[ithehappy]

I have a move file which said that its DTS-HD 3961 kbps, but when I open the same file in Windows Media Player Classic I see that it says 1536 kbps! I am not an expert in these things, but I love DTS audio, but I am wondering that how many variants of DTS are out there? I know that there is a low bit-rate one of 750 kbps and the most common one is 1500 kbps, but does 3500 kbps or more really exists?

Thanks in advance.

 

[kalston]

I'm no DTS expert but I can clarify a few things :
 
DTS-HD 3961 kbps > that's lossless audio (and variable bit rate), like FLAC, True HD etc. An exact copy of the original master, it's common to have this on blu-rays. Requires a DTS-HD decoder (on a PC, it's a bit tricky if you stick to free media players).
 
DTS 1536 > this is the lossy version of the same track, called the "core" because it has an attached -HD extension that turns it into a lossless track if the player can decode it. Windows Media Player does not (at least by default) support DTS-HD so it will only output this DTS core if you feed it a lossless DTS-HD track. 
 
DTS 750 > that's just a lossy DTS track that never had the -HD extension in the first place (a bit more aggressively compressed than the 1536 one). 
 
Most players (including free ones) have no problem at all with lossy DTS, but DTS-HD requires a decoder and there is currently no free decoder available. There is a open source project but it seems to be going really slow (if it's not frozen altogether...). The only "free" solution for now is to use LAV audio filters with the dtsdecoder.dll from Arcsoft TMT (TotalMediaTheater, a paid product but with a free demo with which you can/could grab the .dll). This product is now discontinued but it's not too hard to find this .dll (I have several backups of it myself if you need it)
 
LAV filters work with several players including free ones such as Media Player Classic but AFAIK Windows Media Player is not supported. 
 
There are other types of DTS tracks (DTS-ES and other funky names) but AFAIK all of them are lossy and really rare (probably because there is nothing good to say about them ). I wouldn't worry about them, only one I encountered more than once is the DTS 96/24 found on old audio DVDs, it's a complete joke as it's not even lossless and the only thing it does is add things you cannot hear (it extends 48khz to 96khz, that's all...) while making the files bigger (but it still requires something like lav + Arcsoft dll to decode)
 
Now, you may wonder if DTS-HD does sound better than the DTS core. Well, this is the eternal lossy vs lossless debate. My general advice is : lossless for storage, lossy for playback* (but good lossy please, high bitrate MP3/AAC or such with a reference encoder). DTS is still a proprietary tech so it's hard to say how the -HD extension really works. I have always wondered if it actually adds audible information or just some extra high frequencies and bits that make no difference for a human being. Maybe the open source DTS-HD decoder project could shed some light on this eventually but it's not there yet. 
 
* to be a bit more nuanced, I think lossless has value if you intend to do some processing in the playback chain. Storage space is not an issue of my desktop machine (which has the better DAC/AMP etc) so I go full lossless, but everything on my phone or laptop is lossy (and I ripped it myself with the reference tools)
 
one last edit : DTS-HD is also called DTS-MA, DTS-HDMA - but it's all the same.

 

[ithehappy]

First of all thanks a lot for replying and that too in details.
 
The thing is I think I have LAV installed? I mean I am not sure but I use K-Lite Mega Code Pack to watch Matroska files on WMP Classic. The thing is the movie file which I have, I mean which supposed to have DTS 3961 kbps audio is around 9.5 GB. But I have the same movie which is 7.3 GB, but comes as 1536 kbps DTS. Well space isn't a problem for me, rather was not a problem for me, but my 2 TB internal is almost full now, that's one reason, and another would be if both files have same audio quality then I think it's not really meaningful to keep the 9.5 GB version over 7.3 GB one.
 
As WMP Classic is showing 1536 kbps for both files, I wonder what's the difference! I mean the 9.5 GB file does say DTS-HD but the 7.3 GB version doesn't say DTS-HD but its of same bitrate as well, 1536 kbps.
 
Is there any software or anything with which I will be able to see whether the 9.5 GB version is indeed different than the 7.3 GB one? My headphone is rather a cheap V55, and I use an E11 with it, I am quite sure that I don't see any difference in audio qualities between both files, but I can't hear it doesn't mean it isn't there, if it is at first place.

 

[mindbomb]

there is dts-hd ma, which is lossless with a legacy lossy file built in to fall back on in case you can't decode the lossless. There is dts-hd hra, which is a high quality lossy file. There is dts 1536, which is usually is the legacy file that comes with dts-hd ma and also found on some laserdiscs. There is dts 768 which is from dvd mainly (the others are from bluray).

 

[kalston]

  First of all thanks a lot for replying and that too in details.
 
The thing is I think I have LAV installed? I mean I am not sure but I use K-Lite Mega Code Pack to watch Matroska files on WMP Classic. The thing is the movie file which I have, I mean which supposed to have DTS 3961 kbps audio is around 9.5 GB. But I have the same movie which is 7.3 GB, but comes as 1536 kbps DTS. Well space isn't a problem for me, rather was not a problem for me, but my 2 TB internal is almost full now, that's one reason, and another would be if both files have same audio quality then I think it's not really meaningful to keep the 9.5 GB version over 7.3 GB one.
 
As WMP Classic is showing 1536 kbps for both files, I wonder what's the difference! I mean the 9.5 GB file does say DTS-HD but the 7.3 GB version doesn't say DTS-HD but its of same bitrate as well, 1536 kbps.
 
Is there any software or anything with which I will be able to see whether the 9.5 GB version is indeed different than the 7.3 GB one? My headphone is rather a cheap V55, and I use an E11 with it, I am quite sure that I don't see any difference in audio qualities between both files, but I can't hear it doesn't mean it isn't there, if it is at first place.

 
LAV is not part of K Lite Mega Codec Pack (which I don't recommend using as it's a mess) - http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=156191 
this is LAV and I'm really not sure if WMP can make use of it or not. But by "WMP classic" maybe you mean Media Player Classic? In that case yes, LAV will work if you enable it in the options (make it the preferred filter). And even if you do install LAV, you still need to get the dtsdecoder.dll to play the lossless track. 
 
@ mindbomb

1.  
2. ah yes, forgot about -HRA although that's another worthless codec IMO, like DTS 96/24. If going lossy might as well save space and use something like AC3 640 or DTS 1536... 

 

[ithehappy]

   
LAV is not part of K Lite Mega Codec Pack (which I don't recommend using as it's a mess) - http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=156191 
this is LAV and I'm really not sure if WMP can make use of it or not. But by "WMP classic" maybe you mean Media Player Classic? In that case yes, LAV will work if you enable it in the options (make it the preferred filter). And even if you do install LAV, you still need to get the dtsdecoder.dll to play the lossless track. 

Yes mate, I meant Media Player Classic, that's what I use for as long as I can remember. Didn't know that K-Lite was a messy codec pack, will see into that.
 
So I can just download that dtsdecoder.dll and play the loseless track then?
 
Here's a screenshot of Media Player Classic while in work, look at the taskbar icons, I see LAV Video Decoder and LAV Splitter, along with ffdshow audio decoder or something (at the very left, in blue), http://i.imgur.com/JiF6qd4.jpg

 

[ithehappy]

  there is dts-hd ma, which is lossless with a legacy lossy file built in to fall back on in case you can't decode the lossless. There is dts-hd hra, which is a high quality lossy file. There is dts 1536, which is usually is the legacy file that comes with dts-hd ma and also found on some laserdiscs. There is dts 768 which is from dvd mainly (the others are from bluray).

Yeah, this is what the movie file says, DTS-HD MA, I mean the bigger version of the file.

 

[kalston]

  Yes mate, I meant Media Player Classic, that's what I use for as long as I can remember. Didn't know that K-Lite was a messy codec pack, will see into that.

 
So I can just download that dtsdecoder.dll and play the loseless track then?

 
Here's a screenshot of Media Player Classic while in work, look at the taskbar icons, I see LAV Video Decoder and LAV Splitter, along with ffdshow audio decoder or something (at the very left, in blue), http://i.imgur.com/JiF6qd4.jpg

 
Ok then the only thing you need to do is drop the dtsdecoder.dll in the lav directory (like this http://i.imgur.com/31raZI4.png ) and then you will get the lossless track decoded (when you open lav properties it will say "dts-hd ma" on the left part)

 

[mindbomb]

eac3to can also use that dtsdecoderdll to convert the dts-hd ma to flac, so you no longer need a proprietary decoder after that.