Men In Black - DTS video vs. DD video quality question (1 Viewer)

[Dave H]

I'm looking at picking up Men In Black and wanted to know if the video quality is the same on the DTS version as the DD. I'm asking because I remember reading a review that stated the DTS video looked worse.

Has anyone done a comparison?

Thanks

 

[Chris Maynard]

I have both and I did not notice any difference when I looked at them.

The transfer itself is a bit on the soft side.

A ton of fun film!

 

[Dave H]

Chris,

This is not to start a huge debate - but on the audio side - which sounded better to you?

 

[Neil Joseph]

I seem to remember a thread where people said that the dts video was not as good as the DD video was. It looks good to me though. I only have the dts version.

 

[Bjoern Roy]

Hi Dave,

i made a screenshot comparison of the DTS version and DD LE back in the days. Every shot i compared, whether low motion or high motion, was IDENTICAL, bit-for-bit. And not only in a subjective sense. The mathematical difference of the shots was ZERO.

Regards

 

[Dave H]

Thanks Bjoern,

What did you come up with for audio differences on these two verisons (DTS vs. DD)?

 

[Chris Maynard]

Dave - The DTS version is 4dB louder if memory serves. IMHO the DTS does sound a bit (no pun intended) better. I thought the LFE had a bit more definition.

They are very close though. This is all pulled from my memory of the titles which is over a year old.

If memory also serves the DTS is full bit rate.

I purchased both versions. The CE and the DTS version.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I seem to remember a thread where people said that the dts video was not as good as the DD video was.

Actually, this whole debacle occurred because DVD Review posted the first DTS MIB review and they thought it looked worse than the DD one. Virtually no one else agreed with this finding, but since they provided the first public discussion of the disc, their opinion became much better known than otherwise would have happened.

As such, almost a year and a half later, this thread continues to pop up from time to time. I won't question DVD Review's opinion - God knows I've been the only one to like or dislike something at times (I was recently shocked to see how many positive opinions regard the picture quality of True Lies - but I don't think the idea has spread much beyond their pages...

 

[Dave H]

I just ordered the DTS version ($14.27 from Deep Discount DVD). This should be a great on DVD.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Bjoern Roy,

Please help; I think the video is better on the DD version of Saving P.R. than the DTS [prefer the DTS sound]. Also I like the look of the DD version of Ants better than the DTS.

And prefer the one disc version of T2 UE over the two disc version [however prefer the sound on the two disc version].

Any comment? Thanks.

 

[ErichH]

I decided to upgrade my Twister DVD to a DTS version . When it arrived , I poped it in , and was shocked at how bad the video looked , compared to my DD disk . It's outa here . I had some silly thought that the DTS used more of the space on the disc(which it does) , and perhaps the video was compressed a little more . Later I just assumed it was a bad rip . Whatever it was , it made me think twice about DTS on some DVDs . Whenever there's a 2 disc set - I feel better about it .

Eric

 

[Jeff Whitford]

My Twister DTS disc looked much better than the original. You are the 1st person ive heard say you liked the old one better.

 

[Jon D]

The DTS is 754 Kbps. The video looks fine to me. The DTS track is VERY noisy, however. The bass is pretty deep, but not as loud as you'd think it would be. Good disc, if not quite demo material.

 

[Dave H]

Has there really been a general consensus amongst reviewers where the DD version actually does look better than the DTS version? My separate DTS releases - Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, Jaws, Jurassic Park, American Pie - all appear to have the same video quality as the separate Dolby Digital versions.

 

[DanR]

Dave,

It's a bunch of bullshit regarding the picture "differences". I got into it in one of these threads about 6 months ago, but suffice to say that this was/is nothing more than a case of "confirmation bias" on the part of the internet DVD community, mostly the amatuers who think they know what they're talking about. If DVD Review hadn't published their review, I gaurantee you that these people running around crying "It's true the Dolby picture is better" would not have noticed anything "different". The facts remain:

1.)Cliff Stephenson of DVDFile talked to CTHV and they confirmed that the exact same video stream was used for both versions.

2.)Bjoern did his analysis, and it is the same bit-for-bit.

Finally, I've been into Laserdisc and DVD for coming up on 10 years now. I trust my own eyes (Obi's too) and equipment over all of these "expert" DVD websites. I rented the other version and could detect no difference whatsoever. That caused me to laugh out loud. I'll even give DVD Review that perhaps they noticed something foul, but maybe it was just a bad disc and had nothing to do with which soundtrack was on the disc. It seems rather irresponsible for people to automatically assume a "difference" in the picture had to be caused by DTS.

Who cares anyway. All three MIB dics are great and fun ways to own the movie. Enjoy!!!

Regards,

Dan

 

[Colin Jacobson]

My separate DTS releases - Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, Jaws, Jurassic Park, American Pie - all appear to have the same video quality as the separate Dolby Digital versions.

??? Unless I missed something, there's no DTS-only version of American Pie; the Ultimate Edition has both DD 5.1 and DTS on the same DVD...

 

[Dave H]

Don't all those DTS movies I listed also have Dolby Digital tracks? I'm not aware of a (separate) DTS title that does not contain a Dolby Digital track. The Collector's Edition of American Pie had the same transfer and almost the same amount of extras that the (DTS) Ultimate Edition had.

 

[Jeremy Allin]

It's my understanding that all DVDs must contain at least one Dolby Digital track (it was part of the original spec). That is why DTS releases (The Haunting for example) also contain a Dolby 2.0 track. Perhaps someone can elaborate on this.

 

[WilliamJulien]

All DVDs must at least contain a DD or PCM track. DTS is an optional type audio track. There are no DTS only DVDs because they would not meet specifications. for all you need to know about DVDs go to DVD FAQ.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Don't all those DTS movies I listed also have Dolby Digital tracks? I'm not aware of a (separate) DTS title that does not contain a Dolby Digital track. The Collector's Edition of American Pie had the same transfer and almost the same amount of extras that the (DTS) Ultimate Edition had.

Yes, the DTS DVDs of Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park and Apollo 13 include Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks. None of them offer DD 5.1 on the same disc as the DTS. American Pie has a DD 5.1 only release but no DTS/DD 2.0 version.

You asked if there was a consensus that thought the DD editions of various titles looked better than the DTS discs. You mentioned AP in that group, which implied it existed somewhere as a DTS/DD 2.0 release. The Ultimate Edition includes both DTS and DD 5.1 - I simply clarified that there's no "separate" DTS version, as that statement denotes a DVD which contains only one 5.1 track...