Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Entertainment
  3. News

Lionsgate films featuring DTS:X surround sound are coming this fall

Kris Wouk
By

movie theater
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Since the early 1990s, DTS and Dolby have been locked in an audio arms race with each constantly trying to top the other’s best efforts. This has resulted in some incredible leaps forward in movie audio – in both theaters and the home – but these advances only benefit moviegoers if studios actually put these surround systems to use.

That’s why we’re so glad to hear that Lionsgate has announced that several of its upcoming films will support DTS:X surround sound in select DTS:X-equipped theaters. The films include American Ultra, which is in theaters now, as well as Sicario and Mockingjay: Part 2, which hit theaters on September 18 and November 13 respectively.

Recommended Videos

Like its competitor Dolby Atmos, DTS:X uses “object-based” sound for its immersive audio, unlike older technologies that were strictly channel-based. This allows a sound engineer to freely move sound sources around, rather than manually setting the sound’s channels. This makes for more realistic sound and audio that is generally more immersive, but also allows for more creativity on the engineer’s part.’

Related

Dolby Atmos offers the same advantages described above, but is generally more rigid than DTS:X. A home theater setup for either technology now generally utilizes a total of 11 speakers, though DTS:X is less tied to a specific amount of channels or even number of speakers. DTS also has another method of getting studios to choose DTS:X.

The DTS MDA Creator Tool, which Lionsgate is using for its films, handles object-based audio, but can also allow sound engineers to use a single mix for both object-based immersive theaters and channel-based conventional theaters. This time-saving tool doesn’t require a license fee, so we’ll likely see more films from other studios supporting DTS:X in the future.

A fairly small number of theaters support DTS:X for the time being, but for theaters with an existing DTS installation, upgrading to DTS:X is fairly cheap. Even starting from scratch, DTS says that its immersive audio “can be achieved for almost any room configuration by installing DTS:X-approved equipment and working with the recommended speaker installation guidelines.”

Dolby Atmos has a head start this time, but ultimately which technology we’ll see used more often up to the studios making the films, and for the time being some pretty major films are opting for DTS:X.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Kris Wouk
Kris Wouk
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…
NFL games today: schedule, channels, live streams for September 24
TJ Watt of the Steelers walks out of the tunnel.

Two games into the NFL season, a few teams have already established themselves as contenders. In the NFC, the Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, and Philadelphia Eagles are head and shoulders above the rest of the conference. In the AFC, the Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins, and Buffalo Bills are battling to unseat the Kansas City Chiefs.

There are 13 NFL games on Sunday, September 24. Below, we listed times, channels, and live-streaming information for Week 3. Football fans can watch every game with a subscription to NFL Sunday Ticket, which can be purchased through YouTube TV. New customers can sign up for a free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket.
Los Angeles Chargers at Minnesota Vikings start time, channel, and live stream

Read more
What’s new on Shudder in October 2023
A woman holds a gun in V/H/S/85.

October is near, so what better way to celebrate than watching a good horror movie or series? While virtually every streamer has a horror selection, with some of the best being the best horror movies on Netflix, there's only one service that is synonymous with the genre: Shudder.

In October 2023, the streamer's programming includes the latest installment of the well-liked V/H/S franchise, one of the best entries in the celebrated Evil Dead movie series (no, it's not Evil Dead Rise), and new seasons of Creepshow and Boulet Brothers' Dragula. Halloween is fast approaching, so it's time to subscribe to Shudder and get scared out of your wits.

Read more
When to watch The Great British Baking Show
The cast of The Great British Baking Show season 14.

If you love reality show cooking competitions, then this is a special time of the year. That's because the arrival of fall means the return of The Great British Baking Show, and we're going to tell you when and where you can watch it!

The Great British Baking Show is actually better known internationally as The Great British Bake Off. It turns out that Bake Off is copyrighted in the U.S. by Pillsbury, hence the name change over here. Fans in America can stream the series on Netflix, and it has consistently been one of the best British TV shows on the platform.

Read more