LG Electronics and DTS announced today that the two have formed a “worldwide strategic alliance” that will see DTS’ premium audio technology integrated into LG’s complete lineup of home entertainment products, including TVs, sound bars, A/V receivers, and digital media players.
Specifically, LG has chosen to incorporate the DTS-HD decoder into its products. DTS-HD, somewhat of a jack-of-all-codecs, enables full compatibility with all DTS audio formats up to 11.1 channels and supports DTS Digital Surround, DTS Coreless Lossless, DTS Express, and the uncompromising DTS-HD Master Audio.
DTS claims to have designed the versatile new DTS-HD decoder from the ground up to support streaming media and over-the-top (OTT) content delivered in various popular profiles of the DTS-HD codec. The decoder was developed to be seamlessly compatible with DTS’ legacy audio technology formats found on physical disc media, such as DVD and Blu-ray discs, making the decoder a multi-pronged solution for a number of scenarios.
The executive VP for LG Electronics, Jeong-hwan Lee, says his company’s alliance with DTS ensures that LG’s newest products will offer consumers “a home entertainment experience that will sound as good as it looks.” DTS’ premium audio technology will let LG deliver sound that “exceeds the expectations consumers have of our industry-leading OLED and 4K Ultra HD TVs, digital players, and audio systems,” Lee says.
Perhaps most exciting will be the addition of DTS-HD in LG TVs, which should help the newer sets output higher quality sound performance, allowing users to source hi-fi sound directly from the big screen.
It’s not yet clear which LG products will be the first to ship with the DTS decoder, and neither company has revealed any information as to when we can expect to see the initial results of the new partnership, but we will update with more information as details emerge.
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