If recoded/shrunk with DTS audio only will any...

[dochase]

If recoded/shrunk with DTS audio only will any other audio choice (like Dolby Digital 5.1) work when selected for DVD playback? I guess the best way to put it is DTS backward compatible to lower quality audio choices?

I just got a new receiver that is connected with digital audio by coax and now am able to take advantage of DTS audio. When I back up the original disk, do I have to choose both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 to be able to have both.

I am trying to save compression ratio by choosing only one type of audio (the best one). My assumption is that if Dolby Digital 5.1 is not chosen then you will only be able to playback using DTS option.

The final question is...aftter compression to one disk from original DVD is there really an advantage of DTS over Dolby Dig 5.1 after compression?

I use DVD Shrink and Nero Recode to back up my disks.

Thanks

D

[BoilerUp]

I believe Dolby Digital and DTS are mutually exclusive. By that I mean neither is compatible with each other at all (let alone backward compatible).

As to your question about compression, DVD shrink does not touch audio streams. They are the same size, quality, and bitrate as the original. It is only the video that is shrunk. As for quality, that is subjective. DTS has a higher bitrate than Dolby Digital, but it's nearly impossible for the human ear to pick out these differences.

There's a lot of threads about DTS vs. Dolby Digital in the audio forum. I peronally find DTS kind of annoying, since it seems to have the music really loud and the dialogue really quiet, compared to Dolby Digital (where there's less of a contrast).

[waheed]

The DVD Video Specifications require you to have a Dolby Digital (or LPCM) track as the first audio.

Neglecting the Dolby Digital Audio and ONLY including the DTS Audio would mean that the resulting disc will not meet the DVD Video Specifications and may cause playback problems with some dvd players. Though some players may happily play the disc fine.

You can choose to include both audios or only one audio track. Dont forget that DTS comsumes more space than Dolby due to the higher bitrate.

[guns1inger]

A few things to note :

1. Shrinking a DVD using Shrink or Recode does not reduce the bitrate of the audio, so DTS or AC# will remain exactly as they were on the original disc. On the video is compressed. This is true of pretty much all the DVD backup solutions.

2. Whereas AC3 (Dolby Digital) can be downmixed on the fly by your player to produce analogue stereo output, DTS can only be played via a DTS decoder and a digital connection (be it optical or coax). This means that if DTS is the only audio track on the disk, you must have a digital connection to a DTS encoder to hear it played back. The exception is that there a very small number of DVD players that have a DTS decoder built in, but these are the exception, not the rule.

3. A good audio setup will show off DTS to it's fullest, and personally I believe that a good DTS audio track is better than it's AC3 counterpart. Some DTS tracks are specially mixed, and aren't just a DTS encode of the same material as the AC3 track. If they are just from the same material then the difference is minimal.

For my money, as much as I love a good DTS track, the size differnce means that AC3 is generally the better choice for backups to DVD5 discs, simply because they leave more space for the video.