| Re: Blu-ray players
Things sure seem to have gotten sloppy lately. It feels like there are too many options and variations of formats to really have anything settle in. Remember when "AC-3" was emerging? It didn't take long to go from onboard player decoding and "AC-3 Capable" receivers to having everything established and built in and ready to go as DD 5.1, and I think DTS 5.1 fit in about the same time as a bonus on many receivers. Even with SACD/DVDA and the bass management issues, external decoding still wasn't that big a problem, and didn't take too long to figure out and settle down.
How many new surround formats are there really? I've compiled a list of the main ones, and some of their features (I think - corrections are welcome, this is confusing!)
1) DTS HD High Resolution Audio - higher bitrate encoding than standard DTS, 7.1 channels, backward compatible with existing DTS decoders - optional format for HD discs
2) DD Plus - higher bitrate encoding than standard DD, 7.1 channels for BD/HDDVD, up to 13.1 for audio, also backward compatible - standard format for HD DVD, and optional for BD
3) DTS Encore - Standard DTS but at twice the resolution (1.5 Mbps) for 5.1 channels
and the top dogs...
4) DTS HD Master Audio - lossless encoding, unlimited surround channels (7.1 channels for BD/HD DVD), backward compatible with existing DTS decoders - optional format for HD discs
5)Dolby True HD - lossless encoding, 7.1 discrete channels - optional format for BD, may be a standard for HD DVD
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