Format wars. Huh. Yeah. What are they good for? (Apologies to Edwin Starr.)
DTS has announced the first Blu-ray disc to support its DTS:X surround-sound standard, and it’s a surprisingly classy one: the cautionary tale about the future of robot-human relations, “Ex Machina.”
The movie, which is still showing in theaters, will debut on Blu-ray on July 14, 2015. “Ex Machina” is written and directed by Alex Garland (“28 Days Later,” “Sunshine”) and tells the story of a Google-style worker who is asked by his employer to critically evaluate his latest artificial-intelligence creation, a robotic femme-fatale.
DTS:X is an which is a new way of mixing for theaters that involves dozens of effects placed in space rather than hard-mixed to speakers and that is now coming to the home. DTS:X is currently one of two object-based standards in the marketplace, the other of which is Dolby Atmos.
While Dolby Atmos also launched with a Blu-ray about robots, it was infinitely less salubrious: the bubblegum-for-your-brain ” Transformers Age of Extinction.” Dolby Atmos has the advantage of starting in the cinema several years before its consumer launch, while DTS:X cinemas are still in the process of getting up and running.
Several manufacturers have announced receivers that support both standards, such as the Onkyo TX-NR646 and the Denon AVR-X7200. Look out for a review of DTS:X technology once we’re able to get our hands on “Ex Machina,” if not before!