Do older "DTS" DVDs have better sound?

[Bluesmoke]

There's are almost NO proprietary DTS discs anymore. Is it because the compression change to fit both DTS and Dolby onto a disc,while sacrificing quality? I own Saving Private Ryan on DTS, which I must have bought 5 years ago. A friend of mine, who has a nice 7.1 setup in his basement with KEF speakers and Pioneer Elite receiver (he has money to burn but no real HT knowledge) asked me to bring a reference DVD because he wanted to test his new pro-wired system.

Anyways, we watched Star Wars EP III (his kids wanted to see it) and SPR on DTS. I felt SPR, despite being the older disc sounded, crisper, with a bigger soundstage, and livelier than EP III. The bass in EP 3 is of course out of this world, but there are moment in SPR that really caught my attention. Not only the Omaha Beach sequence, but the rain that comes into play midwat through the movie.

 

[mike c]

george lucas is just the stupidest guy on the planet. thats all

 

[jonnythan]

george lucas is just the stupidest guy on the planet. thats all

Imagine the theater he has in his house.

You're just jealous.

 

[mike c]

Imagine the theater he has in his house.

You're just jealous.

so im jealous of his theater before i imagined it ... ok. although i've never heard of his "home theater", nor do i care about that.

but yes im jealous as to how the world's dumbest director/producer can make so much money.

Uwe Boll is better than he is ... and that's saying a lot.

btw, im a trekkie. are you a warrie? [sic]

 

[mike c]

while we are on the subject: george lucas just can't see how dumb he is at what he is doing. kinda like the american idol wannabes that just don't "hear" how horrible they sing.

example...
fact:
natalie portman is a beautiful lady.
she is an image model for a clothingline.

at the scene where the horrible line of the ugly kid that says "you're so beautiful" ... it looked like she hadn't slept in days (or she was snorting drugs) either way, she WASN'T beautiful then and that line simply sucks.

 

[The Chukker]

Some discs just have better transfers than others -- personally I am not all that impressed with the SPR dts transfer; I mean it's ok but not all that great of an improvement over the DD version. On the other hand, some the older dts titles shine (Predator) whilst some newer dts titles are suspect (LotR, Rush Hour 2). Some of my best sounding DVD's are DD (anything Pixar, Ghost in the Shell 2, Bourne Identity).

 

[mike c]

do older dts have better sound?

there's no rule that says DTS is better ... some movies are horribly mixed some have a spectacular mix (both on DTS and DD)

maybe it just so happens that disc has a bad DD mix. on the flip side, there are great DD mixed DVD's.

 

[racquetman]

Some discs just have better transfers than others -- personally I am not all that impressed with the SPR dts transfer;

As with everything else we argue about on this forum, this topic is completely subjective. Each person thinks they have a golden ear and the best home theater setup (and probably an ego to boot), so some say this sounds good and this doesn't and we argue back and forth.

SPR DTS is always near the top of the list for best sounding DVDs whenever such a list is created. Because you weren't impressed really means absolutely nothing. If I thought it was a great mix, again, it really doesn't mean much.

My advice is don't buy a DVD based on what someone else tells you. They may think it sounds great, while you find it to be mediocre or vice versa. Unless we all have the same setup in the same room with the same acoustics and we all hear exactly the same, there is really no way to make a reliable comparison - and therefore threads like these become absolutely meaningless.

As for Lucas, because you guys don't like the way he mixed his movies doesn't necessarily make them bad transfers. Maybe if you listened to them at reference level with all THX gear in a well treated room you would change your mind. I'm not endorsing THX or siding with Lucas. I would say that Lucas does put a lot of time into making his movies look and sound exactly the way he wants them to. I would also say that his audio engineers know a thing or two more about this than we do. If you personally don't find them up to par, then my suggestion is don't buy them. I personally think the whole Star Wars saga and everything associated with it is highly overrated - once again, my opinion doesn't matter much does it.

 

[Taifun]

Having worked for Lucasfilm Ltd. in my past I feel I should say a few things:

I have seen movies on the Ranch at the Stag theater. Everything I do at home to make my system closer to this amazing sounding setup is doomed to fall short. When you have a perfect theater room and the ultimate THX certified setup (let's face it this is THE reference setup) the movies truly wow you. Everything I have heard since then pales... There a ton of things I can say on this subject, but I'm not sure how much I am allowed to say as a former employee. I think George really is/was on to something with his insisting on a standard. It may not be realistic for us home theater nuts, but it is something to aspire to.

While I worked there I have in fact seen "his" home theater. You would be jealous and most likely stunned. Its even more fun when you get to setup and test a game system on it

DTS on DVDs in my expirience have a little more punch, but that depends on the mix. Movies I have seen in theaters in DTS have been a bit too forward for my tastes but then that could have been a bad theater. What I am trying to say is the home theater is such a huge variable, and be mindful that the sound engineers have to balance the perfect enviroment (mixing or reference studios) with what it will sound like in a theater or home. Having been in several mix rooms, they are pretty amazing. I dare say though that having listened first hand to both those rooms in use and the engineers using them Alandamp is right. They probably do know alot more than us

I'd like to second it. It is all subjective.

 

[tomd51]

When first starting out with this some time ago, I wasn't quite sure which soundtrack to choose. Over the years, I've experimented with both soundtracks, assuming they were on the same disc. Given The option of a DD/DD-EX or DTS/DTS-ES, I'll go with the DTS version 10 out of 10 times. The DTS encodings, from my perspective, seem to be more dynamic than the DD versions.

I couldn't say there's a "night and day" difference between the two, but I think for most critical listeners, it is a fairly obvious difference. Although this can be considered subjective, the manner in which (most) DTS encodings are performed will show you that the DTS soundtracks compression rates are less lossy than the Dolby Digital soundtracks. -TD

 

[j_garcia]

No, DTS now doesn't sound any different than DTS "then". Most are still 748K and it is entirely mix/master dependent. If the master is well done, then when it gets transferred to a home mix well, it will still sound good. When given a choice (and I always check), I always listen to the DTS track first. If it sounds good, rarely do I bother listening to the DD version.

Essentially, there are NO DTS only discs these days. As far as I know, they are making no new discs like this (including Superbits), and many of the DTS only versions are out of print.

 

[tbewick]

It could be that the Saving Private Ryan DTS disc has the full bit-rate version of DTS. Not many discs have the full bit-rate DTS. The only other one I know of is Dances With Wolves.

 

[Bluesmoke]

It could be that the Saving Private Ryan DTS disc has the full bit-rate version of DTS. Not many discs have the full bit-rate DTS. The only other one I know of is Dances With Wolves.

Tha's precisely what I'm thinking. There was a reason why DTS was not on the initial release - it couldn't fit on the DD version. Also, Spielberg, like Lucas is an audio-nut. All of his movies are mixed well, and sound good. So it doesn't surprise me that he released sole DTS versions of Jurassic Park and SPR, which if you think about it, how many people in 2000 had a DTS decoder? He was clearly aiming for the audiophiles.

 

[Blundaar]

When first starting out with this some time ago, I wasn't quite sure which soundtrack to choose. Over the years, I've experimented with both soundtracks, assuming they were on the same disc. Given The option of a DD/DD-EX or DTS/DTS-ES, I'll go with the DTS version 10 out of 10 times. The DTS encodings, from my perspective, seem to be more dynamic than the DD versions. -TD

Another deja vu thread.
Personally, I'll take DTS over DD whenever I can. I've even gone back and repurchased my favorite movies (the "Special Edition"- whatever) when they include DTS.

 

[j_garcia]

It could be that the Saving Private Ryan DTS disc has the full bit-rate version of DTS. Not many discs have the full bit-rate DTS. The only other one I know of is Dances With Wolves.

Nope. I have it. It is 748k. I have the fullbitrate Dances With Wolves also - I haven't opened it because they are out of print. They were going for ~$75 on eBay; now about $40-50. I have the DD director's cut, so I watched that instead.

Nine Inch Nails And All That Could Have Been DTS is also full bitrate, and I have one Japanese animation, Jin Roh (special edition), that has a full bitrate Japanese track that sounds excellent.

 

[tomd51]

Another deja vu thread. I've even gone back and repurchased my favorite movies (the "Special Edition"- whatever) when they include DTS.

Same here. I'm kind of a DTS whore now...

 

[tomd51]

How Can You Tell it's The Full Bitrate Version?

J, I have (what I think is) one of the original DTS releases of 'Dances With Wolves'. How can I go about finding out if it is, in fact, the full bitrate version?

Thks in advance... -TD

 

[j_garcia]

J, I have (what I think is) one of the original DTS releases of 'Dances With Wolves'. How can I go about finding out if it is, in fact, the full bitrate version?

Thks in advance... -TD

One of my DVD players has a display option and it shows the signal bitrate; you might check to see if yours has this also (display options that show info about the current disc playing). If it is the 2 disc DTS version, then it is most likely the full bitrate one because of the length of the movie and the data for the full bitrate track, it had to be split onto two discs.

If a special edition of a movie I really like comes out with a DTS track, I'll usually buy it also

 

[tomd51]

Yep, it's the two-disc version.

I think my Panasonic F87 does this, don't think the new Samsung will do it, though, I'll have to check. Thks for the tip... -TD

 

[j_garcia]

I had an F87 also, I thought it was a great player for the price. I believe it does show this somewhere, though I couldn't tell you where if it does