This is topic DTS Audio CD's in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 09-16-2003, 07:14 PM:
 
I have a CD from The Police recorded in DTS Audio that I got from a DTS promotion kit a few years ago. What would it take for me to be able to play this CD at home? Even if I can't listen to it in 5.1 (which I can't because I'm not about to go buy a new speaker system), is there any way I can listen to it at all through my DVD player?
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-16-2003, 07:33 PM:
 
That depends on your receiver. If your receiver supports DTS, then it can be played from any DVD player (through the digital out) or any CD player that has an optical or coaxial digital out. You can't listen to it any other way. That CD is pretty old, but sounds good. I've listened to mine many times over the years.

The DTS code completely replaces the LPCM track on a CD or LaserDisc (same bandwidth). I demand you buy a new speaker system. You really need one.
 

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Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 09-16-2003, 07:34 PM:
 
So I need a receiver? Can't just play it straigh from the DVD player on my TV?
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-16-2003, 07:35 PM:
 
Nope.

Well I guess you could if you routed the receiver's outputs into a mixer (to downmix the 5.1 channels into 2) and then pipe those into your TV.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-16-2003, 09:58 PM:
 
DTS music CDs require a DTS decoder somewhere in the chain for the thing to work. You can't go straight from a DVD player to the TV unless the DVD player has a built-in DTS decoder. If you play a DTS CD from a DVD player without it (and hook the audio leads straight into your TV) all you will hear is white noise, like a TV station off the air.

Most DVD-Audio capable DVD players feature built in decoding for Dolby Digital and DTS. That's because the DVD-A signal can only be sent out of an analog output. So the built-in DD/DTS decoders are there for additional convenience (so you don't have to switch between AUX and DVD inputs all the time).

Another solution for listening to DTS CDs: portable DVD players. Some have built in DTS decoders and can even do 2 channel downmixed outputs (but it depends on the model).

A few car stereo systems have DTS decoders (Kef Kar and Panasonic are a couple brands that come to mind).

Computer sound card and speaker systems have still not correctly figured out how to play DTS audio CDs. Support is spotty at best. The latest versions of PowerDVD XP and WinDVD feature DTS pass through, but they often do not handle DTS CD bitstreams correctly. I think the problem is the fact a DTS bitstream is really disguised as LPCM code. The software players insist on doing idiot digital post processing crap to the code to make it sound better or something. The trouble is any changes made at all to the code totally corrupt the compressed and encrypted data stream. This is also an issue with some CD players. Any players with digital volume adjustments or other DSP trickery that monkeys with the LPCM stream destroys the DTS signal.

The best results I've seen via computer for DTS CD playback is using a soundcard that sends a pure S/PDIF digital out to an outboard audio decoder and speaker setup. Yamaha has a couple pretty good models.

To get to another point, if you are not going to listen to a DTS CD in 5.1 channel mode then why even buy one? You're going to be better off just using a regular 2-channel LPCM disc. I own a few DTS CDs and really like them. The Police disc is good. Sting has a few of his solo albums available in DTS. Don Henley's "End of the Innocence" disc is a good one. Steely Dan has a good disc. Sheryl Crow has one of her studio albums out in DTS-ES 6.1 on CD (I forget which one though).
 

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Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 09-16-2003, 11:06 PM:
 

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To get to another point, if you are not going to listen to a DTS CD in 5.1 channel mode then why even buy one?

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I have a CD from The Police recorded in DTS Audio that I got from a DTS promotion kit a few years ago.

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Sheryl Crow has one of her studio albums out in DTS-ES 6.1 on CD (I forget which one though).

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