During the latest NAB professional show, which took place in Las Vegas from
April 18 to April 23, DTS, Inc. announced new Blu-ray Disc audio tools for the
professional and prosumer markets. Developed in cooperation with Minnetonka
Audio Software, they introduced version 2.0 of its DTS-HD Master Audio Suite
and SurCode's DTS-HD solutions for Apple Final Cut Studio and Logic Studio
users.
The leading professional software marketed by DTS is its DTS-HD Master Audio
Suite and for version 2.0, over 30 features and enhancements have been
added. The most important are new Bonus View encoding features that include
"dynamic Mono panning," as well as seamless branching optimization for multi-
story and multi-angle titles. The Audio Suite also features what DTS Inc. claims
is the fastest BD audio encoder on the market, at "3 to 4 times faster than
real-time for lossless audio encodes." It is compatible with Mac-Intel, Windows
XP and Windows Vista and retails at $1,495, although existing users will be
able to download updates at no additional cost.
In turn, the new DTS-HD audio solution for Apple Compressor and Quicktime
consists of an encoder/decoder plug-in pair, aimed at the Apple professional
community. The SurCode Encoder for DTS-HD plug-in for Apple Compressor 3
can produce encoded streams (either DTS, DTS-HD or DTS-MA) at up to 6.1
channels, for BD and DVD, directly within Apple Final Cut Studio and Logic
Studio. The SurCode Decoder for DTS-HD for QuickTime supports playback of all
DTS-HD and DTS stream types with QuickTime Player.
SurCode Encoder for DTS-HD for Compressor retails for $249 and includes
SurCode Decoder for DTS-HD for QuickTime (which also can be purchased
separately for $29). Both products will be available directly online at
minnetonkaaudio.com after
May 31.