate CD ... so they can jack up the data dedicated to sound and get real high-quality sound in all channels. The added benefit for theatres was the ability to easily change soundtracks so you could have an English film but use a DTS audio for France when playing it in Paris. Jim is incorrect in saying DTS caters to the high end audio buff. THX-certified sound is for the high-end. DD and DTS are for the low and middle-end. Dolby Pro-logic and lower is for the basic systems. I'm looking to equip my apartment with DVD and audio fairly soon. Right now, you can get the Panasonic DVD players that handle both DTS and AC-3 for about $400. They have a variety of A/V receivers that can decode both DTS and DD for under $600 now, and if you look hard, you can find them under $500. After xmas, I bet that most A/V receivers will be DTS and DD when you spend $300 and up. Also, there are DTS audio DVDs, DTS laserdiscs, DTS movie DVDs, etc. There may be some DTS CDs as well but I'm not sure. Look at kencranes.com for the listing of all their DTS offerings. I believe DISK has the exclusive distribution for DTS software (audio, video, etc.) I also know that the next-gen DVD chip from LSI handles both DTS and DD, so DTS is getting supported at the chip level from big players ... (LSI supplies Sony). I agree with Jim, though, that DISK doesn't have to bet on DTS to take off to make lots of money with DVD. It's just icing on the cake.