DTS vs Dolby Digital

[Nemeliza]

What is the difference between the two?

and which is better? (in your oppinion)

[Zak33]

DTS is generally considered to be a cleverer compression format, and on films such as Gladiator, it can be noticeably good.

But as with lots of things, it's often hard to tell on vanilla kit.

But DTS is the answer in my opinion

[Lee H]

I find the following is a good guide to the differences between the 2 ;

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/...digitaldts.php

As for use - I use dolby as that's what my dvd playback software supports and I didn't want the platinum pack

[Howard]

DTS is higher bit-rate. Dolby Digital is 448kbps and DTS is either 768kbps (sometimes referred to as half bitrate) or 1.5mbps (sometimes referred to as full bitrate).

The general consensus is that DTS is better, although Zak's right, you won't be able to tell a huge difference on cheap-ish kit, it can just sound louder.

[directhex]

dolby is compressed, dts isn't (like comparing mp3 to cd)

[Howard]

dolby is compressed, dts isn't (like comparing mp3 to cd)

Yes it is. It's just a higher bit-rate.

[PMM]

Has nothing to do with how loud it goes, due to having a lower compression ratio
in theory more information about the music is stored.

This allows for wider dynamics and greater resolution of the perceived audio.

For instance.. imagine if your voice only had 2 levels off and on quite and loud
not much good Then increase that to say 4 levels still not much good but
maybe good enough with a varible frequency to understand some words.

scale it up more and more detail is present... same with music / sound effects
and allows those quiter things to have more detail without being swamped out by the noise of other effects.

Does not change the max volume as thats the output of the digital to analog convertor that defines its to volume level.

[5lab]

i find that dts generally has a little more sound going to the rear speakers, but on my cheapish (£300/set) speakers/amp which do both, i cant really tell the difference

[Paul Adams]

A lot of the time the difference can't be noticed (by me, anyway), but the soundtracks that I think sound a lot different are the Lethal Weapon & Die Hard series and Saving Private Ryan.

Even on a cheap (Sherwood) amp these films demonstrate the difference between DD and DTS - in particular when it comes to explosions.
It's not just more volume, the sound does appear more "crisp" and "has more balls" as my dad put it succinctly

Whenever possible I go for a transfer with a DTS soundtrack if it has been done well - there are some DVD transfers where the DTS track sounds "flat" and is just a waste of space on the disc.

[Zak33]

Yes it is. It's just a higher bit-rate.

and in a different way. Better thing to compare it to is a PS2 and a Gamecube.

Totally different route to a similar experinence.

[Howard]

Well yes it's a different codec

[alberto]

dts is not compressed like dolby ac3

but dolby is more diffuse in dvd movie

[Howard]

DTS is compressed. Honest. Just at a higher bit rate.

[Daneel]

What many people forget when comparing DTS and DD tracks on DVDs is that they are often different mixes and so not comparable!

If the mixes are the same to begin with, depending on the material, DTS has the potential to be better, but you still need a pretty decent system (and hearing) to tell.

BTW, DTS is compressed, as others have mentioned. Howard almost got it right with:

"DTS is higher bit-rate. Dolby Digital is 448kbps and DTS is either 768kbps (sometimes referred to as half bitrate) or 1.5mbps (sometimes referred to as full bitrate)."

DD is often 384kbps too for surround mixes. 192kbps is common for DD stereo tracks. I've yet to come across a stereo track in DTS though, other than DTS 24/96, but that's not very common and for another discussion.

If you really want to get into it there are detailed technical papers on both DTS and DD websites saying why their codec is better.

[5lab]

the bad thing about dts is that you have to go into yer dvd menu and select 'dts' everyone sitting round you is like 'wtf are you doing that for' - if you say 'its better quality' they just give you the *look*

[unrealrocks]

Or you just hit 'Audio' on your DVD remote while the opening credits are starting, lol.