AGOURA HILLS, CA – DTS (www.dts.com) has released the DTS-HD Master Audio Suite and the DTS Surround Audio Suite, two new software packages designed for pros who want to prepare audio streams for next generation and current optical disc media formats. The suites both consist of an encoder, a StreamPlayer decoder, and StreamTools bitstream editing and verification tools. Both software suites are now available for the Windows XP platform with the Mac OS X platform to be available soon.
The DTS-HD Master Audio Suite (MAS) provides an easy-to-use interface for encoding audio bit streams for HD DVD and Blue-ray discs, as well as DVD and DTS 5.1 music discs. Features such as downmix setting and audition, and DTS Digital Surround backward-compatible Core playback provide users with the ability to monitor DTS-HD encoded streams and emulate various consumer playback systems with confidence. Encoded bit stream formats include: DTS Digital Surround, DTS-ES 6.1, DTS 96/24, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio lossless, which is bit-for-bit identical to the master soundtrack.
The MAS is applicable to DVD-V, DVD-A and DTS Surround Music CDs, as well as the next generation HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats. DTS-HD bit streams support up to 7.1 channels of 96kHz audio or up to 5.1 channels of 192kHz audio. Additionally, DTS-HD low bit rate (LBR) audio streams can be created for use as sub or secondary audio on HD DVD and Blu-ray Discs with bit rates optimized for Internet delivery. Included in the DTS-HD MAS, the StreamPlayer decoder can play any DTS bit stream, delivering audio to a PC’s sound card for quality control monitoring prior to disc authoring.
The DTS Surround Audio Suite (SAS) is a limited version of Master Audio Suite and can encode bit streams compatible with standard DVD-V and DTS Surround Music CDs. The DTS SAS also includes StreamPlayer and can be upgraded to the DTS-HD Master Audio Suite with the purchase of an upgrade license.
The suggested retail prices of the suites are $1,495 for the DTS-HD Master Audio Suite, and $795 for the DTS Surround Audio Suite.