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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Author
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Topic: DTS announces DTS:X Object-Based Codec
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Daniel Schulz
Master Film Handler
Posts: 387
From: Los Angeles, CA USA
Registered: Sep 2003
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posted 12-28-2015 03:53 PM
quote: Bobby Henderson
Why couldn't the Blu-ray disc for Sicario support both DTS-X and Dolby Atmos mixes? Both formats reside within DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD cores. It's not unheard of for a Blu-ray disc to have both DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD audio on the same disc.
There's no *technical* reason why it couldn't (other than bit budget of course), but the paradigm has shifted slightly. With DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD, the mix is the same 5.1 or 7.1 for either codec, you're just doing relatively inexpensive compression passes for authoring. With Atmos vs. DTS:X though, you'd be doing two different mixes altogether. I'm sure over time there will be some convergence between the two, and maybe some cross-platform tools for ingesting an Atmos mix and outputting a DTS:X mix (or vice versa), but for now they're sort of two different animals.
Since Dolby Atmos is a de facto standard for A-list theater releases, and the Dolby Atmos home theater encoder is designed to take the theatrical Atmos mix and convert it to home theater *relatively* easily, I think DTS has a bit of an uphill battle. Which is why they're now scrambling to get DTS:X deployed theatrically, to provide a content pipeline. If only at some point in the past DTS had owned a cinema business with a theatrical footprint and relationships with movie studios...
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Daniel Schulz
Master Film Handler
Posts: 387
From: Los Angeles, CA USA
Registered: Sep 2003
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posted 12-28-2015 05:07 PM
quote: Bobby Henderson
DTS:X and Atmos in home theater are both different animals due to very different suggested speaker placements. Some images I've seen regarding DTS:X setups suggest a more Auro-like speaker setup, which is very different from Dolby Atmos. But isn't DTS:X and its Open MDA format supposed to be able to adapt to different speaker setups?
I have seen similar images for home theater setup, but until we see some official guidance from DTS I'm not sure what their recommendations will be for home theater DTS:X. I do know that the first AVRs on the market that will have it have pretty fixed channels following the Atmos model, and I don't think they will easily bend to support alternatives - my best guess is that the first generation AVRs will all be using the Atmos speaker configurations. As to the "put your speakers anywhere you want" idea - perhaps the rendering engine running in a D-Cinema server can do that math, but I'm pretty confident that DSP-based AVRs are going to be limited to a few standardized configurations.
quote: Bobby Henderson
I still don't understand why the theatrical side of DTS was spun-off and renamed Datasat, a bean counter strategy to make the DTS stock price improve?
That is my understanding, yes. The cinema division was profitable, but it had relatively low margins because it was hardware-based (with a bit of technology licensing gravy on top) - and hardware has inventory needs, warranties, parts to be stocked, repair programs, a need for a worldwide sales force and dealer/distributor network, etc. All of that eats into your margins; then layered on top of that you have the forecast conversion from film to digital, and therefore a baked-in declining business for audio gear.
On the consumer side, though, you have a pure technology licensing business, with really fat margins (once the technology is developed, the royalties come in virtually for free). No warehouse needed, no tech support, no warranty exchanges. So the Wall Street analyst types *loved* the idea of divesting the cinema business, it improved the profit margins on paper. The cinema division was put up for sale, and ultimately sold to Datasat Communications. The renaming to Datasat wasn't a directive from DTS per se, other than the Datasat-owned cinema audio business couldn't be called DTS for obvious reasons, so the new owners just named it following the same convention as their existing business (Datasat Communications, Datasat Technologies and the newly formed Datasat Digital Entertainment).
I thought then, and still do think, that DTS made a strategic error in selling their cinema group, both for marketing (how much was it worth to have the DTS logo playing before movies and on posters) and also for saying in touch with the cinema industry, which would come in handy about now with the launch of a new format...
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