Jagged

I hate that scene!

Lord of the Rings is encoded with DTS digital surround sound. IIRC correctly as of now only a few movies feature this state-of-the-art sound technology. If the problem only occurs while viewing certain titles, I bet this is likely the culprit.

Your DVD player and/or the LotR disc itself should have a menu which will allow you to change the settings for audio output. Mess around with them.

Not Prince Hamlet

"State-of-the-art technology."

Yeah, and Bose makes the best speakers, too, right?

Jeff

Jagged

Ah how I love the one-upmanship of the techy crowd. Thank you for setting me straight there Jeff. Why don't you share your great wisdom on this subject instead of just rolling your eyes at me and suggesting I'm a fan of crappy equipment. I threw in the IIRC because I admittedly have little knowledge in this area. I'm still plugging along with my very humble Yamaha RX-V470 and ancient Pinnacle speakers. I do not run out and buy new equipment every time someone comes out with a new bell or whistle. I'm sure I'd never pass your state-of-the-art knowledge test.

Not Prince Hamlet

No, but don't feel bad. I'd just be a little more sure of my facts before I start claiming something is "state-of-the-art", if I were you. And also, in fact, I don't run out and buy new equipment every time someone comes out with a new bell or whistle (such as DTS) either.

Now for a few facts.

DTS touts its format as being superior to Dolby Digital because it's less compressed on the disc. Their claim: the less compressed, the better.

However, to my knowledge, there has not been a single double-blind listening test made between any material available in DTS and Dolby Digital made from the same master that has shown DTS to be superior in any way.

However, I do know that in at least one instance, Dolby Digital and DTS recordings were compared to a MLP (lossless) master and analyzed. The analysis showed that Dolby Digital was pretty darn close to the original, and that DTS was also, for the most part, except for some unusual boosts in bass region.

This isn't surprising. DTS is famous for having initially "accidentally" boosted the bass in its recordings. And whether this was accidental or not, it lucked into a known psychoacoustic phenomenon: when all other factors are equal, the louder sound source will be perceived as "better" by the listener.

In other words, many people thought DTS was superior simply because it was louder.

Another clever marketing twist from DTS: DTS was unable to get its act together in time to be submitted as a standard for DVDs when they first became available. This is the reason why all DVDs have Dolby Digital, but only a few have DTS.

But clever DTS turned this to their advantage, making it sound like DTS was a step up from Dolby Digital; one you have to pay extra for. "You can stay with the plain ole Dolby Digital that comes with your DVD," they were effectively saying, "or you can step up to the improved sound quality of DTS."

But again, this so-called "improvement" has yet to be established in a double-blind test.

So what we have is a system whose "improvement" over Dolby Digital is dubious at best, yet who, according to DTS themselves, is less compressed. In other words, while it may not necessarily sound better than Dolby Digital, it sure does take up more space on the disc than Dolby Digital does.

Or, putting it another way, it's likely that the reason DTS offers less compression is not because it's offering better quality, but because its compression algorithm simply isn't as efficient as Dolby Digital's. And instead of simply admitting that flaw, they decided to taut it as a strength. (Clever, in my opinion, but it doesn't make their product any better.)


Jeff

P.S. And don't even get me started on DTS: Neo!

P.P.S. Yammys aren't bad receivers. Not to my taste, but they're reputable. Which Pinnacles do you own?

Not Prince Hamlet

One more thing, Jagged. I find the sarcasm and bile in your post suprising coming from someone whose basic beliefs include "tolerance" (your profile).

I also find your blind acceptance of DTS's claims suprising from someone whose basic beliefs include "skepticism" (again, your profile).

Let's hope you have more luck with "humanism". (ibid)

Jeff

Not Prince Hamlet

Vorkosigan,

I'm not sure what the cause of this problem is. It might be a round-off error as suggested in the D/A component of your DVD player, or more likely it's a problem with the amplification section of your boom box.

One thing I recommend is that you stop playing DVDs until you resolve this problem. If your amplifier is clipping, you might be doing permanent damage to your speakers.

Go to the SMR forums (http://forums.smr-forums.com:8080/) and post your problem there. The people there are very knowledgeable and friendly, and should be able to help answer your question.

Jeff