DTS Digital Surround Sound Recognized As Broadcast Option

[Gregg Lengling]

(November 22, 2002) Agoura Hills, CA--DTS, a digital technology company specializing in multichannel audio for the cinema, pro audio, and consumer electronics industries, recently announced that the DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) Project has provided a mechanism for carrying the DTS Digital Surround sound format as part of its Digital Television (DTV) specifications. The DVB is a technical consortium of more than 300 companies that is establishing common international specifications for the move from analog to digital broadcasting around the world. Facilitating the inclusion of DTS Digital Surround within the DVB broadcasts offers greater options for surround sound quality for both broadcasters and consumers.

DTS coding within a DVB stream offers several advantages to broadcasters:

Scalability--The core DTS specification and supporting broadcast hardware encoding platform allow broadcasters to choose whatever audio bandwidth they wish to transmit; typical discrete 5.1 transmissions can range from 384 kbps up to 1.5 Mbps. Therefore, broadcasters can allocate more audio transmission bandwidth, greater coding accuracy and higher quality sound for special events such as movie premieres, concerts or flagship programs. Using higher bandwidth DTS audio compression techniques, it is possible to match or better the audio quality currently found on DVD material.

Ease of implementation--The DTS proposal loads the MPEG-2 stream with Packetised Elemental Streams (PES) in a similar way to that utilized by AC-3. Any device supporting AC-3 can be readily used for DTS transmission, which means that a broadcaster does not require massive re-investment in infrastructure to support DTS transmissions.

Compatibility with existing DTV delivery systems--A key advantage for DTV customers is that the DTS Digital Surround signal can be received and processed by a standard set top box with a digital audio output (such as the Sky + box.) The upgrade required to recognize the DTS data stream can be made over the air from the broadcast head. The signal can then be fed to and decoded by an AV receiver equipped with a DTS decoder in the same manner as a DVD.

DTS www.dtsonline.com

[Matt Heebner]

This rocks! I've always thought DTS had more "punch" than dolby digital.
Matt

[MesaV]

DTS kicks ass!

[kjnorman]

A HTDV image with high bandwidth DTS would be a dream made in heaven!