Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Is it DTS or dts?

This is topic Is it DTS or dts? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-02-2003, 06:24 PM:

This may seem pretty inconsequential, but what is the company's preference on this? Personally I hate all-lower-case names (lots of music groups have been doing this lately, such as matchbox twenty) because it makes the company name fade into the rest of the text. (Plus, it looks stupid.) And I know the logo has it in lowercase, but that doesn't always dictate.

So what is Digital Theatre Systems' preference for general use? DTS or dts?

I know they have silenced themselves around here lately, but maybe they could de-lurk one last time and answer this nagging question.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-02-2003, 06:40 PM:

I prefer "DTS" since it is used as a pronoun. Proper nouns should be capitalized (that's right, jHAWK). Whether DTS prefers one or the other is irrelevant to me. Also, when it is typed as lowercase, it tends not to stand out at all. So you ignore it and go straight to where it says "Dolby Digital" [Smile]

[ 12-04-2003, 12:24 AM: Message edited by: Joe Redifer ]

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-02-2003, 07:42 PM:

Joe is correct; DTS and other abbreviated acronyms should be capitalized. The only time the "DTS" letters should be lowercase is when the DTS logo itself is being shown. The DTS lettering in the logo is customized from the Letraset Dolmen type face. And the "DTS" letters typically seen on the CD-ROM movie discs and older machines is a very BAD attempt at reproducing the logo. DTS needs to at least fix that error on future movie CD-ROM discs. That weird knock off logo is just plain fugly.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 12-03-2003, 12:51 AM:

Mike - if you want to know what dts' or DTS' preference is - why don't you take a look at their website and see how they do it?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-03-2003, 02:20 AM:

OK, I did. It's DTS. Dammit, I was hoping this would turn into another big fight! [Smile]

Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 12-03-2003, 10:54 AM:

No, it says dts on the site, DTS on the taskbar...

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 12-03-2003, 12:38 PM:

Strictly speaking, I guess it should be D.T.S. - but I accept that it is now common usage not to put the full stops in abbreviations and acronyms.

The use of lower case pisses me off no end, though, especially when organisations think they're being trendy by styling themselves in this way. The worst example I know is the British Film Institute, which has styled itself 'bfi' for the last few years, probably since some moron PR consultant who failed his or her GCSE English came up with the idea. They even send out 'guidelines' to newspapers and magazines asking them to repeat the error, something which most of them happily ignore. But I really cannot stand or understand the desire to portray a public arts organisation as being illiterate - it's just an insult.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 12-03-2003, 12:46 PM:

Why not just spell it "Dee Tee Ess"? [Smile]

My current marketing pet peeve is BiCapitalization, which looks ReallyStupid, especially when EveryCompany feels the need to BiCapitalize its CompanyName or ProductName or both. Either spell the name as two words or one, but don't try to pick a ReallyStupid compromise.

End of rant.

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 12-03-2003, 01:16 PM:

DoubleCapitalization probably ComesFrom VariableNaming conventions in ProgrammingLanguages ever since CaseSensitivity became important in ProgrammingLanugages like C and Modula2 back in the 1980s. Back in the mid 1980s, I thought that LowerCase letters had no place on a computer since we were taught AllUpperCase in FORTRAN and on the IBM MainFrame, it didn't matter. The IBM 3270 terminals were set to UpperCase only and we were supposed to leave them that way.

as for the dts thing, i'm not ashamed to admit that i've always wondered about the preferred capitalization of it myself. it seems that ever since instant messaging software has come along and people are trying to type messages as fast as possible, writing in all lower case has become quite stylish. also, in the early nineties, hackers tended to create cool mixed case handles. i receive lots of email messages now that are written in all lower case. i guess removing punctuation will be the next big thing.

i've consistently written dts in upper case when writing about them on my www site, as i do thx and sdds. come to think of it, i don't remember seeing dts lower-cased in writing before, except in the logo.

i'd be curious to know dts's official word on this matter as well.

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 12-03-2003, 01:45 PM:

My Sony receiver flashes the sound format on its display for a few seconds when discs send the flag out- it shows DTS in lower-case as "dts 3/2" but Dolby in all caps as "DOLBY DIGITAL 3/2".

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-03-2003, 02:50 PM:

Sony is retarded.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-03-2003, 07:44 PM:

Yeah! Sony is "sofa-king-we-todd-did". My Yamaha receiver capitalizes the "DTS" and lights up a way cool DTS logo.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-03-2003, 08:51 PM:

Oh yeah? Well my Pioneer receiver capitalizes DTS, lights up a DTS logo, and also has a voice announce that I am listening to DTS for the entire time DTS is engaged!

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 12-04-2003, 12:48 AM:

Why did they make their acronym the same as the one for delirium tremens? Was it to intentionally mislead people?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-04-2003, 03:00 PM:

On the IME's Scoreboard sheets, movies are listed with letters indicating what digital formats they're released in. He uses D for Dolby, T for DTS, and S for SDDS. So if a film was availalbe in all 3 formats, the listing would say:

D/T/S

I think he finally realized he was sorta helping promote one format, so now it says:

T/D/S

Unfortunately, now he's promoting a trailer/onesheet service. [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Steven Privett (Member # 718) on 12-04-2003, 05:30 PM:

I guess if it's lower case and at the beginning of a sentence, it would be Dts. Dts is my second digital format of choice.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 12-04-2003, 10:33 PM:

Mike --

Let's hope he doesn't ever decide to go with S/T/D [Eek!]