Tag Archives: DTS:X

Opinion

Dolby Atmos and DTS:X : Early Adopter Complains

3 Comments

In term of technology, I never complained about the early adopter tax : the fact that as enthusiasts we pay more for new technology that was just recently released. I somehow get more frustrated when important issues hit a new device (e.g. Xbox 360 red ring of death or Harman Kardon DVD macroblocks) and early adopters end up with more problems than joy.

But honestly, that never stopped me from buying new technology, just for the rush of trying it as early as possible and to be able to share impressions about it and bring other people to experience it with me. In that sense, early adopters, when treated well, are the best ambassadors of any new technology product. I cannot count the number of DVD players, home theater systems, LCD televisions and other technology I recommended and helped people purchase over the last decade. Make me happy with a new technology launch and I’ll almost wear a tattoo of its name wherever you want me to.

Continue reading Dolby Atmos and DTS:X : Early Adopter Complains →

Opinion

Three Wishes For CES 2015

1 Comment

Waking up from the holiday celebrations this morning, I realized that CES was now only four days away. To be honest, the last couple of years I had mostly lost interest in the show. Bigger TVs, almost identical wearable gear and more bluetooth speakers were making the show pretty boring.

2015 is a different story. Maybe it’s personal, but I feel that this year new technologies announced at CES will impact the home theater in a meaningful way. I can assure you that this time I’ll be following closely the announcements next Tuesday and reporting here as soon as possible.

While we wait for the event to take place, here are three things that are not official yet that I would like to see happen next week in Las Vegas.

Continue reading Three Wishes For CES 2015 →

Opinion

A New Blog Dedicated To New Technologies In Home Theaters

5 Comments

I fondly remember the year 1999. Why ? It’s the year where I went back five times to the home audio video store to buy, return and upgrade my first home theater system.

You see, I just had purchase my first home DVD player a couple of weeks before. After learning everything about black bars and aspect ratios and overcoming the shock of not using all of my TV to watch movies (I was young and naive), I quickly realized that listening to movies on my old stereo system was not really an option. I needed to leverage the full capacity of that new player and hear the movie the way it was intended to be : in the right aspect ratio with surround sound.

The first sound system I bought one was simply a Pro Logic system, for a matter of not investing too much I imagine. I came back home, enabled Dolby Surround on my system and waited for something great to happen. And nothing great happened. I sat down, watched a couple of movies, trying to concentrate to hear surround sound coming from the tiny “home theater in a box” speakers that came with the system but could barely hear effects.

Continue reading A New Blog Dedicated To New Technologies In Home Theaters →

News

DTS announces officially it’s object based format : DTS:X

3 Comments

After seeing the arrival of Dolby Atmos in home theaters at the end of 2014, it comes as no surprise to see that DTS announced yesterday the release of their own object based audio format called DTS:X. The new format will be launch in March 2015 and already the vast majority of home theater receiver manufacturers has agreed to implement it.

The press release from DTS, coming at a strange time on December 30th, a couple of weeks away from CES, states that among others, Anthem, Denon, Integra, Krell, Marantz, McIntosh, Onkyo, Outlaw Audio, Pioneer, Steinway Lyngdorf, Theta Digital, Trinnov Audio and Yamaha will be supporting the format. It is yet unknown if this will be done through firmware updates on some of those or if new receivers will be needed.

DTS had been a favorite over the last couple of years on Blu-ray with a strong presence of DTS Master Audio tracks, but they will be coming late to the object based format this time. It will be interesting to see if their relationship with studios will be able to help them establish this leadership position over Dolby Atmos.

Continue reading DTS announces officially it’s object based format : DTS:X →