3DsoundSurge Reviews: VideoLogic Systems' DigiTheatre DTS


	Mikael Hagén puts VideoLogic Systems' DigiTheatre DTS speaker system to the test

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DigiTheatre DTS - Mikael Hagén - August 1, 2000

Installation:

The DigiTheatre DTS includes relatively easy to follow instruction and all the cables and inputs are also clearly marked making the installation simple. You just connect each satellite to the inputs found on the back of the subwoofer, connect the SPDIF coaxial (RCA), SPDIF optical (toslink) and/or analog input (stereo mini-jack) to your audio source and connect the amplifier/subwoofer to the power outlet. After that’s done you power on the system using the remote control or the buttons on the center speaker. The manual also includes good instructions and tips for how to position the different speakers and covers the different options available through the remote control/Control unit well. Overall a very nice manual except for the tiny font size. You can also download it from their website in case you want more detail of the different options available and other details about the system.

When it comes to placement of the satellites it’s worth mentioning the system doesn’t come with any stands. You can buy the VideoLogic wall mounting kits for £17, get some pedestal style stands or place the speakers on whatever you happen to have conveniently located.

Again, the digital input can be used for DTS, Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic and stereo while the analog input can only accept Dolby Pro Logic and stereo, only one input can be active at the time.

As mentioned you can control the volume of the surround, subwoofer, center channel and use the test button to get the proper speaker balance.

During the testing of the system I used Creative Labs Dxr2, Creative Labs original Live (CT4620), Creative Labs Live!MP3+(CT4760) both with the yellow digital output of mini-jack type and with the Optical Digital i/o 2 daughtercard, a Vortex2 card using the SuperQuad reference design (Xitel's, Terratec's, Absolute Multimedia and VideoLogic all use this reference design), Hoontech's Digital-XG (uses the YMF744 chip), Hoontech's Digital-NX (uses Trident's 4DWave-NX chip) and Aureal's SQ2500. All cards except the Dxr2 and Hoontech's Digital-NX worked without any problems when playing DVD movies. The Dxr2 also worked perfectly fine with Dolby Digital tracks but when playing movies with just a linear PCM track the speakers would at times suddenly start to play white noise through all speakers when I skipped ahead a few tracks. I never had this problem with the original DigiTheatre but it's worth noting that the Dxr2 doesn't work at all with Altec Lansing's ADA880. It's also worth noting that the Dxr2 doesn't support DTS tracks. When it comes to the Digital-NX DTS tracks were very choppy using PowerDVD. I don't have any other DTS decoder so possible this problem will happen with any DTS decoder using the Digital NX and PowerDVD. With Dolby Digital tracks everything worked just fine in most cases. However, when jumping ahead a few chapters it could take several seconds before the sound restarted. I don't have this problem using the original DigiTheatre decoder but it's again worth noting the Digital-NX didn't work at all for me with Altec Lansing's ADA880. VideoLogic says they are looking into this but have so far not heard anyone else complaining about this. Given the low market presence of cards using the Trident NX chipset its not really surprising that they have not had other reports.

One other minor issue I had is that the DigiTheatre DTS several times started to play white noise when I left it on for several hours after finishing playing some music or a DVD movie. It only happened if I also had the computer turned on and it never occurred on any other card than the Live but I didn't do any extensive testing with the other cards to be certain it's a Live only issue. Again, VideoLogic never heard anyone else reporting this problem and they were also unable to reproduce it so perhaps only my unit. If you happen to get the problem the solution is of course simple - just turn off your speakers when you are not going to use them soon again or at least mute them. I will again point out it only happened if I had them on for over an hour past when I last actually played something through them

Back to the detailed overview

So on to the sound level tests