DTS Audio CD Question. (1 Viewer)

[Derek Duncan]

I have a stupid question. I don't have a DTS decoder, but plan on getting one soon. My player(a Sony 550D) is DTS compatible, but I need a decoder(it just plays static). My question is, what happens on a DTS music cd, will it be a noisy sound as well, just like a DTS DVD, and is the DTS track the only track on the cd, is it unusable without a decoder. Thanks.
Derek

 

[Keith Mickunas]

I do believe DTS CDs only contain DTS tracks and no others. Because of this you will need a DTS decoder to listen to it. Any CD, LD, or DVD player with a digital output can play a DTS CD if you have a DTS decoder. Without the decoder you'll just get noise, if it plays at all.

 

[Thomas_Berg]

question: what player do you play a DTS CD in? would my RP91 play it? if so, how to configure? where do you buy these special CDs at?
(sorry for the many questions...i'm just interested in this format )
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-Thomas
My HT

 

[Keith Mickunas]

DTS CDs can be found at various online vendors and B&M stores. I know Best Buy and DVDEmpire.com have some. You usually find them in with the DVD-Audio, DAD and SACD discs. If you have an external decoder, then yes you could play it in the RP-91. I don't know if the decoder on the RP-91 would handle those or not, as I don't have a DTS-CD to test on my RA-60. DTS info on CDs isn't flagged the same way as on DVD-Video discs, so the DVD player's decoder may not pick it up. My manual never mentions DTS-CD anywhere in it that I've seen so far. It does say in the Settings section that the DTS Digital Surround option in the Audio menu, which controls the digital output of DTS from the player, is only for DVD-A and DVD-V.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I may be wrong, but it's my understanding that any DVD or CD player with an optical or digital coax out will pass the bitstream from a dts-audio disc on to an external decoder (IE: receiver).
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My DVD Collection Casa del Clint

 

[Thomas_Berg]

so if i toss it into my marantz cd player and use the digital-out, the DTS decoder in my receiver will do the rest?
or do i have to put it into a dvd player that passes DTS through its digital out? and how can i be sure the cd player passes DTS?
again sorry for the massive amounts of questions!
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-Thomas
My HT

 

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Thomas - Yes that should work just fine. DTS CDs have a "trick" where the DTS data is flagged as if it were regular audio (PCM) data. This flagging causes any CD player with a digital out to pass the DTS bitstream out the digital port unmodified.
It is because of this trick that when you listen to a DTS CD on the analog outs of a CD player, or a DVD player without a DTS decoder, you hear static. The static is really the CD player treating the DTS bitstream as if it were regular audio data.
For what it is worth, this trick of flagging DTS data as regular audio (PCM) data is a violation of the redbook CD standard. For this reason, you will not ever see the standard CD logo, nor the phrase "compact disc" on a DTS CD.