DTS Targets HD DVD With Lossless Codec
By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 4/19/2004
Agoura Hills, Calif.— Digital Theater Systems (DTS) has proposed a lossless-compression technology to the movie industry for use in movie theaters and to the DVD Forum for inclusion in the HD DVD format still under development.
Soundtracks encoded with the technology, DTS's first lossless codec, would be "bit-for-bit identical with the original master," DTS said. The as-yet unnamed codec features no specific limit on the number of discrete channels and sampling rates of 44.1kHz, 48kHz, and 96kHz at 16 bits to 24 bits .The compression ratio "is always varying," DTS added.
"We anticipate seeing our codec in the consumer market in a couple years," a spokesperson said. Besides appearing in home HD DVD players, the technology could also appear in home music servers to store and distribute songs throughout a house, DTS said. "It's too early to comment" on whether the technology could be used to store DVD-Audio and SACD music, the company said.
To promote the technology to the movie industry, DTS plans second-quarter demonstrations to film distributors and exhibitors. The DTS lossless technology is compatible with all analog-film formats and digital cinema sources, the company said.
