Question about DVD formats

Discussion in 'Movies, TV and Music' started by skipshady, Mar 3, 2003.

  1. skipshady

    skipshady New Member

    Apr 26, 2001
    Orchard St, NYC
    So I'm thinking about getting Road To Perdition on DVD. But there are three formats available, widescreen, full screen and DTS wide screen.
    Now, the difference between wide and full is self explanatory, and I understand DTS will give you better sound if it's hooked up to a surround sound system.

    Here's my question: do I lose anything by getting the DTS widescreen over regular widescreen? They're priced the same so I don't see why anyone wouldn't get the DTS version.
     
  2. otterulz

    otterulz Member

    Arsenal, Atleti
    South Korea
    Jun 20, 2002
    LIC, NY
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I saw a website on it cuz I was wondering the same thing about the Saving Private Ryan dvd that I bought with DTS. It has all the other features that the regulard and widescreen have so I'm assuming it's all the same. Here's the FAQ list on DTS that I found: http://www.dtsonline.com/home/faq.shtml
     
  3. Kryptonite

    Kryptonite Guinness

    Apr 10, 1999
    Columbus
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    where's that Foosinho when you need him?

    I'd imagine that DTS widescreen could support surround sound systems (5.1, 6.1 and that) while regular wide-screen could not.

    Even if you don't have surround sound, get the DTS. Who knows what you'll have in the future?
     
  4. Foosinho

    Foosinho New Member

    Jan 11, 1999
    New Albany, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    You called?

    DTS is a different (some, including myself, say superior) digital sound encoding format. Similar, but not identical, to Dolby Digital. Both formats come in 5.1, 6.1, and EX flavors.

    DTS will do nothing for you if your surround sound system doesn't support it. Every DTS disc I own also supports DD5.1, at a minimum. It does take more space on the disc, especially because it's an additional soundtrack to the "basic" Dolby Digital.

    Sometimes a disc has enough data (read: extras) that adding a DTS track would require removing some extras. For example, the DTS version of Saving Private Ryan does, in fact, have a difference from the DD5.1 version - it's missing one special feature documentary. This is not always the case, however.

    Me, I _always_ choose the DTS version if one is available. I like extras, but I like rich full sound more.

    Of course, Anamorphic Widescreen is the image format of choice, even if you have a 4:3 TV (IMO). Superbit DVDs are pretty cool too - they use less video and audio digital compression at the expense of additional language tracks and other extras.
     
  5. Huss

    Huss Member

    Aug 1, 1995
    New York, NY
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    bump to the top of the new movies board
     
  6. skipshady

    skipshady New Member

    Apr 26, 2001
    Orchard St, NYC
    I meant to respond to this a while back, so thanks for the bump.

    I don't own a state of the art enterntainment system and I'd probably favor extra features over video/sound quality, but the two DVDs seem to be identical in everything but the Surround Sound. Guess it wouldn't hurt to buy the DTS version.
     
  7. Soccer-Six-Shooter

    Soccer-Six-Shooter New Member

    Jan 17, 2002
    Arlington, VA
    Dolby Digital is the standard. I guess the regular one is DD widescreen. Usually the DVD has a choice of DTS or DD sound. Those marketing punks are giving you three choices to get more money out of the public. Get whatever one has the DD.

    Purchase a home theater system to watch movies. Its just more exciting and engrossing while watching movies. Dont skimp on your entertainment. Some decent budget gear out there for home theater:

    A/V reciever: Pioneer VSX 711 (5.1)
    (4) JBL N 24 speakers
    Sub: Sony WAM 40
    DVD player: Panasonic Rv32 or Toshiba SD 2900
    For picture quality: Need a S-video or Component video hook up depending on your DVD player and TV.
    Digital cable for your sound: Go with coaxial if possible.
    2nd choice is toslink(Optical).

    Speaker cable: Monster XP
    Sub cable is needed
    Monster power conditioning needed too.
    4 speaker stands
    hi quality 2 channel interconnects for TV sound
     
  8. Foosinho

    Foosinho New Member

    Jan 11, 1999
    New Albany, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I just wanted to add that DTS will only work if your receiver (or DVD player) supports DTS decoding.

    Virtually everything supports DD5.1. I have yet to see a DTS disc that didn't also have a DD5.1 track.

    I used to be a feature hound, but eventually got to the point where I realized that I'm buying DVDs for the movie, not the extras. Hell, I usually only watch the extras once, if ever. (I'm still working thru the 4-disc version of LOTR!)
     

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