Desperado & Air Force One and other Superbits - less LFE on DTS (1 Viewer)

[Chris Stone]

is it just me or do the DTS soundtrack, while sounding great, have less LFE impact than the Dolby counterpart ?
I noticed Widescreen Review said something to the effect in their Desperado Review but I found the same on Air Force One. Any comments ?

 

[Luis A]

Chris, does your preamp/receiver have different sub settings for DD and DTS? I have to turn the sub down a couple db when I use DTS on Desperado, AF1, and FE. I will go through these titles again today. Let ya know.
L

 

[Robert_eb]

The first thing I noticed when i purchased the superbut version of The Fifth Element was it didn't have the LFE punch of my older dolby version. I thought something was wrong with the disc but I haven't heard anything on this forum until this thread regarding this issue.

 

[Brian-W]

From what I remember, half-bit rate DTS is capped in the LFE to 19Hz, while Dolby Digital and full-bit rate DTS tops 20Hz.
That could be part of the problem.

 

[Robert George]

Brian, I'm not sure what you are saying there. Typo perhaps?
DTS at 754 kb/s is flat only up to 15kHz where full rate and DD at 448 kb/s are flat to 20kHz. That, of course, has nothing to do with the LFE.
There is a peculiarity of half rate DTS that has a dip of about 3dB between 60 and 90 Hz. I heard something about this being fixed with a firmware upgrade for the CAE-4 encoder (Shane? Dave Judah?), but maybe not. Even so, perhaps Sony hasn't gotten the upgrade for their encoder.

 

[Brian-W]

Robert,
I don't have the article (that's what you get when you loan friends magazines...and I know he's reading this) in front of me.
A typo, probably, but the article stated that the LFE on half-bit rate DTS was not as high as DD or full-bit rate DTS. Just reiterating what I read. Is it fact? Dunno...
It could also be that this issue has been addressed as you pointed out. Wish I could find that article

-Brian

 

[David Judah]

If I remember correctly, DTS claimed it was the reconstruction filter in a particular version of the CAD-4 decoder, not the encoder that was the culprit. Again, according to DTS, it was corrected in later designs. I would be suprised if any consumer decoders exhibited those characteristics, however.
I don't think anyone has graphed Desperado or Air Force One and I'm not volunteering; I can't even do quick and dirty comparisons because I loaned my SPL meter out.
Just for fun though I listened to chapter 25 of Desperado in both formats(crossover at 90 Hz) and thought they both had some nice LFE information. I can't say which was deeper, but the DTS track did make things in my room resonate more.
One thing that shouldn't be dismissed, however, is how different receivers/processors handle LFE in the different formats. Some are set at the same level and cannot be adjusted. Others, are adjustable and set by default to the same levels. Others still, like my Yamaha, are set to different levels by default and have to be adjusted to be equal(+7 DTS LFE to match 0 Dolby Digital LFE).
DJ

 

[Dan M~]

DJ-
How did you set the DTS LFE, what did you use for a reference tone? I have a Yamaha and have been threatening to do the calibration comparison between the two, but I have not found a calibrated LFE source for BOTH DD and DTS. (I understand the Ultimate DVD may have this)
-Dan

 

[David Judah]

Yes, Dan, I used the Ultimate DVD Platinum to get it in the ballpark, and WB's DTS/DD releases of Twister & Lethal Weapon III to fine tune it.
DJ

 

[Dan M~]

DJ-
Thanks, I guess I need to find the disk and work it into my budget.
-Dan