Dolby Digital 640kbps vs DTS Core 1536kbps

[DiNZi]

Hi there,

I've recently bought the Yamaha RX-V675 AV Receiver and a set of 5.1 Monitor Audio Vector Speakers.

When watching certain content, say with DTS Core 1536kbps audio, I'm having to crank the audio up to -12.00dB on my Receiver and..

With a different file that has Dolby Digital 640kbps audio, I don't have to have the Volume up that high, but this is with a different file/movie.

Is Dolby Digital 640kbps proven to be that bit louder than DTS Core 1536kbps?

Also, if this is the case, can I encode the DTS Core 1536kbps to Dolby Digital 640kbps and get as good results?

Cheers,

DiNZi

[tebasuna51]

Is Dolby Digital 640kbps proven to be that bit louder than DTS Core 1536kbps?

Nope.

Also, if this is the case, can I encode the DTS Core 1536kbps to Dolby Digital 640kbps and get as good results?
You can try recode to AC3 640 Kb/s with eac3to.

If the AC3 sounds louder than DTS maybe you need adjust your receiver.

If AC3 sound the same than DTS then you can try recode using the -normalize parameter.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Out of interest, when you commence playing the Dolby Digital and DTS bit-streams does your amplifier briefly display some information? If so, is it different for each stream?

[Ghitulescu]

HIs Dolby Digital 640kbps proven to be that bit louder than DTS Core 1536kbps?

Well, if you listen to what Dolby says :D
The reverse question is also true if you listen to what DTS says :D

Actually no digital codec changes the sound (Dolby Digital is completely different from Dolby in cassettes), but some of them work better if the signal is pre-processed in a particular way (ie in studio).

Before there have been an issue with DTS, namely few devices could cope with (it was not mandatory on DVD, thus few manufacturers included a DTS track, and consequently few DVD-player manufacturers included a DTS-decoder (extra licences), and only a few AVR manufacturers included a DTS-decoder in their products). Also DTS required a lot of space vs AC-3 (Dolby digital) and it went therefore into fashion its removal during DVD ripping.

Today, there is no special reason to choose one or the other, and if one sounds louder it's only because it was mastered to sound louder. Somy players can ignore the DRC info and make the Dolby sound less loud.

[DiNZi]

Out of interest, when you commence playing the Dolby Digital and DTS bit-streams does your amplifier briefly display some information? If so, is it different for each stream?

At first my Yamaha RX-V675 was showing 'PCM' then I realised I needed to change my Sony BDP-S4100 to Downmix 'OFF'.

When I play content with DTS it just shows 'DTS' and when I play content with AC3 it shows 'Dolby Digital'.

Nothing more. Anything I should be looking for?

I'm going to try something, the same file that originally only had a DTS track, put through Popcorn MKV Audio Converter, and convert the DTS to AC3 640kbps and see if one plays louder than the other, would be interesting as its the same file.

I've got a DB meter on my phone, I'll start from one chapter and give it 1 minute and see which I get a higher peak with, leaving my Yamaha AVR on the same Volume.

[DiNZi]

In the PopCorn MKV Audio Converter tool I'm using, there is an option for when converting DTS to AC3 you can also 'Adjust volume' and additionally 'Maximize volume across all channels'.

Do you recommend this? What are the downfalls of checking this option?

[SeeMoreDigital]

In the PopCorn MKV Audio Converter tool I'm using, there is an option for when converting DTS to AC3 you can also 'Adjust volume' and additionally 'Maximize volume across all channels'.

Do you recommend this? What are the downfalls of checking this option?Listening to audio is very subjective as we all hear sounds differently.

If you are happy with the idea of creating/encoding a new (lossy) audio stream then by all means give it a go...

[Ghitulescu]

In the PopCorn MKV Audio Converter tool ....

I am not sure what is this software ....

Anyway, if it's even romotely connected to Syabas PocCorn Hour hardware, it's not needed, as all models starting with 200 can decode DTS (I own a PCH200 and it plays all audio files, not that I need this).

Converting frm DTS to AC-3 is only needed if you have problems playing DTS back (as per my previous post, older hardware do not always support DTS).