Hot A/V Products

DTS

DTS (Digital Theater Systems) seems to have won a few more battles in the war against market leader Dolby Digital. While DTS has been able to clam dominance in the motion picture industry for some time, their attempts to enter the coveted consumer market have been repeatedly meet with a number of obstacles. Between the limited distribution of DTS-encoded titles and the lack of decoder chips for already announced products, the chances for a second digital sound system to penetrate the mainstream market has seemed remote.

However, the show of support from Sherwood, Yamaha, and Techincs here at CES will undoubtedly be the first step in making DTS a household name alongside those of Dolby Digital and THX.

The first and only A/V receiver available with both Dolby Digital and DTS comes from Sherwood. Providing 100 watts by five channels, the R-945 is equipped with two 24bit DSP Motorola processors. The R-945 started shipping prior to CES for the reasonable price of $1,299.

Sherwood also unveiled two separates here in Vegas; the Amp-9080 (120 x 5) which compliments the AVP-9080 Digital Processor/Preamp with both Dolby Digital and DTS. Both pieces will be released in May '98 and each product will carry a suggested retail price of $1,199.

In August, Sherwood plans to shatter the price barrier with the RVD-609R, offering both Dolby Digital and DTS in an A/V receiver for only $799. Meeting that price means that the RVD-609R will lose some of the features found on the R-945, such as on screen programming and fewer inputs, but we expect few complaints with a price this low.

Yamaha

Yamaha highlighted the release of the DSP-A1 seven channel home theater amplifier. Available in black or titanium finish, the DSP-A1 provides 110 x 5. An additional 35 watts-per-channel is supplied to the front effects channels which is part of Yamaha's proprietary Cinema DSP surround configuration. In addition to the Dolby Digital and DTS circuitry, the DSP-A1--like its predecessors--will provide several DSP modes (forty-two, to be exact) along with Dolby Pro-Logic.

The DSP-A1 incorporates an impressive 24-bit D-to-A converter, anticipating what is expected to be the predominant bit rate for future DVD video and audio software titles. It also includes a total of eight digital inputs, three coaxial and five optical (Toslink).

Hitting the streets in march, the top of the line DSP-A1 will carry a hefty price tag of $2,599.

Moving in the opposite direction, in May, Technics will release the SH-AC500D, a Dolby Digital/DTS add-on decoder for the almost unbelievable price of $399.

In their enthusiastic support of DTS, Yamaha also showed off two new DVD players capable of playing DTS-encoded CDs and Laserdiscs as well as Dolby Digital software. There were only a couple of first generation DVD players that featured this capability, now Yamaha will join this elite group.

Both the DVD-C900 and DVD-S700 players feature a 24 bit/96kHz audio DAC and a 10 bit DAC for high resolution video. The key difference between the two is the DVD-C900 employs a five disc carousel DVD/CD changer. Pricing and availability were not available at press time.

Pioneer

Pioneer, too, showed off its continuing support of both the Laserdisc and DVD formats with its second generation combi-player, the DVL-909. Working to improve the video performance of their DVD players, including the DV-505 and DV-606, supply a 10 bit video processor.

Both the DVL-909 and the DV-505 are outfitted with a 20 bit/96kHz D-to-A converter, while the DV-606D will house a 24 bit/96kHz D-to-A converter for fidelity that soars past conventional CD audio.

The DV-606 also provides a direct, six-channel output, with a user-adjustable crossover frequency for each channel of output to ensure maximum performance with any home theater speaker system.

The prices on all three Pioneer DVD players aptly reflect how quickly prices are dropping on this relatively new format. The DVL-909 starts shipping this month at $1,099. The DV-505 is also shipping immediately for an affordable $499. Delayed until May, the DV-606D is scheduled for release at an astounding $699.

Pioneer has added two new Dolby Digital Receivers to their line-up, the VSX-607S (pictured) and the VSX-D557. Both provide a 100 x 5 amplifier. There are only minor differences between the two models and this is reflected in the hundred dollar price differential. The VSX-607S will appear on shelves in April at $599 along with the VSX-D557 which will carry the lower $499 price tag.