What's new

Men In Black - DTS video vs. DD video quality question (2 Viewers)

Bjoern Roy

Second Unit
Joined
Oct 15, 1998
Messages
315
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.
Dave, there is a marked difference between the 2 Appolo13 DVDs. The DTS on is a lot softer. On Jurassic Park, there is indeed no difference between the DD and DTS in PQ (equally bad), i measured that.

I didn't measure American Pie, but the new transfer looks identical to me. Still too dark, too much EE, you name it.

Can't comment on Jaws, since i only have the DTS version, which has a terrific film-like transfer, by the way. One of the best transfers of an older movie i have ever seen. Spectacular, spectacular.
 

Dave H

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2000
Messages
6,152
Bjoren,

How did the audio compare on the DTS vs. DD with Apollo 13? Did you find the DTS audio better?
 

Andrew s wells

Second Unit
Joined
Nov 20, 2001
Messages
449
I didn't think there was such a thing as DTS video and Dolby digital Video. so who here has a dolby digital or DTS video capable TV? :D ;)
 

DaViD Boulet

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 24, 1999
Messages
8,826
wondering if I don't have an idea about why certain reviewers may have noticed a difference with the DTS MIB and DD MIB in terms of picture...

Perhaps, just perhaps, some DVD players get a little overtaxed when trying to read an MPEG video stream *and* a DTS soundtrack...which takes up more bandwidth than a comparable DD soundtrack in the same timeframe. Full-bit-rate DTS audio tracks would theoretically be the most taxing to poorly designed processors.

Why am I thinking this? Well...I just know when I try and play a DVD on my PC that if I do something else that puts a strain on the central processor, the DVD image might skip, pause, or freeze. Who knows...maybe some stand-alone dvd players just "max out" and introduce a bit of video noise or aren't as good about MPEG decoding when they're trying to decode a DTS track at the same time?

The idea here is that the quality differences in *some* cases (like MIB) might not be encoding related (what's on the disc) but rather just decoding related (in your DVD player). Other transfers, like Apollo 13, might well indeed be encoded with a compromised image to begin with.

thoughts?
 

Dave H

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2000
Messages
6,152
David,

Evidently, it was just ONE reviewer who noted a difference between the two. All other review Web sites said there were no differences.
 

Robert Cook

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Sep 29, 1999
Messages
64
Andrew s wells wrote:
DaViD Boulet said:
No, if there's any difference in video quality in any given player, it should (barring some bizarre defect in the player) be the result of more bandwidth and space being available for video in the absence of a DTS track. But like I said above, it seems that the most common case is that the video is always compromised from the start, either because of supplements that were reduced later, or in anticipation of needing the bandwidth for a DTS track in the future.
 

Guy Martin

Second Unit
Joined
Nov 29, 1998
Messages
347
A quick note on SPR DTS. Dreamworks did admit that the video on the DTS version was compressed at a slightly, and I do mean slightly, lower bitrate than the DD version, in order to fit the DTS audio (they also eliminated the documentary from the DD version). However no one I know spotted any noticeable difference in image quality.

As for Antz DTS I suspect that there might have been some recompression there too. Even though it lacks the extras of the DD version, it is only on a single-layer DVD, while the DD release was dual-layer. In fact the bitrate on the DD is close to maxed out throughout so I doubt it would have fit onto a single layer with a DTS track. So it was probably compressed more. I can't say for certain thought since I only have the DD version (I go for extras over DTS in general).

- Guy
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,814
Messages
5,123,726
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top