Can Panasonic LX-900 laserdisc play DD/DTS discs?

Posted by Ken [IP: 209.144.224.43] on December 02, 1998 at 10:23:22:

In Reply to: Can Panasonic LX-900 laserdisc play DD/DTS discs? posted by Otto on December 02, 1998 at 00:16:16:

OK, I think I got it now.

Unfortunately, you cannot get Dolby Digital (DD or AC-3 -- all describe the same format) outright. AC-3 is carried on the right analogue LD track (I think) and can only be accessed by a direct AC-3 RF output that must be demodulated somewhere in the signal path. I have heard of people who convert old players to recognize AC-3, but this entails opening up the unit and doing some surgery.

If you have a digital out for the PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) tracks (i.e. optical or coax), I would think you could get DTS playback from a DTS encoded LD. You just have to have a decoder that process the DTS bitstream. By the way, there are plenty of LD that have DTS formats, but very few DVD's. This, of course, will change very soon. Panasonic is incorrect when they tell you that DVD's are the only DTS source. It is ironic that presently this is the least plentiful source.

The same technology for CD audio is used for LD audio. It is referred to as PCM. DTS is also available on Digital audio Discs (basically DTS CD's). Although I have never played one of these, I believe there is not supposed to be anything special about the player to get DTS. This means your LD player should be able to play DTS. This would not be the case with DVD players where you must have a player that can recognize and output the DTS bitstream.

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