Dr Hu

I bought a home theatre kit in a box.....but's whats the difference between Dolby 5.1 and DTS - are they the same?

What does DTS stand for? Dolby Theatre System???? - guessing!

Will a Dolby Digital decoder work with DTS discs

Why are DTS mainly Region 1?

Can I add more than 1 sub to my sub channel - I fancied putting another behind the sofa for added rumble! It has 70w RMS per satellite channel - its loud! - could I add bigger speakers in the future - like Missions or is there not enough power?


Bought U571 in the sale yesterday - the surround is effin superb on that disc! - good woofer test too - the ornamnet I had put on top of it fell off about 5 mins in!

I think I may become addicted! But £50 for a scart - the one in the box gives a cracking picture on RGB scart in- how much difference will a £50 scart make?

Thanks

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

DTS is not the same as 5.1, it's better

There that's exhausted my knowledge of home cinema

Sal

fast bloke

DTS would effectivly be 7.1. Two more centre side speakers than 5.1, but I think you would be hard pushed to tell the difference if you couldn't count the speakers. I think R2 stuff will start coming on DTS format as demand increases.

No idea about bigger speakers

Ian Cook

There isnt enough space on R2 disks to put a DTS soundtrack as well ! All the extra languages they have to put on put paid to that !

dsmith

DTS = Digital Theatre System

An alternative encoding system to Dolby Digital. I *think* its uses more bandwidth and less compression for the effects channel so is considered to be better.

I've no idea why more R1 titles have DTS than R2. Maybe because R2 titles tend to have multiple languages on so have less space for both a DD and a DTS primary soundtrack ?

Deano

Dr Hu

So - a DTS encoded disc will still play OK on a 5.1 system using the 5 channels

fast bloke

yep 5 and the sub will be OK

dsmith

Mosts DTS discs still only have 5.1 channels encoded at the moment but the encoding itself is supposed to be better.

DTS discs will be fine on a 5.1 system if the system has a DTS decoder

Dr Hu

My system does'nt say anything about DTS on it but it is brand new (will it be on anyway?) - will I have a silent movie if I play a DTS encoded disc?

The reason is I am about to buy some DVDs off play247 and want to make sure I am buying the right thing.

Thanks for all the answers so far.

dsmith

If its new and has Dolby Digital 5.1 then I would say unless it was absolute rock bottom of the market then it will have DTS aswell. there should be a DTS logo somewhere.

I cant say for sure on R1 DTS disks - but all the R2 DTS disks (both ) I have a DD soundtrack aswell so certainly wouldn't be without sound at all

If you know the model numbers and mnaufacturer of your kit then it should be reasonably easy to check on-line.....

Dr Hu

durr....soryy should have posted that...

Its a Philips MX1060D Home Cinema Kit.

It was only £350 so an impulse buy!

dsmith

All the references I can find do indeed list only Dolby Digital and not DTS decoding. Looks like you may be out of luck. Just ensure any DTS discs also have Dolby Digtal 5.1 soundtracks aswell and you should be fine.

RB170

DTS is available on certain R2 disks (Gladiator for example), the reason it doesn't appear on more is that it's not as compressed as Dolby Digital (AC3) and so takes up more bandwidth on the disk. This added to the fact that the PAL signal on a R2 disk is not as compressed as the NTSC signal on R1 disks means that compromises have to be made somewhere and invariably you either get a second disk with all the extra's on or only a DD 5.1 sound track

Unless you have a DTS decoder you will not be able to play a DTS soundtrack, most disks come with 5.1 and DTS so you should be able to select either.

Mike

Neil Smalley

RB170 is spot on.

The difference between DTS and 5:1 is about the same as the difference between dolby prologic and DD 5:1 The sound clarity on DTS is stunning.

dsmith

Have to say I haven't seen(heard!) that big a difference between DTS and DD5.1 - Certainly nothing like the quantam leap that is Pro-Logic to DD5.1

Just checked and my only DTS disc is Gladiator - which I have tried with both.

Next DVD will be chipped so hopefully will be able to get more DTS discs to test...

Dr Hu

DSMITH - quote 'and the sub will be ok.'

Do you mean that YES it is ok to have a 2nd sub on the same channel. - can I do this simply by using a phono splitter/doubler cable?

Does this effectively halve my speaker output between the 2 speakers? instead of just to the one or am I being thick......(no comments purlease!)

p.s it is a powered sub (if thus makes a difference)

dsmith

twas Fast Bloke who said that - Not sure about Subs especially not if one is part of a Sub/Satellite package....

RB170

dsmith have you got a sub m8?? the difference between DD5.1 and DTS is, I find, very noticeble when you have a sub. The lower frequency output is amazing compared to DD and to be honest the clarity of individual sounds is improved greatly. (IMHO)

If you haven't got a sub then get one if you've got one then get another but don't run them both on the same channel

Mike

dsmith

Nope - not got a Sub. I get grief from the neighbours without one (line in a semi). Think a Sub might just make things worse . Looking to move into a detached soon so will be able to get a Sub but wont be able to afford one 'cos of the mortgage

Ahhhh the choices of life....

Deano

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Hi Dr Hu,

DTS stands for Digital Theatre Sound. It's a rival format to Dolby Digital, and it uses less compression to achieve a theoretically better sound. In practise, there are those people who can't tell the difference, and there are those that say it's vastly better. It depends on several factors - the quality of the source, the equipment, and your ears. Personally I do prefer to use it when I have the choice, but it's not worth getting stressed about if you want a movie that doesn't have it.

To play DTS discs you need a DVD player and amplifier that can both handle the DTS bitstream. They'll have the DTS logo on if they're compatible.

All DTS discs also have a Dolby Digital soundtrack on, it's a requirement of the DVD standard.

There are variations on both formats (Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES) which support more channels, but they're backwards compatible so they'll still be OK on your 5.1 equipment. I certainly haven't bothered upgrading.

It's anyone's guess as to why there are more R1 DTS discs that R2, but there are technical reasons - European discs do tend to include multiple languages, which take up space on the disc. Also a PAL picture requires 625 lines as opposed to 525 for NTSC, so that uses up more space too. It's a little known fact that DVDs actually store films at 24 or 25 frames/sec, which the player then converts to 50 or 60Hz for playback - so PAL really does require more space despite the lower refresh rate.

If your subs are both powered, and just connect to the LFE channel output (on a phono connector) from your amp, then you can have as many as you like, you just need a splitter cable. Because each sub has its own amplifier, you're not sharing the power between them, just ensuring that they both see the same signal. Multiple subs are generally reckoned to be a Good Thing (tm) provided you have understanding neighbours

If you want to upgrade the speakers then that's OK too, but make sure that the replacements aren't much lower impedance than the ones you have already. Look on the back of them - they should say '8 ohms' or '4 ohms'. This gives a measure of the electrical load they present to the amplifier, lower = harder to drive. If your new speakers are the same or higher impedance, you're in good shape.

If you're happy with the picture as-is, don't spend another £50 on a new SCART cable. Spend it on movies instead.

Andy.

RB170

That's a shame m8 but I know what you mean about choices....

You can pick up a decent sube these days for about £150 not a huge amount and it will do the job. Yamaha do a decent range of budget units.

Mike

Bitten Hero

Sound advice guys. I was getting quite worried with the "DTS is 7.1" bit near the start AFAIK the only 7-channel stuff is either the Yamaha kit which generates 7 channels from Pro-Logic or Dolby Digital (and rarely used these days) or SDDS, which is Sony's answer to dts and DD and rarer than hen's teeth appearing in rocking horse droppings

Richard

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

There are systems that 'officially' support more than the usual 6.1 channels - Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES spring to mind. They work by multiplexing a third (centre) rear channel into the two discrete rears in the same way as Pro-Logic does the front centre. There are 'discrete' versions too, but they've come out since I bought my home cinema kit so I've never investigated them.

Some Yamaha amps do include so-called 'enhanced' versions of Dolby Pro-Logic and Dolby Digital, and do have 7 channels. One day I'll get round to connecting speakers to my 'extra' 2 channels and see what the full system sounds like - but my lounge has quite enough speakers in it already, thank you

Andy.

jsh

I would just like to put you straight on a couple of things. Whilst DTS is slightly less compressed than Dolby Digital, it does not follow that it is always better.

There are good and bad versions of both, and the difference between them really relies on the studio and the encoding onto the disc.

In any case the difference would never be as big as the difference between ProLogic and DD5.1. Take the Superbit version of the Fifth Element, it has both DD and DTS and I have to say that I think the DD version is better.

I have been in the HiFi industry for 14 years and I now work for a manufacturer of equipment and have the opportunity to listen to many different systems and it is really a consistent between the 2 formats. It is really 6 of one and half a dozen of the other

I hope that this helps

Dr Hu

cool - thanks for the responses.

Andy C - yes my powered sub is on the LFE port. So if I get another it also need to be powered - good advice - thank you!.

I was actually toying with the idea of screwing the biggest sub speaker I can find/make inside the sofa to use very low frequency to add rumble & vibration to the sofa! - I have seen this done somewhere in the dim & distant & apparently it was quite novel - must have an amp though hmmmm! Or is this idea just daft?

My satellite speakers are all 8 ohms - they are fairly small, but quite powerful, they each have a 3.5inch speaker & a small piezo tweeter - I'm sure the sound would be richer from some good quality wooden boxed front speakers - am I right in presuming that a lot of the sound comes from the centre channel?

Thanks again guys, there is never any shortage of Home Theatre advice on here!

InvisibleMan

to add to the above, the UK does not have a DTS Authoring house therefore the production is not done here. This is going to change very shortly when sound production is carried out here & all R2 discs will have DTS to follow standards. Extra discs or UK only lanuage discs are on the cards while DVD2 is in testing stages, where each dvd will hold upto 14gb

The idea disc to here the difference together is SEVEN SE
This has EX5.1 & DTS-EX6.1

Chris L

Play the opening battle sequence of Gladiator in DTS and tell me you can't hear the difference over the the 5.1 soundtrack?? Maybe it comes down to the player and your speakers, but on my Sony DAV S800 it is stunning. Really do wish we had more R2 stuff with DTS - think I can do without the 'Latvian with subtitles' soundtrack (or whatever - you know what I mean ) - think I will need to invest in a chip...

Chris

InvisibleMan

erm guess what, reissues inbound...

RB170

Dr Hu

You can run 2 subs on the same channel and no it shouldn't halve the out put but what does happen is that the signal is split from one source to 2 outputs thus halving the signal strength. This is not a good thing and instead of improving the lower freq bass response you will actually degrade it.

You should always get an ACTIVE sub (powered) because you have more control over the way the speaker behaves

Mike

[Edited by RB170 - 2/4/2002 6:01:50 PM]