Home Video Asylum

TVs, VCRs, DVD players, Home Theater systems and more.

an answer

First, the THX issue. THX Ultra and THX Select certification is based on certain requirements that a product has to meet. In a nutshell, the Select certification is for products intended for small to medium size rooms. The Ultra certification is for medium to large rooms. I believe there is a cubic foot measure for the room sizes. I think the large (THX Ultra) room is 3000 cuft and up (or something close to that). I can't remember the specs for Select components. THX also does "certification" for VHS, laserdisc and DVD movies. This is similar to the USDA sticker on meat. The medium certified is supposed to meet at least the minimum standards that the folks at THX have set for video and audio performance. Please note: just because it says THX on the label doesn't mean that it's "the best" or "better" than something that isn't THX certified. There are audio and video products out there that are not only equal to a THX certified product, but are better. What a THX certification tells you is that the manufacturer probably took more time with quality control and/or parts execution. The THX standards have to be met or exceeded to get the THX label. At least you know the product wasn't a poor design. As far as DTS vs DD, this subject has been beaten to death. The best thing for you to do is get a DVD with DTS and DD encoding. Since the levels will be off (not by much), it won't be an accurate comparison. Do your best to level match. Listen to the DTS track, then the DD track. You decide which sounds better to you. On my wife's inexpensive system (receiver/digital surround processor/DVD player/6 speakers/$767), I can hear the difference. I have read reviews of DTS vs DD when DTS discs first came out in which the reveiwers had systems ranging from $50,000 to over $100,000. They "revealed" that there was either no difference or the difference was barely audible. What they really revealed was that either their hearing was impaired or they were extremely biased. Probably both.


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  • an answer - Joe Murphy Jr 22:36:34 08/08/01 (0)


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