DTS-HD Master Audio has arrived for PS3!
When I first got the PS3, many people including myself banked on Sony enabling DTS-HD Master Audio capability. I tip my hat to Sony for finally delivering on this highly demanded feature. The ver 2.3 firmware update that enables DTS-HD MA was announced to be available on Apr 15th (tomorrow) but I was curious to see if they meant Apr 15th 12am Eastern time! So I checked around 9:30pm this evening and sure enough the PS3 detected that an update was available! I wasted no time in downloading the update. Went through without a hitch.
I only had the chance to do a brief demo since Viks had to sleep early tonight so I quickly put in Live Free or Die Hard. Yipee-kay-yay-mother*censor bleep*! Doh! From what I remember - prior to the 2.3 FW, the extracted DTS core track sounded pretty awesome. I can't do an A/B comparison anymore since the PS3 no longer outputs the DTS core but the sound is noticeably better. Dialogue is more clear and like Dolby True HD or uncompressed PCM, I think the element I appreciate most is the improved dynamic range. It's one of those things that you may or may not notice right away. But once you do notice, you really start to appreciate it and when you go back and listen to lossy tracks on DVD they sound thin and veiled.
From the impression I got tonight, I will again say that I don't think one lossless format sounds superior over another or that lossy formats like Dolby Digital Plus sound worse. Despite all the hype about the specs on lossless audio I still think that the quality of the soundtrack source and mastering job have more of an impact to the overall sound experience vs simply relying on lossless encoding. For example, take a much older film like Die Hard 2 that is encoded with 24-bit/48kHz DTS-HD MA vs a newer film like Transformers HD DVD with a lossy Dolby Digital Plus. It's no contest that Transformers is a much more livelier track despite the fact that it's using a lossy audio format. A good analogy is Blu Ray picture quality. Just because you buy a Hi-def Blu Ray disc does not guarantee that it will have stunning picture quality (Just read the reviews of recently released Blu Rays like Commando or Predator). So it kind of ties into the question as to why we need three lossless formats. I'm not sure how it benefits the consumer. More than likely it probably confuses consumers. But rather than continue down the path where I sound like I am complaining that not only do we have lossless audio but we now have three choices in lossless audio, I"ll simply say that when done right (good source/mastering job + lossless encode), lossless audio sounds pretty amazing but like many things, you can't simply rely on the marketing numbers.
Fox studios seems to be in bed with DTS. I got my Fox Blu Ray demo material lined up for tomorrow evening -> The Simpsons, Kingdom of Heaven, Shoot 'Em Up, X-men The Last Stand, and the of course more Die Hard!
I only had the chance to do a brief demo since Viks had to sleep early tonight so I quickly put in Live Free or Die Hard. Yipee-kay-yay-mother*censor bleep*! Doh! From what I remember - prior to the 2.3 FW, the extracted DTS core track sounded pretty awesome. I can't do an A/B comparison anymore since the PS3 no longer outputs the DTS core but the sound is noticeably better. Dialogue is more clear and like Dolby True HD or uncompressed PCM, I think the element I appreciate most is the improved dynamic range. It's one of those things that you may or may not notice right away. But once you do notice, you really start to appreciate it and when you go back and listen to lossy tracks on DVD they sound thin and veiled.
From the impression I got tonight, I will again say that I don't think one lossless format sounds superior over another or that lossy formats like Dolby Digital Plus sound worse. Despite all the hype about the specs on lossless audio I still think that the quality of the soundtrack source and mastering job have more of an impact to the overall sound experience vs simply relying on lossless encoding. For example, take a much older film like Die Hard 2 that is encoded with 24-bit/48kHz DTS-HD MA vs a newer film like Transformers HD DVD with a lossy Dolby Digital Plus. It's no contest that Transformers is a much more livelier track despite the fact that it's using a lossy audio format. A good analogy is Blu Ray picture quality. Just because you buy a Hi-def Blu Ray disc does not guarantee that it will have stunning picture quality (Just read the reviews of recently released Blu Rays like Commando or Predator). So it kind of ties into the question as to why we need three lossless formats. I'm not sure how it benefits the consumer. More than likely it probably confuses consumers. But rather than continue down the path where I sound like I am complaining that not only do we have lossless audio but we now have three choices in lossless audio, I"ll simply say that when done right (good source/mastering job + lossless encode), lossless audio sounds pretty amazing but like many things, you can't simply rely on the marketing numbers.
Fox studios seems to be in bed with DTS. I got my Fox Blu Ray demo material lined up for tomorrow evening -> The Simpsons, Kingdom of Heaven, Shoot 'Em Up, X-men The Last Stand, and the of course more Die Hard!
posted by baconandeggs at 11:10 PM
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