Dolby Digital Plus (DD+) remains compressed, but handles higher bit rates and more efficient compression to deliver better sound quality. In addition to supporting 5.1 sound schemes, DD+ can also support 7.1, but you’ll only see this mentioned rarely in movie listings or details - most studios mix for 5.1 for the commercial recordings they sell to consumers.
DTS-HD High Resolution (often simply called DTS-HD HR) provides an enhancement to plain DTS similar to what DD+ offers over Dolby Digital, including higher bit rates and improved compression characteristics.
What are Dolby Digital and DTS?
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technology developed by the Dolby Labs. DTS stands for Digital Theater Systems, a popular home theater audio format that was developed in 1993 as a competitor to Dolby Labs in the development of surround sound audio technology for movie production. Both DTS and Dolby Digital provide surround sound codecs for 5.1, 6.1 (rare) and 7.1 setups where the first number represents the number of small surround speakers, and the “1” is a separate channel for a subwoofer. Both formats utilize “perceptual” data reduction techniques to remove useless data in PCM signal output, thereby preserving high fidelity sound. In addition to the 5.1 to 7.1 speaker playback, different formats offer cutting edge audio technology geared toward enhancing the sound quality.
Some versions of Dolby Digital and DTS are “lossy” which means they have a degree of audio degradation from the original source while others are lossless. Dolby, for example, has a lossless version, Dolby TrueHD, and a lossy version, Dolby Digital Plus. The lossy version takes up very little space on Blu-Ray discs. DTS also has a lossless version, DTS-HD Master Audio, that supports 7.1 channels speaker setup.
What are the differences between Dolby Digital and DTS?
Dolby digital compresses 5.1ch digital audio data down to a raw bit rate of 640 kilobits per second (kbps). However, the 640kbits/s is only applicable to Blu-Ray discs. The maximum bit rates that Dolby Digital can support for DVD Video and DVD audio is up to 448kbits/s.
To squeeze in all the relevant data, Dolby Digital employs a variable compression of around 10 to 12:1. DTS surround sound, on the other hand, applies a maximum raw bit rate of up to 1.5 megabits per second. However, that bit rate is limited to approximately 768 kilobits per second on DVD video. Due to the higher bit rate supported by this format, DTS requires significantly low compression of about 4:1.
In theory, the lesser the compression used in the encoding, the more realistic the sound becomes as it better represents the original source. What this means is that DTS has the potential to produce better sound quality than Dolby Digital.
DTS-HD High Resolution (often simply called DTS-HD HR) provides an enhancement to plain DTS similar to what DD+ offers over Dolby Digital, including higher bit rates and improved compression characteristics.
What are Dolby Digital and DTS?
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technology developed by the Dolby Labs. DTS stands for Digital Theater Systems, a popular home theater audio format that was developed in 1993 as a competitor to Dolby Labs in the development of surround sound audio technology for movie production. Both DTS and Dolby Digital provide surround sound codecs for 5.1, 6.1 (rare) and 7.1 setups where the first number represents the number of small surround speakers, and the “1” is a separate channel for a subwoofer. Both formats utilize “perceptual” data reduction techniques to remove useless data in PCM signal output, thereby preserving high fidelity sound. In addition to the 5.1 to 7.1 speaker playback, different formats offer cutting edge audio technology geared toward enhancing the sound quality.
Some versions of Dolby Digital and DTS are “lossy” which means they have a degree of audio degradation from the original source while others are lossless. Dolby, for example, has a lossless version, Dolby TrueHD, and a lossy version, Dolby Digital Plus. The lossy version takes up very little space on Blu-Ray discs. DTS also has a lossless version, DTS-HD Master Audio, that supports 7.1 channels speaker setup.
What are the differences between Dolby Digital and DTS?
Dolby digital compresses 5.1ch digital audio data down to a raw bit rate of 640 kilobits per second (kbps). However, the 640kbits/s is only applicable to Blu-Ray discs. The maximum bit rates that Dolby Digital can support for DVD Video and DVD audio is up to 448kbits/s.
To squeeze in all the relevant data, Dolby Digital employs a variable compression of around 10 to 12:1. DTS surround sound, on the other hand, applies a maximum raw bit rate of up to 1.5 megabits per second. However, that bit rate is limited to approximately 768 kilobits per second on DVD video. Due to the higher bit rate supported by this format, DTS requires significantly low compression of about 4:1.
In theory, the lesser the compression used in the encoding, the more realistic the sound becomes as it better represents the original source. What this means is that DTS has the potential to produce better sound quality than Dolby Digital.
