Universal choose DTS-HD Master Audio for Blu-ray releases

GREAT news. I can only imagine how good the Fast and the Furious movies will sound with DTS HD Master Audio. I'm sure there are other movies that will take advantage of this beautiful sound but those movies came to my mind right away.

And Fast and the Furious was the first movie that came to your mind !!! wow.. i dont know if i should laugh our cry

im guessing that when paramount start releasing blu-rays your going be first in line for top gun ? i dont know what it is, but the thought of big muscluar guys driving around in civics just doesnt do it for me !!! neither does guys playing volleyball in hd !!!

Jim I was thinking more in terms of sound, not so much about guys playing volleyball )

EDIT: I wish the wink worked on here.

[Post edited by Falcon01 on May 5, 2008]

I agree w/ Falcon. Everything about the fast & furious franchise screams for lossless audio. the revin' of the engines, cars racing on the streets, the spec effects of the camera going thru the engine and out the tail pipe, etc...
Top Gun... 80s classic. sure the humor is a bit out dated but the dog fight at the end is spectacular.

Add to the list of anticipation.
King Kong
Hulk
Pitch Black
Hot Fuzz

All were great transfers in HD. I'm sure they will do bluray justice.

Quote:
the revin' of the engines, cars racing on the streets, the spec effects of the camera going thru the engine and out the tail pipe, etc...

Exactly. I watched 2 Fast to Furious last night and I watched the first and third movie in the last couple of weeks. All three of these movies would sound amazing in DTS HD MA, heck even Dolby TrueHD would be amazing!

[Post edited by Falcon01 on May 5, 2008]

"...heck even Dolby TrueHD would be amazing!" --Falcon

You make it sound like TrueHD isn't quite as good as DTS MA. I know I'm opening a can of worms here because everybody seems to have a favorite audio codec, but in theory, if they're done right, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, and uncompressed PCM are all lossless and should sound the same if processing the same track.

John

All the same, I still wish all studios would go with uncompressed PCM. It is hard to believe how good this sounds when compared to older DD5.1 and DTS. Blu-Ray has the space for it, so why do we even need to decode anything? Regrettably I wanted DTS-MA to die just because almost none of the players (set top) can decode it internally. It puts this codec at a large disadvantage, and DTS-MA no longer has the edge of higher sound quality/bitrate that DTS did over DD5.1. I did not see this decision by Universal coming at all. Now I have to upgrade again

John I agree that Dolby TrueHD should be every bit as good as DTS HD MA, at least thats the way it seems form what I've read online. Dolby TrueHD seems to be more common in hidef players and receivers which is why I said it.

I hear a lot about DTS HD MA but not enough praise for Dolby TrueHD which is deserves.

Falcon,

I always praise TrueHD tracks in my reviews (and DTS MA and uncompressed PCM).

They always sound (if sometimes only marginally) better to my ears than regular, lossy Dolby Digital or DTS. But as xlr8 points out, not all players or receivers can decode TrueHD or DTS MA. In that case, viewers have to settle for a disc's regular Dolby Digital or DTS tracks. Or upgrade.

As far as uncompressed PCM goes, as xlr8 also points out, it takes up a good deal of room, and even dual-layer BD50s don't have unlimited space. To say nothing of single-layer BD25s, which are quite common and have even less space than an old HD DVD. I think you'll see a swing in coming years to TrueHD and DTS MA over uncompressed PCM with all the studios. Even Disney now seems to be heading toward TrueHD.

John

Well Universal has given me another reason to wait for the Panasonic BD50 since I don't have a newer receiver.

John I agree, since in the coming years we'll be seeing discs with BD-java extras it would make no sense for studios to waste space with Uncompressed PCM when True HD, and DTS Master HD, get the job done with less space.

[Post edited by Movielover316 on May 5, 2008]

Make you wonder why they choose HD-MA over TrueHD, lower licensing costs perhaps... or maybe some political reason we`ll never know about...

I always assumed that Studios that chose DTS HD was because you essentially get two audio codecs in one. You get the Lossless or Hi Res DTS HD track and you get the DTS core track embedded in it. Which works with any receiver capable of decoding regular DTS. Unlike True HD which almost always has a separate Dolby Digital track. I've never seen figures but I'd assume this saves space.

[Post edited by Movielover316 on May 5, 2008]

My codec of preference is LPCM. When I first heard Dolby TrueHD it really did'nt standout to me as much as LPCM, a real treat for the ears is listening to the 24bit LPCM track of Ratatouille. I only have two BDs with dts HD/MA and with no other HD codec on the disc to compare it with it's hard to say.

Of course Movielover316, doh... why didn`t I think of that...

I would add that Universal never faced this problem on HD DVD, since all players were mandated to decode TrueHD and downconvert the sound stream if necessary.

"...you get the DTS core track embedded in it. Which works with any receiver capable of decoding regular DTS. Unlike True HD which almost always has a separate Dolby Digital track." --movielover

That's true, and it's convenient not to have to choose at start-up the track you want to hear. Your receiver will play one or the other automatically. But also consider that DTS MA with its regular DTS core still takes up as much or more room than a TrueHD track and regular DD track combined. That doesn't make TrueHD sound any better, though, and, as I say, the three lossless codecs (TrueHD, DTS-HD MA, and uncompressed PCM) should sound the same if done right. Studios are just looking at the convenience factors and the space factors here.

John