Is Warner changing to DTS-HD Master Audio too?

[Rik1138]

Originally Posted by davcole

I'd love it if you could give us a bit more background on it's ease of implementation over TRUEHD.

Have you ever used the Dolby and DTS encoders? For features with multi-angle and seamless branching? If you have, then you really wouldn't need to ask these questions. If you haven't, trying to explain it to you would take too much time...

The biggest single complaint though is simply that the Dolby encoder is Mac only. The _ENTIRE_ workflow of DVD/Blu-Ray production is PC based (with the exception of creating graphics). Video encoding, authoring, QC and mastering are all done on PCs. So, if I want to even think about using Dolby, I have to have an additional computer at my station solely for the purpose of encoding THD audio. A complete waste of time/money/resources... The DTS encoder sits on the same system I use for authoring (in fact, I'm encoding DTS-HD MA audio right now... ). And it's a lot faster at encoding too (granted, that could be partly due to using an older Mac for the Dolby encoder, but it's a complaint I've heard from other facilities as well).

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

I don't care what ANYONE says

And that would be the primary basis for your refusal to try to understand the reality of the sound formats...

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

there are many people who hear a difference when volume matching. It's not just me. I find EVERY DTS HD track more prolific than TRUEHD CRAPS... I mean, tracks!

Again, this is due to a failure in your (and indeed, MOST people's) ability to properly calibrate your sound system. It requires mounting a sound meter in your listening environment and fine-tuning the volume setting of each speaker individually, using each sound format (Dolby, DTS, THD, DTSHDMA, PCM). All the formats are processed a little differently, so they need to be adjusted separately, and usually several times to get them perfect. I'm not even sure if all receivers can have different volume level settings, per speaker, for each different format (probably not). Again, this would be part of the reason people 'think' that one is better than the other. 'I don't care what ANYONE says,' on a properly calibrated system, NO ONE would be able to tell the difference.

Originally Posted by bfellow

They don't. They have different bitrates and sizes. Is a 16-bit TrueHD equivalent to a 24-bit DTS-HD MA?

There's definitely a difference there, but keep in mind that THD is quite capable of 24-bit audio. It just matters what the source is. If you have a 16-bit WAV file as a source file, even the DTS-HD MA will be 16-bit. For Blu-Ray, it should always be 24-bit, but that's not always the case...

Originally Posted by Stephan.klose

Actually there is no audible difference.. Since both are LOSSLESS mixes. It's just that often DTS HD Tracks sound better because the guys over at DTS like to make their tracks a little more aggressive.. Meaning more bass and such

DTS doesn't have anything to do with the film mixes... Audio assets are delivered to the authoring facility directly from the studio, and encoded in either DTS or THD there, whichever they prefer (or the studio tells them to prefer). DTS tracks are encoded at the exact levels of the original WAV files (or master tapes). Hence the term 'Master Audio'. Dolby usually encodes audio with a DB setting 4db lower, but it's a metadata flag, they aren't actually altering the sound files. Thus, at the same volume setting on a factory-default configured system, Dolby will be quieter than DTS (thus my insistence on proper audio calibration of your sound system). This setting can be changed when the audio is encoded, but I think out of fear of everyone having already set up their systems expecting the 4db difference, they don't want to suddenly switch to not using that setting...

Rik