Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Xbox 360 / PS3 Sound ?

Question for the group:

Is it me or does DTS sound better than Dolby Digital? Or is that due to the platforms (Sony plays DTS, MS converts everything to DD?) I have the M60 package with the XBOX 360 HD DVD drive and the PS3 with native blu ray. What's the consenus on DTS vs DD? is the PS3 just a better in home theater (except for that freaking blue tooth)? Or is my equipment the limiting factor?

Not to start a format war, but I'm curious where the market / people stand on the integration of the high end video & sounds formats with MS and Sony. I'm guessing that MS has some sort of exclusive with Dolby, since they convert everything to DD, even if the source is DTS.

I understand this is a loaded questions with a lot of personal perference and technical assumptions on your room, set up and equipment.

Also I have Denon reciever (which I'm very pleased with)

You will find that a lot of people (not saying majority, not saying a minority either) like DTS better than DD. That is due to a complete remix of the audio tracks to provide "enhanced" surround effects and LFE (bass), and recording at higher bit-rates. I have been a DTS fan for almost 7-8 years. I will look for DTS on a DVD, and will always buy the DTS version if available, even if it costs $1-$2 more.

As for the whole PS3 vs. XBox 360 deal, that has been talked to death around here, so I won't comment on it (my opinions about the two, and their competing HD format drives, are posted elsewhere here). I am not speaking to the capabilities of the new HD versions of audio available on HD-DVD or Blu-Ray discs either in my statements above.

Sound quality of PS3 is much superior than that of Xbox 360 while playing High Def new formats. No doubt.

Disclosure: I own a PS3 and DO NOT own a Xbox 360 and never tried one.

Please do not start another format war thread in here!

The PS3 certainly has more audio potential than the Xbox 360. I also find the PS3's video playback to be smoother, and the trailers they have for download are in 1080p, as opposed to the 360, which max out at 720p. Even though I get a lot more use out of my Xbox 360, these are functions I wish were better. It almost seems like the audio on the Xbox 360 was a step back from the original Xbox. I like the PS3 as a Blu-ray player a lot more than I like the Xbox 360 as an HD DVD player. Unfortunately, that's about all I'm using my PS3 for right now.

>>I like the PS3 as a Blu-ray player a lot more than I like the Xbox 360 as an HD DVD player. Unfortunately, that's about all I'm using my PS3 for right now.

[flame] Thats probably because the Xbox 360 was designed to be a GAMING machine, unlike the Blu-ray player...I mean PS3, that was designed to be a movie machine from the ground up [/flame]

I don't think an electronic device exists that can do more things than an Xbox 360... that said I can't speak to it being the best at every single thing... jack of all trades type of thing I suppose.

DTS is better than DD.

Dolby and DTS basically do the same thing, but have their own way of doing it. I find the easiest way to think about it without getting a headache is to compare it to a zip file. On the dvd, the sound data file is compressed to reduce bandwidth transfer between the dvd player and the receiver. The software compressing this data file and then unpacking it is either Dolby or DTS.

It is not unusual for many folks to have a preference for DTS over Dolby, I do too. DTS tends to be a little “hotter”, for lack of a better descriptor. The LFE tracks tend be more aggressive as well. Dolby on the other hand tends to be smoother. If I were comparing the two to cars, Dolby would be a Cadillac Sedan Deville and DTS would be a Vette. Both great rides, but distinctly different.

Now enters HD and BR audio tracks. Because the disks can store so much more information on them then standard def DVD’s, the need to compress files is less because Dolby and DTS have more flexibility in how they store/compress this information. Even though the sound files are still compressed and then unpacked, the files have more of the “O”’s and “X”’s than SD dvd’s, and just sound better. They sound better by a long shot. To make this even more complicated, there is an “uncompressed” PCM audio file on the current batch of BR and HD disks. The way I understand this, is it is simply a work around to give everyone a taste of how good Dolby HD and DTS –M will be. This PCM file is as it implies, uncompressed. But, it’s still not true HD audio and there’s a bunch of missing X’s and O’s in the data stream. The sound is vastly superior to what you find on a SD dvd, but it’s not as good as what will be available in the near future with HDMI 1.3 when Dolby HD and DTS-M rolls out on the new generation receivers and processors. Or, I should say that this is what we (consumers) are being led to believe. As with any new technology, propaganda is nothing but a clever way to sell it, and with HD, there’s more propaganda around it than the 08 elections.