Stupid PCM / dts5.1 question

[maggie]

Playing Eagles DVD Farewell Tour and noticed the disc defaults to PCM, it has both dts5.1 and PCM as options. Using a JVC DVD player and Pioneer 74 receiver (Neo 6 music) I switched back and forth had a hard time noticing a difference. Sonically which is considered more accurate?
thanks
Maggie

 

[Seth=L]

Depends on the mastering, and how they utilized each one. PCM is stereo and the DTS would be 5.1 of course. It is possible that when they made the DTS track they just matrixed the surround instead of making a discrete 5.1 track (which could result in the similarity between the two you noted)

 

[j_garcia]

The PCM track on there is stereo only. There should be a H U G E difference... Make sure your player is set correctly to output DTS and not PCM in the PLAYER'S digital audio setup menu. The default is PCM in 99% of all players.

 

[PENG]

I have that DVD and I don't recall it defaulting to PCM, I can dig it out and verify it this weekend.

 

[Seth=L]

I have that DVD and I don't recall it defaulting to PCM, I can dig it out and verify it this weekend.

Sometimes this is dependant on the player. I have had different players default to different things. For example, Fight Club defaults to pro-logic on some players and defaults to 5.1 on others.

 

[j_garcia]

I have that DVD and I don't recall it defaulting to PCM, I can dig it out and verify it this weekend.

It isn't the disc, it is the PLAYER that has a default setting of PCM for passing DTS on nearly all players as some receivers previously weren't DTS compatible and sending a DTS stream to them would result in loud pink noise that is potentially damaging to the speakers if you had your system turned up. By defaulting to PCM, this problem is removed but many don't realize they aren't getting true DD/DTS because they don't know about this setting.

With the old version of Hell Freezes Over, which was DTS or PCM also, it would come up at the beginning and ask you which you wanted. I don't have the Farewell tour, but if it is only PCM or DTS, I would expect it to do the same.

 

[avliner]

Agree with you Garcia,

BTW, I was watching the Farewell Tour yesterday evening and there's a hell of difference between DTS & PCM. This dvd became my new benchmark, for demo'ing purposes though (HFO was paramount, soundwise, but this is even better, IMO).

 

[j_garcia]

Yep, and the problem is, if you have DTS configured to pass as PCM rather than bitstream maggie, then you ARE hearing the same thing which might explain why there isn't a noticeable difference. Full 5.1 DTS can be passed via PCM, however this "special" form of DTS is pretty much only found on DTS-CDs (and laserdiscs?); I haven't seen a DVD encoded with it.

 

[PENG]

It isn't the disc, it is the PLAYER that has a default setting of PCM for passing DTS on nearly all players as some receivers previously weren't DTS compatible and sending a DTS stream to them would result in loud pink noise that is potentially damaging to the speakers if you had your system turned up. By defaulting to PCM, this problem is removed but many don't realize they aren't getting true DD/DTS because they don't know about this setting.

With the old version of Hell Freezes Over, which was DTS or PCM also, it would come up at the beginning and ask you which you wanted. I don't have the Farewell tour, but if it is only PCM or DTS, I would expect it to do the same.

I understood what you were saying in the first place. My problem is, if it was due to the player's settings, it should happen with other disc (with the same PCM/DTS options) as well, not just one particular disc. And besides, one would think that unless the OP has just acquired the DVD player, the player would have been setup correctly by now.

 

[j_garcia]

Not necessarily. There are a surprisingly large number of people who don't realize they are not getting actual DD/DTS. If I hadn't setup my parent's system, they wouldn't have known what they were missing.