[Slowhand] Re: Surround

[Luke Pacholski]

Art, re:

> Luke, in your reply you claim, "Again, these are DTS
> CD's, not DVD-A's" but this is from Marks original
> post that was used is the review of the "461" DTS
> review:
> 
> "As with most dts high end audio discs like this,
> there are no extras. And make sure you're listening
> via a digital output from whatever player you're
> using, because otherwise you'll just get a horribly
> annoying noise. This, to us, is a drawback to the dts
> format of music discs; you can play a DVD-Audio disc
> on any DVD player including a DVD ROM drive and while
> you may not get the whole sonic benefit of the high
> resolution audio, you can still at least hear it! Such
> is not the case with the dts digital surround discs
> we've heard to date, except for the ones they release
> in the DVD-A format."

Yeah, that review actually says that the discs in question are *not* 
DVD-A's. Note the "horribly annoying noise" and "except for the ones 
they release in the DVD-A format" comments. While you can play DVD-A discs 
in any DVD player, you need a DTS decoder for DTS discs.

The nerd glasses are coming on, so for those of you who don't like it, 
skip this message.

DTS is an encoding format, like MP3 or Dolby Digital. It can be stored on 
a normal CD *or* a DVD. Since DTS requires special decoding, DVD's with 
DTS tracks *usually* have other audio tracks (such as Dolby Digital or 
uncompressed PCM) so all players can play them.

DTS CD's, on the other hand (what all of the discs in question are) *only* 
have a DTS track. Thusly, these discs can *only* be played on systems with 
a DTS decoder, otherwise you'll just get static. Many DVD players have DTS 
decoders built-in, but you can also use a CD player with digital out if 
your receiver has DTS decoding. Plus you can make CD-R copies of DTS CD's 
if you like.

Does that make sense? DTS can be on CD *and* DVD, but the discs in 
question are on CD, not DVD.

Luke