[Holliday]

Boy I hate to ask this because I get the feeling the answer isn’t simple. I just got surround sound and I have more options than I know what to do with. At first I just went with Dolby Digital because I wasn’t getting the DTS signal to the receiver. Turns out that option was disabled on my DVD player (I do have a coax connection). So I turned it on, and now I am left with the question in the thread title. Which is better? Or perhaps, which do you prefer? Technical bla bla woof woof I can get anywhere. I want opinions.

[thelittleprince]

I prefer the DTS sound myself, but don't ask me to explain these technical stuff, I'm sure you can read about them somewhere...

[Holliday]

Yeah I may have answered my own question. As I was reading your reponses I had Jurassic Park III playing to test the DTS signal. When they fired that explosive round into the junk airplane toward the begining I almost jumped out of my skin. DTS is pretty cool.

[ac747400]

I too just recently got a 7.1 DTS ES / Dolby digital EX system and I found DTS is worlds better (it was my first time ever hearing dts sound). I find the difference is the clarity of speech, in Dolby digital IMO the dialogue is a bit muffled with the background but with DTS the voices are a LOT clearer. It's weird because some movies dolby digital sounds better then dts, and vice versa

[brodmeister666]

I've never know what the difference is. Is it noticable?

[Holliday]

I have found that DTS seems to require less volume overall. And I can hear the dialogue better. I have read that the surround effect is smoother with DTS. The audiophiles at Home Theater Forum seem to prefer DTS, although that is just my perception.

[Red Beard]

I've had both DD and DTS sound for about 2 years...and I tell ya...it honestly doesnt really matter...its all about the mix...theres some discs where the DD sounds better than the DTS...examples are: Die Another Day, Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring Extended, The Rock: Criterion, and a few others...but I'll agree that for the most part...the DTS tracks are mixed better...

[Holliday]

Originally Posted by Red Beard

I've had both DD and DTS sound for about 2 years...and I tell ya...it honestly doesnt really matter...its all about the mix...theres some discs where the DD sounds better than the DTS...examples are: Die Another Day, Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring Extended, The Rock: Criterion, and a few others...but I'll agree that for the most part...the DTS tracks are mixed better...

I have all these titles. I'll give it a try. My ears are crap from years of high power guitar amps and lots of 12 inch speakers. The better the mix the easier it is for me to hear whats going on. I am going to upgrade my center channel as soon as possible.

[Jawzx]

In my experience (more than 3 years) DTS is usually noticably better, now wether this is a technical difference or mearly source/engineering differences I'd be hard pressed to say. My system has VERY good resolution, though it's not quite true "high-end", but I'll spend the extra money for a special edition release just to get the DTS soundtrack.

I think DTS keeps a much closer reign on the hardware and software used to encode content than Dolby does. Dolby Digital is *THE* default muli-channel format, and as such has made concessions to expense and quality. This doesn't mean Dolby Digital can't be great, it just often isn't.

Sound engineers on low-budget productions have access to Dolby Digital equipment almost by default, but DTS equipment has to be sought out or purchased specialy, this means when a soundtrack has been done in DTS, it's been done in DTS intentionaly, not just as part of "production expenses", this almost always means the DTS track has had more time and effort spent on it, and the pride of the sound engineer invested in it.

I find the following to be true with DTS vs Dolby Digital:

DTS has more realistic dymanics, not exagerated or irritating like DD often is
DTS has better channel integration, when a voice comes from the center channel it comes from the voice's onscreen location (slightly right/slighty left) not straight from the center channel speaker, etc.
DTS has louder surround effects, personaly I LIKE this, though some complain that it's distracting/unrealistic... I think it adds to the experience.
DTS has better a LFE channel, bass isn't just loud in DTS, it's good.

Thats my 2 cents.

[SmegFirk]

As people have said, Dolby Digital can occasionally provide better results. However, all things being equal, by the very nature of its design; DTS is a superior audio standard.

[shells]

imho, DTS is far more superior. but not all DVDs can demonstrate that kind of sound effects. i've got a 5.1 DTS Pioneer... just lack of making my hall sound proof, else it'd be rock solid!

[SciFi-ActionMan]

Originally Posted by Jawzx

I find the following to be true with DTS vs Dolby Digital:

DTS has more realistic dymanics, not exagerated or irritating like DD often is
DTS has better channel integration, when a voice comes from the center channel it comes from the voice's onscreen location (slightly right/slighty left) not straight from the center channel speaker, etc.
DTS has louder surround effects, personaly I LIKE this, though some complain that it's distracting/unrealistic... I think it adds to the experience.
DTS has better a LFE channel, bass isn't just loud in DTS, it's good.

Thats my 2 cents.

I fully agree with this, especially on the quality of the woofer feed. If you have a nice quality woofer, the DTS gives you wonderfully clear range and depth almost in a harmonic sense. Gladiator and Master and Commander are also terrific DTS mixes for movies, and the DTS version Eagles "Hell Freezes Over" is flat out the best sound I've heard in concert DVDs. But there are some really nice 5.1 EX DVDs, such as the Star Wars prequels (And ESB and ROTJ as well). They have really nice channel integration, very clear sound quality and wonderful woofer sound.

[Holliday]

Interesting, I thought the surround and bass was better in ESB and ROTJ compared to A New Hope. I thought it was just me at first.

All things being equal, I prefer dts. I am actually replacing some of my DVDs with dts versions (when it is possible).




The consensus in the periodical reviews I have read is that dts has better front to back panning and overall smoother transitions between the mains and the surrounds. This has been my experience as well.

[SciFi-ActionMan]

Originally Posted by Holliday

Interesting, I thought the surround and bass was better in ESB and ROTJ compared to A New Hope. I thought it was just me at first.

I'm guessing it had something to do with better recording techniques or something - maybe that 3-4 year period made a difference. In addition to the sound being occaisionally spotty and muddy in ANH, the transition to the speakers for the fly-overs seemed much improved in ESB and ROTJ.

But truly by far the best restoration of old sound I've seen has been the Led Zepplin DVD which includes concerts from right around 1970 that have absolutely phenominal sound. One wonders if Page (and Page and Curruthers) sold his soul a second time to get that level of quality out of the mixing.

[superflysmith]

DTS is less compressed than DD. Widescreen Review consistantly ranks dts sound tracks better than DD in any given movie.

[The One Coz]

I love surround sound so much that when I buy a dvd the first thing I do is flip it over and see if it has a DTS sound mix. If it does have one Im very happy because I know that the sound mixing editors went the extra mile and put in the extra care to give the movie a high quality sound mix. A lot of good points have been mentioned already like there are some very good Dolby Digital mixes as well but DTS is a slightly higher standard and generally sounds better. I cant wait to get my 6th speaker to enjoy those DTS ES (Extended Surround) mixes to the fullest. I also splurged a bit and got an Onkyo receiver with THX Surround EX. I just watched the original Star Wars movies which have THX sound and all I can say is Wow!

[Nuke]

DTS

But in truth, it does all depend on how good they mix it. But you can't ignore the fact that most discs that have both DTS and Dolby Digital, the DTS track usually comes out on top.

[SmegFirk]

Re ANH: I imagine it originally being mono doesn't help.

[SciFi-ActionMan]

Originally Posted by SmegFirk

Re ANH: I imagine it originally being mono doesn't help.

But in truth, seeing what they did to ANH from a sound perspective (not a story perspective) makes me wonder if at some time in the future people will take clasics like Goldfinger and do the same.

[SmegFirk]

Originally Posted by SciFi-ActionMan

But in truth, seeing what they did to ANH from a sound perspective (not a story perspective) makes me wonder if at some time in the future people will take clasics like Goldfinger and do the same.

Yeah, my Goldfinger is DD2.0 but i guess it isn't that hard to 'multichannel' it.