Why doesn't DTS Entertainment issue surround titles anymore?

[DaneelOlivaw]

I am totally aware that surround music has turned into an uber-ultra-tiny niche format but DTS pretty much started the digital version of surround music back in the late 90s when no one had ever heard of it.

They always seemed so excited about surround music and didn't seem like an organization that cared that much about what the mass-market liked. Hell they even sold t-shirts and other personal gear with surround motifs on them, IMO a sure sign of a company that was fun-minded and thought "out of the box".

I've seen people mention coming up with a label to re-issue other label's quad recordings - why not petition DTS Inc to do this?

I figured they would be more into quad re-issues since their main business is selling encoding/decoding surround gear and software for the movie industry and so if their 5.1 music titles didn't make huge profits, their DTS format biz would make up for it.....which is what I also believed when they were issuing all those DTS-CDs and later their dvd-audio titles.

FYI: I would take such recordings in DTS-CD form, dvd-video form (for that 1500+kbps data rate!!) or dvd-audio, whatever format is most financially viable for them.

 

[timbre4]

That is a valid question; enthusiasts are reasonably aware that DTS was issuing titles and expected more, so why have they all but disappeared? They are poised to step in and pick up the slack that the majors have provided by default as of late.

Why have a number of DTS players moved on to other companies? Maybe there are no internal champions of surround audio as there once were. If the beancounters made a blanket assertion that it was not a profitable venue, then they would ease themselves out of it. A closer look would reveal that they signed up a number of minor or unknown artists that might not have sold many units in any format and that had a lot to do with sales. For every Sting there were 3-4 Bill Mize type artists nobody ever heard of.

DTS was always good at press releases and then not necessarily delivering on them. That deal they inked with EMI a few years ago should have been a HUGE shot in the arm but manifested more as a pie in the face. They just don't seem responsive to the market and is there anyone passionate in the building anymore?

They certainly don't need to bother with brick & mortar stores with a niche product (and zero promotion/education) and have adopted direct internet sales very late in the game. I doubt these have amounted to much since many of us already have these same old titles.

I believe surround music can survive if not flourish, even if us indians have to do it ourselves. I'm blissfully listening to efforts that show what can be done re-engineering existing product, just imagining what could be done with hands on the reel thing.

 

[quadtrade]

DTS Entertainment was first just an extention of what Miller Nevada was doing at the time. They were always problems with funding this area, for good reason. It took forever to get it back. Not sure they need it anymore, they make the cash from licening the codec now. In the beginning, they had us, the Millennium and a few more expensive decoders. Not the same game now.

 

[DaneelOlivaw]

Thx for the info guys.

Though I was hoping y'all would tell us there was a resurgence of 60s attitude over there in Agora Hills and that they would start selling new titles even if they made no profit at all, since that would help add some positive energy to the world's vibe because of surround music's enveloping musical goodness. :sun

Wow, the 5th Dimension's Magic Garden in surround would be awesome.......

 

[Felix E. Martinez]

I hadn't heard from my contact at DTS for awhile, so I reached out to see what the scoop was. Seems they're currently in the throes of ramping up DTS-HD for Blu-ray and HD DVD, and the DTS Entertainment division is shifting focus to provide support as consultants for other labels. End result...probably a lot fewer titles coming out directly from them in the future.

They always seemed so excited about surround music and didn't seem like an organization that cared that much about what the mass-market liked. Hell they even sold t-shirts and other personal gear with surround motifs on them, IMO a sure sign of a company that was fun-minded and thought "out of the box".

All of these efforts were marketing tools to expand the use of the DTS codec. As music fans, we just benefited enormously.

It would be interesting if DTSE's considerable surround catalog will one day be purchased by another label...

 

[DaneelOlivaw]

All of these efforts were marketing tools.......

said while holding hands over ears---> shhh, you're harshin' my surround music buzz.

 

[Bonzodog]

DTS is basically for sale.

They have let go of almost all of their employees – shut down their hardware manufacturing and software production. We see a lot of their guys looking for work.

All that will be left is a patent licensing company.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_9_29/ai_n18765420/print

 

[Eggplant]

That is really a shame.

Inevitable, perhaps, but still very unfortunate for us. I consider the (original 5.1) DTS mixes as a group to be the best sounding, most faithful surround music out there.

 

[quadtrade]

That is really a shame.

Inevitable, perhaps, but still very unfortunate for us. I consider the (original 5.1) DTS mixes as a group to be the best sounding, most faithful surround music out there.

Thanks Bidcat, i happenned to feel the same, we got in before it was on radar. The DTS sale, well i knew all the guys who started it, the guys who wrote the codec, the guys from Ireland. It is what they worked for for all these years. We all like to make money. It never was to be an entertainment company, it just developed that direction to help the codec be viable. They Won. Congrats Paul and PJ.

 

[alexander J]

Hello everybody
Very Glad to join the forum.
I am a musician and working in surround sound for more then 10 years.

DTS still in entertainment business, whey still have entertainment department, but now instead of manufacturing discs from DTS Entertainment whey are investing in surround music projects with big labels. However just lust year whey released BT "Binary Universe" with 5.1 DVD that was very successful.

 

[The Rang]

FWIW dts has a buy 2 get one free sale on right now.

Think I'll grab the two Porcupine Tree's, not sure what the 3rd disc will be, maybe Toy Matinee or Crystal Method

 

[Chris Gerhard]

The mess with the next generation formats and DTS-HD MA, the DTS lossless audio codec, has been puzzling. Fox released several titles on Blu-ray with DTS-HD MA, but no decoder existed for many months after the releases. There are a number of HD DVD releases in Europe with DTS-HD MA but no players to decode it. I believe the upcoming Denon Blu-ray player will be the first player to decode DTS-HD MA. There may be a few decoders in receivers now that can process the codec over HDMI 1.3a. After 400 or so releases for the next generation formats, I am not sure DTS is going to amount to anything on Blu-ray or HD DVD. Of course, I am not sure either format will amount to anything either.

I love the DTS DVD-A's I own and will look to pick up a few more before they disappear.

Chris

 

[alexander J]

The mess with the next generation formats and DTS-HD MA, the DTS lossless audio codec, has been puzzling. Fox released several titles on Blu-ray with DTS-HD MA, but no decoder existed for many months after the releases. There are a number of HD DVD releases in Europe with DTS-HD MA but no players to decode it. I believe the upcoming Denon Blu-ray player will be the first player to decode DTS-HD MA. There may be a few decoders in receivers now that can process the codec over HDMI 1.3a. After 400 or so releases for the next generation formats, I am not sure DTS is going to amount to anything on Blu-ray or HD DVD. Of course, I am not sure either format will amount to anything either.

I love the DTS DVD-A's I own and will look to pick up a few more before they disappear.

Chris

Onkyo is also comming out with DTS-HD capable HD DVD player this fall:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/08/10/onkyo.hd.dvd.player/
I talked with DTS about my release of "Uncommon Bach" on HD-DVD and they were highly supportive.

I don’t think that DTS DVD-A's will dissipate that soon, more and more people are buying DTS capable systems and market only growing.

 

[Chris Gerhard]

Onkyo is also comming out with DTS-HD capable HD DVD player this fall:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/08/10/onkyo.hd.dvd.player/
I talked with DTS about my release of "Uncommon Bach" on HD DVD and whey was highly supportive.

I don’t think that DTS DVD-A's will dissipate that soon, more and more people are buying DTS capable systems and market only growing.

Yes, I believe the upcoming Onkyo player, based on the excellent Toshiba HD-XA2 should be the first HD DVD player to decode DTS-HD MA.

Sure there is demand for the DTS music releases, but DTS isn't making any more are they? I don't know if the company has the rights to manufacture most of the titles at this point if they wanted to. I don't have a clue what the remaining inventory is, but I have seen too many of the OOP titles disappear before I grabbed one to sit comfortably waiting for a deal on these.

Chris

 

[DaneelOlivaw]

DTS is basically for sale.

They have let go of almost all of their employees – shut down their hardware manufacturing and software production. We see a lot of their guys looking for work.

All that will be left is a patent licensing company.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_9_29/ai_n18765420/print

MAJOR bummer.

I always thought - whatever their actual reason for existing was - that their surround discs were overall the best, tied with Warner Bros' discs. Though many of DTS' discs had some neat little bonus features no one else had, like the LTJ Bukem dvd with the breakdown mix video with the synchonised graphics of the various 5.1 channels' output, the countdown timer at the end of a disc or their inclusion of hi-res LPCM tracks on many of their later discs that can be played on dvd-video players.

 

[DaneelOlivaw]

DTS still in entertainment business, whey still have entertainment department, but now instead of manufacturing discs from DTS Entertainment whey are investing in surround music projects with big labels. However just lust year whey released BT "Binary Universe" with 5.1 DVD that was very successful.

Hi Alexander, thanks for the info!

I have the BT disc and still play it on a regular basis (very cool space-age downtempo/jazz stuff!), and was wondering why the authoring credits were to a company other than DTS Inc - now I know why. I read the credits because this disc operates differently than a DTS-authored disc, which in this case operates in an irritating way. The disc won't play or even go to its main menu until you select an audio format, then once you do that after a couple minutes it starts playing by itself (a feature I do NOT like) and there are like 3 ways to play it which makes it confusing/time consuming to use. I hesitate to say these things considering the tiny output of surround music now, but felt I had to point this out.

 

[alexander J]

Hi Alexander, thanks for the info!

I have the BT disc and still play it on a regular basis (very cool space-age downtempo/jazz stuff!), and was wondering why the authoring credits were to a company other than DTS Inc - now I know why. I read the credits because this disc operates differently than a DTS-authored disc, which in this case operates in an irritating way. The disc won't play or even go to its main menu until you select an audio format, then once you do that after a couple minutes it starts playing by itself (a feature I do NOT like) and there are like 3 ways to play it which makes it confusing/time consuming to use. I hesitate to say these things considering the tiny output of surround music now, but felt I had to point this out.

I was talking with DTS early that year about my electronic music project "Solaris" on DTS-ES music disc but whey were looking for something that has also ecstatic video track that explains the choice of DVD-Video format that requires start up menu for audio options selection.