Is Warner changing to DTS-HD Master Audio too?

[BozQ]

Originally Posted by Rik1138

And this is why I keep stating, over and over and over, that you have to ADJUST YOUR SOUND SYSTEM SEPARATELY FOR DOLBY AND DTS. This is done to compensate for this 4db difference, effectively eliminating the dialnorm affect. Without making these adjustments then, of course, one is going to sound different than the other.

If your system only has one volume that you can adjust, then you will never be equally happy with both formats. Unfortunately, this is probably the case with most consumer level A/V equipment. At the very least, using a calibration disc of some kind, find out what the difference in volume is to make them sound similar. You need the exact same audio encoded in both formats to adjust your system properly. The other problem might be if you are letting your Blu-Ray player decode the streams into PCM and outputting that. Then your receiver has no idea if it's a DTS or THD stream in the first place. In that case, you will have to adjust the volume for each type of stream.

DTS-HD MA and THD _can_ sound exactly the same if you can set up your equipment properly...

But, I do agree that Dolby is only hurting themselves... While it is possible to make them sound the same, it's obvious from this thread that many people haven't (or can't) make the adjustments necessary. Thus, the one format that 'just works' is, naturally, the preferred one (that being DTS).

With DTS being a mandatory format now in Blu-Ray players, maybe it is time to just stop using the -4db/dialnorm setting on Dolby/THD... It's not being done in DTS obviously, and people have a natural tendency to like that sound better... And they already have to deal with the different volume levels from film to film. Time for some tests maybe...

Rik, I have a question about this whole DialNorm issue.

Let me be honest here, I was initially very confused over DialNorm at first and it isn't until now that I started reading in-depth of this whole issue. My primary source of knowledge of this topic are from here and here

These were written during the legacy Dolby Digital times but I believe it shouldn't matter in this case.

Taking this paragraph without considering DRC. From what I've understood so far, DialNorm is nothing more than a mere metadata before encoding, to instruct the AC3 decoder to attenuate (to reduce) the overall volume by 4dB. This metadata would otherwise not affect the quality of the compressed audio, be it lossy or lossless, right?

Secondly, if I am to really get what many people are complaining, the real reason why Dolby Digital (or Dolby TrueHD) seems to 'lack punch' in their subwoofers, etc. is because of this (can I say stupid?) metadata called DRC? (Edit: Also, this is disregarding the actual nature of the sound mix)

And lastly, what exactly is all this fuss with the Watchmen DTS-HD MA soundtrack and DialNorm -4dB when all it takes is a little adjustment (upwards) to match the original reference level?