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Disney+ is adding DTS audio to IMAX Enhanced Marvel films
Along with announcing DTS audio for IMAX Enhanced films, Disney+ has revealed when 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' is coming to the platform. You'll be able to stream the MCU movie at home starting on February 1st.
Sonos is rolling out DTS surround sound support
Amazon Music Ultra HD and Dolby Atmos Music spatial audio will soon work on Sonos devices too.
Disney+ will let you watch 'Shang-Chi' and 12 Marvel films in a large IMAX format
Marvel's heroes are about to get a bit bigger on your TV.
DTS will integrate TV speakers into WiFi surround sound setups
Play-Fi Home Theater-compatible TVs will hit the market within the next couple of months.
DTS:X for home theater comes to Xbox One
After releasing its Sound Unbound spatial audio for headphones on Xbox One, DTS is doing the same for home theater systems. The company has just released its Sound Unbound DTS:X home theater support on Xbox One to Xbox Insiders, following testing on the Alpha Ring.
DTS Sound Unbound improves spatial audio for PC games
Taking a page from longtime rival Dolby, DTS is out today with a new Windows 10 app that promises to give gamers access to enhanced audio. Dubbed DTS Sound Unbound, the app builds on Microsoft's Spatial Sound platform to make almost any old pair of stereo headphones capable of outputting 3D sound. DTS says its headphone codec will give you an edge in competitive games, as well as make single-player games more immersive. The one limitation of the app is that it isn't compatible with certain hi-res headphones -- though it supports more than 450 different models otherwise. The app also won't work with just any game.
'Venom' and 'Alpha' will be the first IMAX Enhanced 4K blockbusters
The 'IMAX Enhanced' tag that IMAX and DTS teamed up to create for home entertainment is continuing to expand with several announcements at CES. According to its backers, the label means that content is mastered using the latest "proprietary post-production process developed by IMAX while a "special variant" of DTS:X pumps up the audio to deliver an "immersive" IMAX experience at home. Today the group added three general outlets for streaming IMAX Enhanced content: Tencent in China, FandangoNow in the US and RakutenTV in Europe, plus Privilege 4K in the US for Sony TVs. Sony Pictures announced that Venom and Alpha will be among the first blockbuster movie titles available with the tag. while Paramount has also pledged support. Arcam, Elite, Integra, Lexicon, Onkyo, Pioneer and Trinnov are working on certified A/V receivers, while TCL has joined Sony in developing certified TVs. Meanwhile, an IMAX Certified Mode to optimize settings based on content is still in development.
'IMAX Enhanced’ promises the highest quality 4K in your living room
Today, IMAX announced a new program called IMAX Enhanced, which was launched in partnership with DTS. It's a certification and licensing program that will allow users to play the highest quality 4K images and most powerful audio in the comfort of their own home.
Logitech's new headset brings cinematic sound to your games
Gaming headsets have gotten a lot more stylish in the past year, with companies like SteelSeries and LucidSound packing cinema-quality sound into catwalk-ready cans. Now, peripheral giant Logitech is taking them on with its newest release, the G533. This $150 headset boasts 7.1 surround sound, a simple-but-classy design and, most important to gamers, wireless capability without lag or interruption.
LG's next headset is a wearable surround sound speaker, too
Sometimes you want to listen to music without having something in or on your ears. That's the desire LG hopes its new Tone Studio wearable speaker will address. The new horseshoe-shaped unit features two full range speakers up up and a pair of vibrating ones, a digital to analog converter and DTS 3D surround sound. If you're feeling generous, you can even pair two of the devices together and share audio from a single source.
SteelSeries keeps it classy with its new gaming headsets
Any gamer can benefit from a good headset, whether to stay in clear contact with their teammates during an intense raid or to keep the noise down while their spouse is asleep. But some cans are loud in a different way, boasting garish designs or cheap plastic builds that you might not feel comfortable wearing outside your home. Newcomers like LucidSound have taken a stab at building headgear on the more stylish side, but now industry vet SteelSeries enters the arena with its own line of fashionable gaming headsets.
Paramount signs up to release more movies with DTS:X audio
We got a chance to hear the audio capabilities of DTS:X at CES in 2015, but there haven't been many movies released that way so far. Now Paramount seems ready to change that, signing up with DTS to release a "collection" of films with the multi-dimensional audio encoding applied. Some of the Blu-rays are already on shelves, like The Big Short and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, but there should be more on the way. Like Dolby Atmos, DTS:X is supposed to align audio in a way that fits with where your speakers are actually positioned, and as we saw in our demo, allows for features like turning up the volume on dialogue without affecting other sounds.
DTS is making movie and TV dialogue even easier to hear
Compared to other trade shows (E3 being the prime offender), the Consumer Electronics Show floor is relatively quiet. That didn't stop the folks at DTS from showing off their new DTS:X codec however. It separates audio into objects instead of channels so instead of say, left, right, front, rear, center and subwoofer, you get things like dialogue or individual gunshots. If this sounds like Dolby Atmos tech, that's because it's pretty similar. The neat trick with DTS:X, however, is that it separates dialogue into its own thing that you control the volume of independently from everything else. Should you have an A/V receiver, you could always bump the center channel up a bit, but that increases the volume of all sound coming from that speaker, not just what the people onscreen are saying. It sort of achieves the same result, but not quite.
The TUAW Daily Update Podcast for July 24, 2014
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get some the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the player at the top of the page. Be sure that your podcast software is set up to subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.
DTS expanding whole home audio choices with new partners and iOS links
DTS, the company which gives us such great audio in theaters and on DVD and Blu-ray discs, is continuing a push to make a mark with distributed wireless audio in the home, taking on Sonos, Apple's AirPlay, and others with a push for Play-Fi technology. Today, the company added new high end partners McIntosh, Sonus Faber and Wadia who will integrate DTS Play-Fi into their home audio products. Current partners include Polk, Definitive Technology, SpeakerCraft, Pandora, BBC and ESPN Radio. Sources and services can be played from a smartphone or tablet, or from the desktop of a PC, wirelessly over an existing home WiFi network, to any number of Play-Fi connected speakers throughout the home. Play-Fi supports multi-zone, multi-room and multi-listener modes. It means, for example, different people in one home can listen to the sources they want in whatever room they want, as long as it is equipped with the proper hardware. Playback can be managed from any iOS device, or that device can serve as a playback source. Play-Fi works over your existing wireless network, and with the right hardware, even supports lossless playback of high resolution audio files like those in the FLAC format, something Sonos and Apple don't do. DTS offers a Play-Fi iOS app right now that allows music to stream from your iOS device to any DTS device from its product partners. It offers better audio quality than Bluetooth streaming, but you are limited to products that support it, such as speakers from Wren and Phorus. That list will grow. Music can also sit on networked attached storage or a PC. At this point, Macs are the weak link in the chain, as there is no Mac client as yet although iOS is well supported. Sonos, and of course Apple, support all Macs and iOS devices. Dannie Lau, one of the inventors of the Play-Fi standard, told me that the product is device agnostic, meaning that anyone who wants to license it can include the Play-Fi chipset. Any product with a Play-Fi label can be mixed and matched with any other hardware. Apple has also had success with AirPlay. Users with iOS devices and Macs can stream music from iTunes or their devices to speakers from companies including Denon, Marantz, B&W, JBL, and iHome. Content can be streamed to one or multiple devices. AirPlay also supports streaming video and audio to an AppleTV. There are also solutions from companies like Bose that offer similar capabilities. The whole area of access to any media in the home is really heating up. The competition is good for consumers, and sure to advance the state of the art. Play-Fi has a leg up with support for high resolution audio files, but each system has pluses and minuses.
Listen to Soundgarden in DTS 11.1 sound on your headphones
A while back I talked about the new SRS system for improving audio on Macs and iOS devices. DTS has now jumped into the sound improvement fray with the first Rock album released in DTS Headphone: X format, which claims to recreate an 11.1 channel system on standard headphones and speakers. The music is the 20th anniversary release of Soundgarden's Superunknown album from 1994. You can listen to album samples by downloading the free app at the iTunes store. The idea behind the DTS Headphone: X format is to let you listen as a producer would. "Bands have been releasing albums in surround sound for years now, but no technology has been able to provide fans with a true feeling of what it was like to be in the studio with the band. That's why I find DTS' Headphone:X technology so fascinating. The experience Soundgarden's fans will hear over headphones is identical to how I heard the mix in the studio when producing the surround sound version," commented Grammy® Award-winning producer and engineer, Adam Kasper. DTS Headphone:X enables content producers to capture the acoustics of a high-quality audio production studio on consumer-end products. The technology externalizes and expands sound. That means listeners perceive the sound as coming from high quality loudspeakers located some distance around them. With benefits for both producers and consumers, the DTS Headphone:X technology presents a whole new way to enjoy entertainment content over headphones. Soundgarden is also releasing the album as a 2 CD set, including the remastered tracks from 1994, and a disc of demos, rehearsals, B-sides and more. There is also a Super Deluxe 5 CD set with additional mixes and a Blu-ray audio multichannel mix. I gave the new mix a listen via the app that is available today. I used the Beyerdynamic headphones I just completed a review of, and the sound really was terrific. The app lets you select the way you are listening; ear buds, over ear, on ear headphones, or speakers. You can hear the spatial cues move with each setting. I didn't have the plain old 2 channel mix to compare, but the sounds of the DTS 11.1 channel mix did seem to be quite different than standard headphone listening. Rather than hear the music "in my head," there were instruments in front of me, and arrayed to the sides and behind me. I also felt some instruments originated above me. I thought the DTS 11.1 mix did a good job of sounding likes I was listening to speakers with the instruments in real space. I'd love to hear more music released this way, as hard rock is not always the best way to judge sound quality. I'd prefer to hear some acoustic instruments to really judge the effect. The free app provides some demo tracks, and you can get the full Soundgarden tracks with a code that ships with the Super Deluxe 5 CD set CD. The downside is the only way to get all the tracks is to buy that CD for US$99.00. That's a pretty steep toll, and I think people who like the group should be able to just buy the digital edition through the app. The Soundgarden app album samples and the ability to get all the tracks requires iOS 7 or later. It is optimized for the iPhone 5. The app is not universal. I liked the DTS 11.1 sound very much. I'd be happy to hear a wider variety of music. If you'd like to try the DTS sound, head over to the Soundgarden website and have your headphones ready to go. The DTS sound is terrific, but having the whole album in DTS 11.1 channel sound requires the hundred dollar deluxe CD set purchase, and if this terrific technology is going to take off it's got to be less pricey and with fewer strings attached.
Vivo Xplay 3S unveiled with a 6-inch 2K display, powerful audio amp and fingerprint reader
We came away rather impressed with the Vivo Xplay from China, so today's launch of its successor, the Xplay 3S (which is a bit odd as there was never an "Xplay 2"), is something that we've been looking forward to since the teaser way back in October. As mentioned before, this new Android phone is still the first to pack a 2K (2,560 x 1,440) display, which works out to be a ridiculously high 490ppi density on the 6-inch panel. Like other recent Vivo phones, you'll find a pair of dedicated audio chips on the Xplay 3S -- here you have ESS Technology's ES9018 DAC and Texas Instruments' OPA2604 amplifier, both of which are said to be the crème de la crème in their respective categories. This should go nicely with the built-in DTS Headphone:X feature that brings 7.1 or even 11.1 surround sound effect to your stereo headphones; plus Vivo's video streaming service already hosts about 200 Headphone:X-capable movies (along with over 400 movies in 1080p and over 1,000 movies in 720p), with more to be added each month.
Vizio unveils trio of soundbars tailored for smaller TVs, starting at $80
Vizio's 42-inch soundbar is all fine and dandy, but not everyone has the TV or budget to justify that kind of audio -- college students, anyone? The company is clearly aware of this problem, as it just announced three soundbars built for smaller screens like those in the M-Series. The 29-inch S2920w ($80) and 38-inch S3820w ($120) cater to simple setups with 2.0-channel sound, while the 38-inch S3821w ($180) adds a wireless subwoofer for some extra oomph. All three support Bluetooth streaming from nearby devices, and they use DTS audio processing to both fill out the frequency range and hush noisy commercials. The soundbars will ship between late August and September, or just in time for the annual dorm room invasion.
Paramount picks DTS-HD codec to deliver surround sound for UltraViolet common file format digital movies
Early this year, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. movie studios chose Dolby Digital Plus as their preferred means to deliver surround sound for their UltraViolet common file format (CFF) downloads. Paramount Pictures, however, has decided to go with Dolby's competitor, DTS, announcing today that the DTS-HD codec will be used in its UltraViolet CCF offerings. Like Dolby, the DTS codec delivers up to 7.1 channels of surround sound for Paramount's UV catalog -- though your cloud-based audio/visual bliss will have to wait, UltraViolet CFF isn't slated for release until sometime in the latter half of 2013.
The Expendables 2 Blu-ray ships November 20th and is the first one with 11.1 channel DTS Neo:X audio
Just when we were getting used to 7.1 channel surround sound audio tracks on our movies, our friends at High Def Disc News have pointed out Lionsgate's announcement of The Expendables 2 on Blu-ray that cranks the audio up to 11 -- 11.1 to be exact. The extra channels come courtesy of the new DTS Neo:X codec which includes support for speakers in the front mounted both high and wide to create more of a 3D audio effect that can simulate planes flying overhead or a car driving past. While those who have upgraded their receivers and added extra speakers will mostly experience the effect thanks to upmixing, it does allow for an 11.1 audio track with the extra channel info matrixed into a standard 7.1 audio track. Of course, with a supercharged action flick like TE2 there should be plenty of explosions to give any audio system a workout, and now we have one more reason to check it out when it's released November 20th (just beating the also Neo:X ready Step Up Revolution to the punch.) Beyond the audio there's also several making-of featurettes if you need more Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme in your life, plus UltraViolet and regular Digital Copy; all of which is currently available for pre-order on Amazon for $27.99. Check out a press release with all the specs plus a theatrical trailer for the movie and a video explaining DTS Neo:X audio after the break.
