Incorrect Labeling On Fox D-Theater™ Release
Dear Gary: While the D-Theater™ tape of X2: X-Men United is advertised as being DTS 96/24, it is, in fact, just regular DTS as far as I can tell. I have a JVC 40k, and a Sony STR-DA4ES receiver, and I have other DTS 96/24 material that does show up as decoding DTS 96/24. Setting my JVC HM-DH40000U to stream and choosing the stream audio option, it’s obvious from watching the decode display that this track is just regular DTS 3/2.1 not DTS 96/24 3/2.1. I switched the JVC VCR over to the input that DOES correctly decode DTS 96/24 DVD material, in case I had something set up wrong on the receiver, but even doing that it still decodes as normal DTS not DTS 96/24. I tested the decode function using Queen’s A Night At The Opera DVD and that DOES decode properly as DTS 96/24 on my system. The X2 tape simply decodes as regular DTS 3/2.1 I thought maybe you would want to let the manufacturer and your readers know that while the X2 tape is advertised as DTS 96/24 it is, in fact, just regular, albeit full bitrate (1509 kilobits per second), DTS.
Roger Uzun
Editor-In-Chief Gary Reber Comments:
You are correct. We have questioned both JVC and Fox concerning this discrepancy and unbeknownst to Fox, JVC hadn’t implemented the 96/24 DTS encoding. JVC hopefully will upgrade their encoder and enable future releases with full bitrate DTS 96 kHz/24-bit encoding. At present, JVC reports that they have yet to see any “film” content with 96/24-encoded audio. And according to Fox, as it turns out, currently their authoring systems don’t actually handle 96/24 (though it was thought so with respect to the D-Theater release) and so there are, in fact, no movies on DVDs encoded in 96/24 (some music titles are available on DVD in 96/24). DTS (the company) recently sent us an e-mail emphasizing their desire for us to use the 96/24 logo in our reviews (the little icons that appear next to the DVD cover images). The timing of this e-mail lead us to believe they too were under the impression that there are some 96/24 titles out there, or were about to be offered. Originally, 96/24 was primarily made for audio and DVD-Audio in particular. But obviously, enthusiasts will want to see movie soundtracks encoded in this higher resolution format. What needs to happen is for the multi-track masters to be encoded in 96/24. It should be noted that DTS 96/24 does not require additional bit stream bandwidth over the bit rates that are normally implemented (1,509 kbps for D-VHS®, 1,509 and 754 kbps for DVD). The “standard” DTS content at 48/24 is encoded, with the “extra” data for 48 and 96 kHz encoded within a specially designated data sector within the DTS data stream. Upon decoding, a DTS 96/24 decoder detects the presence of the “extra” data, decodes this and the “standard” data, and combines them to derive 96/24 audio. Other DTS decoders simply ignore the “extra” data. Once again, the real requirement for DTS 96/24 should be multi-track masters that actually are 96/24.
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