AC3 or DTS

[hammerfan_lm]

I am new to DVD burning, and am playing with DVDShrink to practice on Gladiator.

At present I have de-selected subtitles etc that I do not need.

The only problem I have is whether I need AC3 or DTS.

What are these? Are these needed?

Can someone explain them to me, and whether I need them, or one.

Which is the best?

If I remove both, will I lose sound.

Please help

[Cambion7]

I am new to DVD burning, and am playing with DVDShrink to practice on Gladiator.

At present I have de-selected subtitles etc that I do not need.

The only problem I have is whether I need AC3 or DTS.

What are these? Are these needed?

Can someone explain them to me, and whether I need them, or one.

Which is the best?

If I remove both, will I lose sound.

Please help

You want to keep AC3 as DTS requires special decoding hardware for you to hear to sound. As with any sound stream, if you play the preview in DVDShrink, right click on the playback screen, left click on sound and test each one. This will let you know which ones you can safely dump.

Regards,
Cambion7

[hammerfan_lm]

You want to keep AC3 as DTS requires special decoding hardware for you to hear to sound. As with any sound stream, if you play the preview in DVDShrink, right click on the playback screen, left click on sound and test each one. This will let you know which ones you can safely dump.

Regards,
Cambion7

I tried what you suggested. I played AC3 in preview and I heard sound. With DTS I didnt.

Does this mean that I should always selected AC3, and deselect DTS all the time?

What about my DVD Player? It has the DTS logo on the front.

Is AC3 better than DTS?

[jmet]

In addition to what Cambion said, The sound quality of DTS audio is much better than AC3. Whether you can tell it or not, depends on several factors, such as your hearing, the equipment you are using, etc. DTS audio is quite bigger in file size than AC3. Basically, unless your a "sound quality" nut, drop the DTS and keep the AC3, which sometimes just as good in my opinion. You also need a DTS compatible DVD Player/Receiver to play DTS. AC3 can play on everything, and if you don't have 5.1 Channels, it will be down mixed down to 2 Ch audio so that you can hear it on just a TV. You can also go here for more information between the 2: http://forum.digital-digest.com/show...threadid=45190

Edit:

"I played AC3 in preview and I heard sound. With DTS I didnt.
"

Thats because your PC is not DTS compatible but, your DVD Player/Receiver might be.

[techreactor]

I agree with Jmet and to add to it, DTS audio will also be much bigger in size as compared to AC3 so if you dont have/intend to buy a Home Theater System (HTS) stick to AC3.

AC3 = DTS = THX = Surround Sound

[blutach]

Just cos your player can decode DTS (note DVD Shrink can not), does not mean you will be able to hear it. You need a digital amplifier to play it properly (a regular TV usually won't cut the mustard).

Many software players will come with DTS decoders - eg PowerDVD, Showtime, Media Player Classic.

AC3, while inferior IMHO, can be downmixed to stereo and be played on anything.

AC3 is not necessarily surround sound. I got an email from a friend today showing me an AC3 1 channel track (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - a great Bogie flick!). Coud hardly be called surround sound. But it is digital audio.

Regards

[MrClean]

When it comes to sound.......... bigger is better IMO, I want the floors to shake, the windows to rattle and the pictures to fall off the wall and DTS with the proper home theater equipment will do that.

I've found that on most DVDs that include DTS, if you remove all other audio streams, the DTS file doesn't take up much more room than the others combined. Beware though, if you try to play the movie in a player without a DTS decoder, you may not have any sound.

[techreactor]

AC3 is not necessarily surround sound.

Very right blu, AC3 can be 1 ch, 2 ch and 5.1 ch.

Anything with 5.1 ch and upwards can be called a true surround.

Mr. Clean, as Blu would have said, only DTS would make it a non-compliant DVD, but I also prefer to keep, only DTS.

Blu, just clarify, wouldnt keeping AC3 in the menu make the DVD compliant or is it required to keep AC3 in the main movie itself ???

[blutach]

@techreactor - yes, it just has to be somewhere - even a small track (assuming an NTSC DVD).

See here.

Regards