DTS, Inc. (originally Digital Theater Systems) is an American company that makes
multichannel audio technologies for
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
and
video
Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...
. Based in
Calabasas, California
Calabasas (from Spanish language, Spanish ''calabazas'' "gourds") is a city in the southwestern region of the San Fernando Valley, between the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, Santa Monica and Santa Susana Mountains, Santa Susanna mounta ...
, the company introduced its DTS technology in 1993 as a competitor to
Dolby Laboratories
Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (often shortened to Dolby Labs and known simply as Dolby) is an American company specializing in Noise reduction#In audio, audio noise reduction, Audio data compression, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and ...
, incorporating DTS in the film ''
Jurassic Park
''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when ...
'' (1993). The DTS product is used in
surround sound
Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener ( surround channels). Its first application was in movie theaters. Prior to sur ...
formats for both commercial/theatrical and consumer-grade applications. It was known as The Digital Experience until 1995. DTS
license
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
s its technologies to
consumer electronics
Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic (analog or digital) equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. Usually r ...
manufacturers.
The DTS brand was acquired by Tessera Holding Corporation in December 2016, then Tessera was renamed to
Xperi
Xperi Holding Corporation (formerly Tessera Holding Corporation) is an American technology company that licenses technology and intellectual property in areas such as mobile computing, communications, memory and data storage, and three-dimensio ...
Corporation.
History
DTS was founded by Terry Beard, an audio engineer and
Caltech
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
graduate. Beard, speaking to a friend of a friend, was able to get in touch with
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
to audition a remastering of Spielberg's film ''
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' is a 1977 American science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François Truffaut. It tells the story ...
'' mixed in DTS. Spielberg then selected DTS sound for his next film, ''
Jurassic Park
''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when ...
'' (1993) and with the backing of
Universal
Universal is the adjective for universe.
Universal may also refer to:
Companies
* NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company
** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal
** Universal TV, a t ...
and its then-parent
Matsushita Electric
formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb s ...
, over 1,000 theatres in the United States adopted the DTS system.''
![Jurassic Park DTS CD-ROM Disc (1993)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Jurassic_Park_DTS_CD-ROM_Disc_%281993%29.jpg)
Work on the new audio format started in 1991, four years after
Dolby Laboratories
Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (often shortened to Dolby Labs and known simply as Dolby) is an American company specializing in Noise reduction#In audio, audio noise reduction, Audio data compression, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and ...
started work on its new
codec
A codec is a device or computer program that encodes or decodes a data stream or signal. ''Codec'' is a portmanteau of coder/decoder.
In electronic communications, an endec is a device that acts as both an encoder and a decoder on a signal or da ...
,
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for what has now become a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Formerly named Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, the audio compression is lossy ...
.
The basic and most common version of the format is a 5.1-channel system, similar to a Dolby Digital setup, which encodes the audio as five primary (full-range) channels plus a special LFE (
low-frequency effects
The low-frequency effects (LFE) channel is a band-limited audio track that is used for reproducing deep and intense low-frequency sounds in the 3–120 Hz frequency range.
This track is normally sent to a subwoofer—a loudspeaker des ...
) channel for the
subwoofer
A subwoofer (or sub) is a loudspeaker designed to reproduce low-pitched audio frequencies known as bass and sub-bass, lower in frequency than those which can be (optimally) generated by a woofer. The typical frequency range for a subwoofer is ...
.
Encoders and decoders support numerous channel combinations, and stereo, four-channel, and four-channel+LFE soundtracks have been released commercially on DVD, CD, and Laserdisc.
Other, newer DTS variants are also currently available, including versions that support up to seven primary audio channels plus one LFE channel (DTS-ES). These variants are generally based on DTS's core-and-extension philosophy, in which a core DTS data stream is augmented with an extension stream which includes the additional data necessary for the new variant in use. The core stream can be decoded by any DTS decoder, even if it does not understand the new variant. A decoder which does understand the new variant decodes the core stream, and then modifies it according to the instructions contained in the extension stream. This method allows backward compatibility.
DTS's main competitors in multichannel theatrical audio are
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for what has now become a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Formerly named Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, the audio compression is lossy ...
and
SDDS
is a movie theater, cinema sound system developed by Sony, in which compressed digital sound information is recorded on both outer edges of the 35mm movie film, 35 mm film release print. The system supports up to eight independent chann ...
, although only Dolby Digital and DTS are used on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
s and implemented in home theater hardware.
One of the DTS Inc.'s initial investors was
film director
A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
, who felt that theatrical sound formats up until the company's founding were no longer state of the art, and as a result were no longer optimal for use on projects where quality sound reproduction was of the utmost importance. Spielberg debuted the format with his 1993 production of ''
Jurassic Park
''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when ...
'', which came slightly less than a full year after the official theatrical debut of Dolby Digital (''
Batman Returns
''Batman Returns'' is a 1992 American superhero film directed by Tim Burton and written by Daniel Waters. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is the sequel to '' Batman'' (1989) and the second installment in the 1989–1997 ''Batm ...
''). In addition, ''Jurassic Park'' also became the first home video release to contain DTS sound when it was released on LaserDisc in January 1997, two years after the first Dolby Digital home video release (''
Clear and Present Danger
''Clear and Present Danger'' is a political thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and published on August 17, 1989. A sequel to ''The Cardinal of the Kremlin'' (1988), main character Jack Ryan becomes acting Deputy Director of Intelligence in t ...
'' on Laserdisc), which debuted in January 1995. Universal Pictures would exclusively support DTS until late 1997.
In 2008, the cinema division was divested to form DTS Digital Cinema. In 2009 DTS Digital Cinema was purchased by Beaufort International Group Plc. and became known as Datasat Digital Entertainment.
SRS Labs
In 2012, DTS acquired the business of
SRS Labs
SRS Labs, Inc. was a Santa Ana, California-based audio technology engineering company that specialized in audio enhancement solutions for wide variety of consumer electronic devices. Originally a part of Hughes Aircraft Company, the audio division ...
(Sound Retrieval System), a psychoacoustic 3D audio processing technology, including over 1,000 audio patents and trademarks.
Manzanita Systems
In 2014, DTS acquired Manzanita Systems, a provider of MPEG software for digital television, VOD, and digital ad insertion.
Phorus
Phorus, a subsidiary of DTS, Inc., is a Los Angeles-based technology group dedicated to wireless audio for connected devices.
HD Radio (iBiquity)
On September 2, 2015,
iBiquity
iBiquity Digital Corporation is a company formed by the merger of USA Digital Radio and Lucent Digital Radio. Based in Columbia, Maryland, with additional offices in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and Auburn Hills, Michigan, iBiquity is a privately ...
announced that it was being purchased by DTS for US$172 million, uniting iBiquity's
HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...
digital radio broadcast technology with DTS' digital audio surround sound systems.
Theatrical use
In theatrical use, a proprietary 24-bit
time code
A timecode (alternatively, time code) is a sequence of numeric codes generated at regular intervals by a timing synchronization system. Timecode is used in video production, show control and other applications which require temporal coordinatio ...
is optically imaged onto the film. An LED reader scans the timecode data from the film and sends it to the DTS processor, using the time code to synchronize the projected image with the DTS soundtrack audio. The multi-channel DTS audio is recorded in compressed form on standard
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...
media at a bitrate of 882 kbit/s. The audio compression used in the theatrical DTS system (which is very different and completely unrelated to the home Coherent Acoustics-based DTS Digital Surround format) is the APT-X100 system. Unlike the home version of DTS or any version of Dolby Digital, the APT-X100 system is fixed at a 4:1 compression ratio. Data reduction is accomplished via sub-band coding with linear prediction and adaptive quantization. The theatrical DTS processor acts as a transport mechanism, as it holds and reads the audio discs. When the DTS format was launched, it used one or two discs with later units holding three discs, thus allowing a single DTS processor to handle two-disc film soundtracks along with a third disc for theatrical trailers. The DTS time code on the 35mm print identifies the film title which is matched to the individual DTS CD-ROMs, guaranteeing that the film cannot be played with the wrong disc. Each DTS CD-ROM contains a DOS program that the processor uses to play back the soundtrack, allowing system improvements or bug fixes to be added easily. Unlike Dolby Digital and SDDS, or the home version of DTS, the theatrical DTS system only carries 5 discrete channels on the CD-ROMs. The .1 LFE subwoofer track is mixed into the discrete surround channels on the disc and recovered via low-pass filters in the theater.
DTS technologies
Most DTS consumer codec techniques are documented in
ETSI
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is an independent, not-for-profit, standardization organization in the field of information and communications. ETSI supports the development and testing of global technical standard ...
. DTS Digital Surround, DTS-ES, DTS 96/24, and DTS-HD are recorded in ETSI TS 102 114. DTS:X is recorded in ETSI TS 103 491.
DTS Digital Surround
![DTS Sound compatible laptop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/DTS_Sound_compatible_laptop.jpg)
On the consumer level, DTS is the oft-used shorthand for the DTS Coherent Acoustics (DCA)
codec
A codec is a device or computer program that encodes or decodes a data stream or signal. ''Codec'' is a portmanteau of coder/decoder.
In electronic communications, an endec is a device that acts as both an encoder and a decoder on a signal or da ...
, transportable through
S/PDIF
S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) is a type of digital audio interface used in consumer audio equipment to output audio over relatively short distances. The signal is transmitted over either a coaxial cable (using RCA or BNC connectors) ...
and part of the
LaserDisc
The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...
,
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
, and
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
specifications. This system is the consumer version of the DTS standard, using a similar codec without needing separate DTS CD-ROM media. As with standard CD players, DVD and Blu-ray Disc players cannot decode audio from DTS audio CDs.
DTS is related to the
aptX
aptX (''apt'' stands for ''audio processing technology'') is a family of proprietary audio codec
An audio codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream (a codec) that encodes or decodes audio. In s ...
audio coding format
An audio coding format (or sometimes audio compression format) is a content representation format for storage or transmission of digital audio (such as in digital television, digital radio and in audio and video files). Examples of audio coding f ...
, and it is based on the
adaptive differential pulse-code modulation
Adaptive differential pulse-code modulation (ADPCM) is a variant of differential pulse-code modulation (DPCM) that varies the size of the quantization step, to allow further reduction of the required data bandwidth for a given signal-to-noise ratio ...
(ADPCM)
audio data compression
In information theory, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Any particular compression is either lossy or lossless. Lossless compression ...
algorithm. In contrast,
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for what has now become a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Formerly named Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, the audio compression is lossy ...
(AC-3) is based on the
modified discrete cosine transform
The modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) is a transform based on the type-IV discrete cosine transform (DCT-IV), with the additional property of being lapped transform, lapped: it is designed to be performed on consecutive blocks of a larger ...
(MDCT) compression algorithm.
Both music and movie DVDs allow delivery of a DTS audio signal, but DTS was not part of the original DVD specification (it was added later in 1997), so early DVD players do not recognize DTS audio tracks at all. The DVD specification was revised to allow optional inclusion of DTS audio tracks. The DVD title must carry one or more primary audio tracks in AC-3 or
LPCM
Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the amp ...
format (in Europe,
MPEG-1 Audio Layer II
MPEG-1 Audio Layer II or MPEG-2 Audio Layer II (MP2, sometimes incorrectly called Musicam or MUSICAM) is a lossy audio compression format defined by ISO/IEC 11172-3 alongside MPEG-1 Audio Layer I and MPEG-1 Audio Layer III (MP3). While MP3 is m ...
is also an allowed primary track format). The DTS audio track, if present, can be selected by the user. Subsequent DVD players now decode DTS natively or pass it through to an external decoder. Nearly all standalone receivers and many integrated DVD player/receivers can decode DTS.
A small number of Laserdiscs carry DTS soundtracks. The NTSC Laserdisc format allows for either analog audio only or both analog and digital audio tracks. Laserdiscs encoded with DTS sound replace the LPCM digital audio track with the DTS soundtrack. This soundtrack is output via digital coaxial or optical audio outputs and requires an external decoder to process the bitstream.
For PC playback, many software players support the decoding of DTS. The
VideoLAN
VideoLAN is a non-profit organization which develops software for playing video and other media formats. It originally developed two programs for media streaming, VideoLAN Client (VLC) and VideoLAN Server (VLS), but most of the features of VL ...
project has created a decoding module for DTS called
libdca
libdca (formerly libdts) is a free library for decoding DTS Coherent Acoustics streams. It is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, and is developed by Gildas Bazin of the VideoLAN team. The library is based on the DTS Coher ...
(formerly libdts), which is the first open source implementation of DTS.
Sony's
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
and Microsoft's
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...
are capable of DTS decoding and output via
TOSLINK
TOSLINK (from ''Toshiba Link'') is a standardized optical fiber connector system. Also known generically as optical audio, its most common use is in consumer audio equipment (via a "digital optical" socket), where it carries a digital audio st ...
or
HDMI
High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controller, ...
as LPCM. However, HDMI output on the Xbox 360 is only found on the "
Elite
In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...
" model and newer models available since mid-2007, with the release of the Falcon motherboard revision. Also, the Xbox 360 cannot decode DTS from DTS audio CDs. PlayStation 3 consoles can bitstream DTS over HDMI, but cannot decode audio from DTS audio CDs. The newer "slim" models are able to bitstream DTS-HD MA as well, but also cannot decode audio from DTS CDs.
Comparison with Dolby Digital
DTS and Dolby Digital (AC-3), DTS's chief competitor in the cinema and home theatre markets, are often compared because of their similarity in product goals, though Dolby believed that the surround channels should be diffused and DTS said they should be directional. In theatrical installations, AC-3 audio is placed between sprocket holes on the 35 mm film itself, leaving the audio content susceptible to physical damage from film wear and mishandling. DTS audio is stored on a separate set of CD-ROM media, with greater storage capacity that affords the potential to deliver greater audio fidelity and is not subject to the usual wear and damage suffered by the film print during the normal course of the movie's theatrical screening. Disregarding the separate CD-ROM assembly as a potential point of failure, the DTS audiopath is comparatively impervious to film degradation, unless the film-printed timecode is completely destroyed.
In the consumer market, AC-3 and DTS are close in terms of audio performance. When the DTS audio track is encoded at its highest legal bitrate (1509.75 kbit/s), technical experts rank DTS as perceptually
transparent
Transparency, transparence or transparent most often refer to:
* Transparency (optics), the physical property of allowing the transmission of light through a material
They may also refer to:
Literal uses
* Transparency (photography), a still, ...
for most audio program material (i.e., indistinguishable to the uncoded source in a
double blind
In a blind or blinded experiment, information which may influence the participants of the experiment is withheld until after the experiment is complete. Good blinding can reduce or eliminate experimental biases that arise from a participants' expec ...
test). Dolby claims its competing AC-3 codec achieves similar transparency at its highest coded bitrate (640 kbit/s). However, in program material available to home consumers (DVD, broadcast, and subscription digital TV), neither AC-3 nor DTS typically run at their highest allowed bitrate. DVD and broadcast (ATSC) HDTV cap AC-3 bitrate at 448 kbit/s. But even at that rate, consumer audio gear already enjoys better audio performance than theatrical (35 mm movie) installations, in which AC-3 is limited to 320kbps. When DTS audio was introduced to the DVD specification, a few studios authored DTS tracks on some DVDs at the full bitrate (1509.75 kbit/s). Most later DVD titles that offered DTS tracks were encoded at 754.5 kbit/s (about half the rate of 1536kbit/s). At this reduced rate, DTS no longer retains audio transparency. This was done to make room for more audio tracks and content to reduce costs of spreading extra material on multiple discs.
AC-3 and DTS are sometimes judged by their encoded bitrates. Dolby Digital 5.1 can compress the same data to less, taking up minimal space. Conversely, DTS proponents claim that the extra bits give higher fidelity and more dynamic range, providing a richer and more lifelike sound. But no conclusion can be drawn from their respective bitrates, as each codec relies on different coding tools and syntax to compress audio.
In addition to the standard 5.1-channel DTS Surround codec, the company has several other technologies in its product range designed to compete with similar systems from
Dolby Labs
Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (often shortened to Dolby Labs and known simply as Dolby) is an American company specializing in audio noise reduction, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and HDR imaging. Dolby licenses its technologies to ...
. Those which conceptually extend DTS (to add more channels and/or more accurate sound reproduction) are implemented as extensions to a core DTS Coherent Acoustics data stream. The core stream is compatible with DTS decoders which do not support the extension(s); the extension(s) provide the additional data required to implement the additional functionality.
DTS 70 mm
This is a process designed specifically for playback in motion picture theaters equipped with
70mm
70 mm film (or 65 mm film) is a wide high-resolution film gauge for motion picture photography, with a negative area nearly 3.5 times as large as the standard 35 mm motion picture film format. As used in cameras, the film is wid ...
projection and 6-track surround sound. The 70 mm DTS prints do not have 6-track magnetic striping, so there is no analog backup should the digital sound fail. The time code track on the film is many times wider than the 35mm version, since it can occupy the area formerly taken up by a magnetic track. Theaters with 70 mm DTS frequently install two time code readers for greater reliability.
The gradual disappearance of 70 mm as a common exhibition format has led to DTS-70 being reserved for niche engagements of 70 mm revivals and restorations. Dolby Digital has not been adapted to the 70 mm format.
DTS-ES
DTS-ES (DTS Extended Surround), introduced in March 1999 theatrically and in June 2000 for home theaters; includes two variants, DTS-ES Discrete 6.1, and DTS-ES Matrix 5.1, depending on how the sound was originally mastered and stored. Both variants are implemented in ways which are compatible with DTS decoders which do not include support for DTS-ES.
DTS-ES Matrix provides 5.1 discrete channels, with a matrixed center-surround audio channel. DTS processors that are compatible with the ES codec look for and recognize "flags" built into the audio coding and "unfold" the rear-center sound from data that would otherwise be sent to rear surround speakers. DTS decoders which do not understand ES process the sound as if it were standard 5.1 and the matrixed audio for the
center surround channel
Surround channels are audio channels in surround sound multichannel audio. They primarily serve to deliver ambience and diffuse sounds in a film or music soundtrack.
History
Dolby Stereo (1975) was the first standard cinema sound system usin ...
is output equally from the two surround speakers (very much as a sound intended to be in the center of the sound field in a stereo recording is played equally by the left and right speakers). This is notated as DTS-ES 5.1.
DTS-ES Discrete provides 6.1 discrete channels, with a discretely recorded (non-
matrixed) center-surround channel; in home theater systems with a 7.1 configuration, the two rear-center speakers play in
mono
Mono may refer to:
Common meanings
* Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease"
* Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono
* Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single
Music Performers
* Mono (Japanese b ...
. To maintain compatibility with DTS decoders which do not support DTS-ES, the center-surround channel is also matrixed into the left and right surround channels, so that the rear center channel's sound is still present when played in 5.1 on a non-ES system; an ES decoder removes the matrixed audio from these two channels when playing back DTS-ES Discrete soundtracks. DTS-ES Discrete is sometimes notated as DTS-ES 6.1. Only a few DVD titles have been released with DTS-ES Discrete.
In contrast, Dolby's competing
EX codec, which also boasts a center rear channel, can only handle matrixed data and does not support a discrete sixth channel; it is most directly comparable to DTS-ES Matrix.
Note: The center-rear/surround channel is encoded and decoded in exactly the same way as the center-front. The center-surround channel can be decoded using any surround sound processor by feeding the left and right surround signals to the processor inputs. The left-Center-Right surround is produced. This will work for a "center-surround" reproduction, whether the source material is explicitly encoded, as in DTS-ES, or hidden as the ambience in any 5.1 sources, including DTS-ES 5.1 and Dolby Digital Surround EX 5.1.
DTS 96/24
DTS 96/24, introduced in May 2001, allows the delivery of 5.1 channels of 24-bit, 96 kHz audio and high quality video on the
DVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs. DVD-Video was the dominant consumer home video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia in the 2000s until it was supplanted by the high-definition Blu-r ...
format. Prior to the development of DTS 96/24, it was only possible to deliver two channels of 24-bit, 96 kHz audio on DVD Video. DTS 96/24 can also be placed in the video zone on
DVD-Audio
DVD-Audio (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio uses most of the storage on the disc for high-quality audio and is not intended to be a video delivery format.
The sta ...
discs, making these discs playable on all DTS-compatible DVD players. DTS 96/24 is implemented as a core DTS stream plus an extension containing the deltas to enable 96/24 sound reproduction.
DTS-HD High Resolution Audio
DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, along with DTS-HD Master Audio, comprise the DTS-HD extension to the original DTS audio format. It delivers up to 7.1 channels of sound at a 96 kHz sampling frequency and 24-bit depth resolution. DTS-HD High Resolution Audio is selected as an optional surround sound format for
Blu-ray Disc
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...
, with constant bit rates up to 6.0 Mbit/s and 3.0 Mbit/s, respectively. It is intended to be an alternative for DTS-HD Master Audio where disc space may not allow it. DTS-HD High Resolution Audio is implemented as a core DTS stream plus an extension containing the two additional channels plus details to enable 96/24 sound reproduction.
DTS-HD Master Audio
DTS-HD Master Audio, previously known as ''DTS++'', is the second of two DTS-HD audio formats. It supports a virtually unlimited number of surround sound channels, can deliver audio quality at bit rates extending from lossless (24-bit, 192 kHz) down to DTS Digital Surround and, like Neo,
downmix to 5.1 or 2.1 systems.
DTS-HD Master Audio is selected as an optional surround sound format for
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
, where it has been limited to a maximum of 8 discrete channels. DTS-HD MA supports variable bit rates up to 24.5 Mbit/s, with up to
6 channels encoded at up to 192 kHz or
8 channels and nine objects encoded at 96 kHz/24 bit. If more than two channels are used, a "channel remapping" function allows for remixing the soundtrack to compensate for a different channel layout in the playback system compared to the original mix.
All Blu-ray players can decode the DTS "core" resolution soundtrack at 1.5 Mbit/s, however, as DTS-HD Master Audio is also implemented as a standard DTS core plus extensions, but cannot decode audio from DTS audio CDs. DTS-HD Master Audio and
Dolby TrueHD
Dolby TrueHD is a lossless, multi-channel audio codec developed by Dolby Laboratories for home video, used principally in Blu-ray Disc and compatible hardware. Dolby TrueHD, along with Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3) and Dolby AC-4, is one of the int ...
are the only technologies that deliver compressed
lossless
Lossless compression is a class of data compression that allows the original data to be perfectly reconstructed from the compressed data with no loss of information. Lossless compression is possible because most real-world data exhibits statistic ...
surround sound for these new disc formats, ensuring the highest quality audio performance available in the new standards. (DTS Coherent Acoustics' coding system was selected as mandatory audio technology for Blu-ray Discs.)
DTS:X
For each speaker, DTS:X allows the "location" (direction from the listener) of "objects" (audio tracks) to be specified as
polar coordinates
In mathematics, the polar coordinate system is a two-dimensional coordinate system in which each point on a plane is determined by a distance from a reference point and an angle from a reference direction. The reference point (analogous to the or ...
. The audio processor is then responsible for dynamically rendering sound output depending on the number and position of speakers available.
Dolby Atmos
Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels, allowing sounds to be interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horizontal, nor verti ...
uses a similar technique,
although the speaker layout employed by cinema DTS:X is the sum of Dolby Atmos and
Auro-3D
Auro-3D is an immersive 3D audio format developed by the Belgium-based company Auro Technologies.
Technology
It is designed along three layers of sound (surround, height and overhead ceiling), building on the single horizontal layer used in th ...
. The layout showcased at AMC Burbank theatre number 8 has a standard eight channel base layer, a five channel height layer on top of the base layer (on the front and side walls) and three rows of speakers on the ceiling. The surround arrays are bass managed by woofers suspended from the ceiling. A first public demonstration was performed at CES 2015 on a Trinnov Altitude32 processor.
DTS Neo:6
DTS Neo:6, like
Dolby's Pro Logic IIx system, reconstructs 2.1, 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 sources to 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1, and 7.1 channel systems. A 7.1 system's 2 rear speakers are mono. Neo:6 is a multi-band decoder, unlike Dolby Pro Logic II's broadband logic steering, meaning that the decoder can enhance more than one predominant signal at a time — provided each predominant signal lies in a different frequency band than the others. The number of bands steered varies in each Neo:6 implementation, with the first decoders steering in 12 separate bands and later units steering up to 19.
DTS Neo:X
DTS Neo:X reconstructs 2.1, 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 sources to 11.1 front
height
Height is measure of vertical distance, either vertical extent (how "tall" something or someone is) or vertical position (how "high" a point is).
For example, "The height of that building is 50 m" or "The height of an airplane in-flight is abou ...
and width channel systems.
Dolby's Pro Logic IIz's system adds only front height channels to the 7.1 configuration. Neo:X also matrix
downmixes 11.1 sources to 5.1 or 7.1 channel systems.
DTS Neural:X
DTS Neural:X usually comes on systems that also have DTS:X, and is an upmixing technique for upmixing or remapping legacy bitstreams and PCM content to virtually any speaker layout, in which the sound can come from anywhere around the listener, including above.
DTS Virtual:X
DTS Virtual:X creates "phantom" surround and/or height speakers using psychoacoustic processing of existing soundtracks (including, if needed, the creation of height channels) to allow systems with a reduced number of physical speakers (such as TV soundbars) to provide a more "immersive" experience.
DTS Surround Sensation
DTS Surround Sensation: Previously known as DTS Virtual. It allows a virtual 5.1 surround sound to be heard through a standard pair of headphones.
DTS Headphone:X
DTS Headphone:X is metadata which can be encoded on top of a 2-channel lossy DTS bitstream that reproduces 12 channels of
binaural surround sound using any pair of stereo headphones. The
head related transfer function
A head-related transfer function (HRTF), also known as anatomical transfer function (ATF), is a response that characterizes how an ear receives a sound from a point in space. As sound strikes the listener, the size and shape of the head, ears, ea ...
is developed by DTS and includes compensation for room cues such as reflection and delay by mapping the acoustic characteristic of the original mixing studio, or other professional audio lab as a reference.
DTS Connect
DTS Connect is a blanket name for a two-part system used on the computer platform only, in order to convert PC audio into the DTS format, transported via a single S/PDIF cable. The two components of the system are DTS Interactive and DTS Neo:PC. It is found on various CMedia soundcards and onboard audio with Realtek ALC883DTS/ALC889A/ALC888DD-GR/ALC892-DTS-CG and SoundMAX AD1988 chips, as well as several cards based on the
X-Fi chipset, such as the
SoundBlaster
Sound Blaster is a family of sound cards designed by Singaporean technology company Creative Technology (known in the US as Creative Labs). Sound Blaster sound cards were the de facto standard for consumer audio on the IBM PC compatible system pl ...
Titanium series and
Auzentech
Auzentech was a Korean computer hardware manufacturer that specialized in high-definition audio equipment and in particular PC sound cards.
Auzentech has its origins in March 2005, when under the company name HDA (HiTeC Digital Audio), the compa ...
's X-Fi Forte, X-Fi Prelude, X-Fi Home Theater HD and X-Fi Bravura cards.
* DTS Interactive: This is a real-time DTS stream encoder. On the PC, it takes multichannel audio and converts it into a 1.5 Mbit/s DTS stream for output. Because it uses the original DTS codec to transmit audio, fidelity is limited to 5.1 channel at 48 kHz, 24bit. More than 5.1 channels, a higher sampling frequency or data rate are not supported, due to the lack of support for DTS variants such as DTS 96/24. It can also be found on some standalone devices (e.g., Surround Encoder). Nearly a dozen titles on the
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
feature the "DTS Interactive" real-time stream encoder, such as ''
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' and ''
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines''.
* DTS Neo:PC: This is a technology based on the
DTS Neo:6 matrix surround technology, which transforms any stereo content (MP3, WMA, CD Audio, or games) into a simulated 7.1-channel surround sound experience. The 7.1-channel surround sound is output as a DTS stream for output via a
S/PDIF
S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) is a type of digital audio interface used in consumer audio equipment to output audio over relatively short distances. The signal is transmitted over either a coaxial cable (using RCA or BNC connectors) ...
cable port.
DTS Play-Fi
Play-Fi is a wireless protocol for multiroom audio based on the existing
802.11
IEEE 802.11 is part of the IEEE 802 set of local area network (LAN) technical standards, and specifies the set of media access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) protocols for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer commu ...
specification (b/g/n). It emerged in late 2012 as an Android streaming protocol, with iOS support added in September 2013, and Windows support later, including audio/video sync.
The first Play-Fi speaker was the Phorus PS1, made by DTS subsidiary Phorus.
Unlike competitors such as Sonos or SoundTouch from Bose, Play-Fi is an open standard and has been adopted by a wide range of brands including Anthem, Arcam, Audiolab, Definitive Technology, Hewlett-Packard, Integra,
Klipsch
Klipsch Audio Technologies (also referred to as Klipsch Speakers or Klipsch Group, Inc.) is an American loudspeaker company based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in Hope, Arkansas, in 1946 as 'Klipsch and Associates' by Paul W. Klipsch, the c ...
, MartinLogan, McIntosh, Onkyo, Paradigm,
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
, Pioneer,
Polk Audio
Polk Audio is an American manufacturer of audio products best known for its home and automobile speakers. The company also produces a wide range of other audio products, such as amplifiers and FM tuners. The company's headquarters are in San Die ...
, Rotel, Sonus Faber, Soundcast and Wren. The Play-Fi app supports streaming from the user's device,
DLNA
Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA; originally named Digital Home Working Group, DHWG) was founded by a group of PC and consumer electronics companies in June 2003 (with Intel in the lead role) to develop and promote a set of interoperability ...
servers, via
AirPlay
Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...
and from online streaming services including
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
,
Pandora Radio
Pandora is a subscription-based music streaming service owned by Sirius XM Holdings based in Oakland, California, United States. The service carries a focus on recommendations based on the "Music Genome Project" — a means of classifying indiv ...
, Amazon Prime Music, iHeart Radio, Rhapsody, SiriusXM,
Tidal
Tidal is the adjectival form of tide.
Tidal may also refer to:
* ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple
* Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim
* TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music
* Tidal (servic ...
, Qobuz, KKBox, QQ Music, and Juke. DTS Play-Fi also introduced a Play-Fi enabled wireless speaker with Amazon Alexa Voice Services built-in under the Onkyo, Phorus, and Pioneer brands in September 2017.
Other Play-Fi capabilities include:
* grouping speakers for individual simultaneous playback of the same source and so that their volume can be controlled simultaneously
* grouping speakers in stereo or surround configurations
* creating zones for playing different audio streams to different groups of speakers
* streaming line-in input to a speaker group
* streaming of arbitrary audio output on computers running Windows
or Linux with
PulseAudio
PulseAudio is a network-capable sound server program distributed via the freedesktop.org project. It runs mainly on Linux, various BSD distributions such as FreeBSD and OpenBSD, macOS, as well as Illumos distributions and the Solaris operating ...
(albeit with a delay and only to individual speakers, as opposed to groups, zones, or stereo configurations)
* streaming the left and right surround channels of a broadcast or movie to two wireless Play-Fi speakers to be used as surround channels with a Play-Fi enabled sound bar.
* Ability to stream and decode high resolution audio (up to 96 kHz / 24-bit).
Play-Fi does not support
Google Cast
Google Cast is a proprietary protocol developed by Google for playing Internet-streamed audio/video content on a compatible consumer device. The protocol is used to initiate and control playback of content on digital media players, high-definition ...
, rebroadcasting Bluetooth input to more than one speaker, or audio streaming in sync with video on non-Windows systems.
See also
*
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for what has now become a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Formerly named Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, the audio compression is lossy ...
(AC-3)
*
Codec
A codec is a device or computer program that encodes or decodes a data stream or signal. ''Codec'' is a portmanteau of coder/decoder.
In electronic communications, an endec is a device that acts as both an encoder and a decoder on a signal or da ...
*
Dolby Laboratories
Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (often shortened to Dolby Labs and known simply as Dolby) is an American company specializing in Noise reduction#In audio, audio noise reduction, Audio data compression, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and ...
*
Home theatre
Home cinema, also called home theaters or theater rooms, are home entertainment audio-visual systems that seek to reproduce a movie theater experience and mood using consumer electronics-grade video and audio equipment that is set up in a room ...
*
AV receiver
An audio/video receiver (AVR) is a consumer electronics component used in a home theater. Its purpose is to receive audio and video signals from a number of sources, and to process them and provide power amplifiers to drive loudspeakers and ro ...
*
THX
THX Ltd. is an American company that develops the eponymous high fidelity audio/visual reproduction standards for movie theaters, screening rooms, home theaters, computer speakers, gaming consoles, car audio systems, and video games. Founded ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dts (Sound System)
Xperi
Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq
Audio codecs
Film sound production
Private equity portfolio companies
Surround sound
Companies based in Calabasas, California
Electronics companies established in 1990
American companies established in 1990
1990 establishments in California
Audiovisual introductions in 1993
2016 mergers and acquisitions