Call me slow & behind the times, but I have only just worked out it is possible to put a 5.1 surround mix to a DTS encoded CD at a resolution of 24/88.2! The DTS-Pro series encoder is needed, and what it does is uses a core stream plus extensions. The core stream is the good old DTS stream we all know so well, and the extended frequency response is encoded into the stream extensions - so that even though the disc is actually carrying 24/88.2 data when decoded through the DTS-ES/DTS-EX decoders, the core stream is still exactly the same so that if the resulting CD is played back through an older DTS decoder, the output is a perfectly formed 24/44.1 stream. It excited me, anyway. Maybe I should get out more?
Depends on the source material of course. But yes - it sounds superb. I have just run the Temptations "All Directions" in Quad from a set of 24/96 transfers and the resulting encode is simply stunning on DVD. Still got to do the SRC down to 88.2 and make the DTS-CD version.
Oops. I got this completely wrong. It is apparently not possible to put 24/88.2 on a CD, despite what I had been told. Sorry about the misleading information.
To say I feel stpid is an understatement. Cannot think for the life of me why I had the idea it would work - I even bought the blasted encoders mainly for that purpose. However. 24/88.2 can go on CD in Stereo - it's just the Surround that is not possible, so at least we have this much - High Rez on a CD can be done. 24/96 sounds great though - okay, not as good as true lossless, but it is not far off at all. Hybrids will now all be MLP, DTS 96/24 & DD 24/48 from me.
Now I know where I got this from! See http://www.dtsonline.com/pro-audio/products.php?ID=1002434300 And please - from the descriptions posted - what would YOU think? Is it just me, or is this VERY badly worded?
They mainly present a smorgasboard of different technical data but only superficially say how they can be combined. You can never see in their info that 24/88.2/5.1 can't be done on CD, but they never say that it can be done either. I'm always pessimistic of presented technical data and ambiguity, I usually presume ambiguity is there intentionally. To lure people into believing the product can do more than it actually can, but without the possibility of them being sued.
Oh, I'm not arguing the facts. I got it wrong - it's that simple. Whilst it doesn't explicitly state you CAN put 24/88.2 5.1 to a CD, it doesn't exactly say you can't either as the heading is all saying about "digital Surround" not Stereo. And DTS are known for surround, not stereo. But it is my fault. I should not have assumed that because the heading said surround, and they talked about 44.1 for CD, and 88.2 for even higher resolution on CD, that 88.2 was available for surround CD. It did heavily imply it though.....
Wilkes, We are working on a complete re-do of the professional pages for several good reasons one of which you stumbled across here. The data wasn't presented in a format that helped our clients to understand or learn from. We hope to do a better job of this in the near future. John Carey Director, Professional Audio DTS, Inc.
John. Thanks for the update - I appreciate it. I still should have read things more carefully though. (BTW - the Pro series encoder is very, very good. 24/96 in 5.1 on a DVD-V is so much better than 24/48 source, and there is just no comparison with the dire Dobly!)
Wilkes, Readers of this forum might be interested to learn that DTS is offering their Pro Series Encoder at a special reduced price right now. This Mac/PC application will create encoded files that can be authored into DVD-V or DTS 5.1 CDs. best regards, John john.carey@dts.com
