Is DTS Master Audio & Dolby True HD Overrated?

[ichigo]

Depends on the movie. I've seen some movies with TrueHD tracks that have as little as 1 to 1.5 MBps bitrate. To give you an example, an 8 channel 320KBps-quality MP3 would have a 1.3MBps bitrate.

 

[Pyrrho]

Depends on the movie. I've seen some movies with TrueHD tracks that have as little as 1 to 1.5 MBps bitrate. To give you an example, an 8 channel 320KBps-quality MP3 would have a 1.3MBps bitrate.

Simply looking at the bitrate is not going to tell you the quality of the signal. With Dolby TrueHD, it is a lossless format, meaning no data is lost in the compression process. This makes it like a ZIP file for a computer, not like an MP3.

Likewise, DTS-HD Master Audio is a lossless format.

So, both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio sound exactly like an uncompressed PCM soundtrack. (Assuming, of course, that the same master source is used; any of them can sound like crap if they decide to use a crappy master recording for one of them.)

 

[s162216]

Those might sound better due to the DTS bitrate being higher, technically DTS can use bitrates up to 1.5mb's and at 1.5mb's it is said to be practically no difference in quality from uncompressed PCM by most experts in double blind trials, its 'transparent'.

However...

Most of the time DTS doesn't use the full bitrate to save space on the disc so its encoded at 0.75mb's instead and with this it loses its 'transparency' when compared to PCM. Initially most early DTS DVD's were done at the full rate but most are now done at the reduced rate although some still are so perhaps those two DVD's you mentioned are encoded at the full 1.5mb's.

 

[GranteedEV]

So you don't think the lossless audio track on U571 and M&C sound better than they do on DVD?

In the case of master and commander, it's supposed to be more dynamic and sound amazing (even better than an already amazing DTS) but for a movie with tons and tons (considered a reference) of amazing subsonic LFE effects, the dvd DTS kills the blu ray lossless because for some reason all of the sounds below 25hz are totally absent. People with subs that extend below 25hz (ie most of us) will prefer the Dvd, but people with otherwise great setups but subs that only go down to 25hz anyways, will prefer the blu ray.

 

[sptrout]

In the case of master and commander, it's supposed to be more dynamic and sound amazing (even better than an already amazing DTS) but for a movie with tons and tons (considered a reference) of amazing subsonic LFE effects, the dvd DTS kills the blu ray lossless because for some reason all of the sounds below 25hz are totally absent. People with subs that extend below 25hz (ie most of us) will prefer the Dvd, but people with otherwise great setups but subs that only go down to 25hz anyways, will prefer the blu ray.

There is a long thread over on AVS about the low bass being filtered out of the Blu version of the M&C. Folks posted several items that proved that the bass on the LFE channel was indeed filtered below about 25Hz (if I remember that number correctly). In any case, if you want to use the M&C for bass demoing (cannon blasts) use the DVD not the Blu-ray version.

No one could ever figure out why the bass was filtered other than it must have been an accident. Sadly (for me), I gave my DVD version away before I found out about the bass problems with the Blu version.