DTS:X details announced, the surprise is not in the home

Last Thursday was the official announcement of DTS:X at the DTS headquarters in  California. I was pretty eager to learn a couple of things at the event, including if my current Onkyo receiver would be updatable to support the format and which movies were going to be announced by DTS on Blu-ray.

Surprisingly, the most important part of the announcement is that DTS is going back in the commercial theater business through a licensing program that will allow them to install their technologies in cinemas around the world. We were awaiting an home-theater only announcement, and finally it seems that the strategy is pretty different, thus delaying the home theater implementation a little bit more that I had in mind.

In the home, DTS:x confirmed what we already knew regarding the format, which is extremely similar to Dolby Atmos with the differences depending mostly on the way the receiver companies will implement the format. Dialogue volume management, which is a great feature in itself, will depend on the studio implementing it or not in their movie mixing, hopefully they will.

DTS did not announce any partnership with studios and no title on Blu-ray, we are looking more at an end of the year  timing, like it’s been the case roughly with Atmos.

On the receiver side, if you don’t have the high-end Denon X7200 or Marantz AV8802, you’re out of luck for a firmware upgrade it seems. According to the press release, they are the only two that will receive an update this fall, while the different companies will release new receivers supporting DTS:X at the same period. Onkyo confirmed to me on social media that they will not be any upgrade path for any of their receiver, including the 1030 or 3030. It’s a letdown, but not a surprise as it just confirmed the rumours.

So it looks like the next real updates on the format will be only this fall, time to go back to Atmos and listen to the available movies. Of course, I’m already on board with updating this fall to DTS:X, as soon as receivers and titles are available. I will keep you updated with any news in the meantime.

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