DTS

Background

DTS (Dedicated To Sound) is a sound system company that specializes in surround sound technology owned by DTS, Inc. (formerly known as Digital Theater Systems, Inc.).

1st Trailer (June 11, 1993-November 15, 2005)

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Nickname: "The Digital Experience", "The Giant LaserDisc", "Experience of Doom"

Trailer: We start on a black background, where all of a sudden, a giant, gold optical disc (which can be interpreted as either a laserdisc or a DVD) zooms out from the hole. When it stops, the gray word "the" zooms close and then moves back. The stylized blue word "digital" does the same, followed by a silver bar rectangle reading "experience" that flies out. After the logo forms, the whole thing explodes into various particles, which then turns into "d," "t," and "s", followed by the appearance of a blue box around the DTS text. Above the DTS blue box are the words "THIS THEATRE FEATURES" in orange. Finally, the word "DIGITAL" zoom out above the blue box and the word "SOUND" zoom out below the box, all in white font.

FX/SFX: The disc zooming out at us, the individual words followed by the dissolving; the appearance of "DTS" and "THIS THEATRE FEATURES" text followed by the zoom out of the "DIGITAL SOUND" text. All in fine quality and in CGI.

Variants:

• An earlier version of the trailer was used in the first year of its existence, where we fade out after the first sequence dissolves. Also, the text "DTS IN SELECTED THEATRES" is shown below the disc.
• On some DTS-encoded laserdiscs from the late 90s, the logo is in fullscreen, is videotaped, and "THIS THEATRE FEATURES" is removed.

FX/SFX: The disc zooming out at us, the individual words followed by the dissolving; the appearance of "DTS" and "THIS THEATRE FEATURES" text followed by the zoom out of the "DIGITAL SOUND" text. All in fine quality.

Music/Sounds: First, there is a laser sound leading into a boom mixed with the electricity zap, followed by a whoosh with another boom and zap, and then another whoosh with a boom and zap. This is followed by a loud phaser sound alongside an explosion, and there are twinkles heard alongside more whooshes, a whir when "DIGITAL" and "SOUND" appear, and a loud descending drone sounding similar to a Lifestep fitness machine powering down, the THX Deep Note and the first part of the first note of the Roadshow-Lorimar Home Video logo.

Availability:

• Rare for the normal version. In theaters, it was used until 1999 or 2000 when DTS (allegedly) received complaints over the trailer's exceptionally loud nature, and/or how it wasn't well-suited for quieter movies.
• This made its official debut alongside THX's "Grand" trailer on the theatrical premiere of Jurassic Park.
• It later reemerged on DTS-certified Laserdiscs and DVDs, such as The Wedding Singer, Vertigo and Universal and Sony titles like the first DVD releases of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Babe, Superbit releases such as Gattaca, Johnny Mnemonic, Panic Room, xXx, Spider-Man, Snatch, Seven Years in Tibet, The Patriot and Labyrinth, several music/concert DVDs, DTS-enhanced DVDs of Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and DTS LaserDiscs from Walt Disney Home Video such as Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Toy Story: Collector's Edition, Flubber, and Hercules.
• The normal version is also on the 2000 “Ultimate Edition” DVD of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, preceding the THX Cavalcade trailer made for the release.
• However, the short version is extinct as was only shown in theaters for this logo's first year, such as Carlito's Way.
• Due to the digital nature of its encoding, on laserdiscs, the audio can only be heard through a special DTS modulator to decode DTS audio, where on DVDs it can only be accessed if you select the DTS option in the DVD's audio menu and then play the movie.
• If your player cannot decode DTS audio, this logo (and the following movie) will either be silent or play back with major distortion.
• Can also be seen on some Nutech Digital DVDs if you select DTS, such as Tom Sawyer, Peter Pan, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Wind in the Willows, The Odyssey, and Treasure Island, among others.
• Some of the last DVDs to feature this logo are Leon: The Professional: Deluxe Edition, Closer, and Stealth.

Editor's Note: This logo is known for its infamously overdramatic soundtrack and in-your-face computer animation.

2nd Trailer (1995-late 1990s)

Nickname: "Raindrops", "A Lost Trailer"

Trailer: On a black background, we see a water droplet appears and falls down. Then, a ripple appears and the DTS logo appears. The ripple then stops and

FX/SFX: CGI animation mixed with live-action animation.

Music/Sounds: TBA. It could be the next logo's music, or waterdrop sounds.

Availability: Scarce. This logo was made as an alternative to the previous logo, but it is a similarity to the Imagine Entertainment logo resulted in DTS nearly being sued by said company. As such, it was only seen in three theaters in both St. Louis and Albuquerque before DTS pulled this logo very fast. However, it still exists in the hands of private collectors.

Editor's Note: It's better than the last logo and the next one above...

3rd Trailer (1997-1999)

Nicknames: "Organic", "DTS Balls", "Another Lost Trailer", "Balls from Hell"

Trailer: On a black background, several strands of silver balls spin around, morph and generally have energetic motion for the duration of the logo. The center dots spin and pull and turn slightly purple, as chandelier-like designs fly out of the middle center. The center dots then turn light purple and merge together, as the background balls curve, into the DTS logo. The text "DIGITAL SURROUND" appears at the top and bottom of "dts", respectively, alongside the former company website below, when the dots in the background fade out.

Trivia: It was believed that this might've possibly been the prototype to a rumored "lost" trailer entitled "Raindrops", which allegedly was first released around 1995. In reality, however, it was an entirely separate trailer, as seen in the Other Links section. The logo first appeared on the company's website in 1997 and was toted as a brand new trailer. Despite initial beliefs that it might have appeared in theaters, by 1999 it was being called on the company website an Internet-exclusive trailer.

FX/SFX: All CGI.

Music/Sounds: Various industrial bass noises, such as a brief creepy piano at the beginning, several whooshes, deep bass notes and waterdrop noises.

Availability: Very rare. Its existence was not known until recently, and the only way to see it is either on YouTube or the 3 links below the Editor's Note. Since this is an Internet trailer, you do not need any additional equipment to hear the audio. Because of the limitations of Internet video sharing in the '90s, the video quality is quite poor; it's unknown if a higher-quality version exists, or if it ever appeared on home releases.

Editor's Note: It took 14 years for this rediscovery of this logo, and to be featured here on CLG Wiki.

4th Trailer (November 1999-2008)

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Nicknames: "Piano", "DTS Piano", "Sonic Landscape"

Trailer: In a pillar box, a series of spiral strings appear in a piano. The light shines on the surface, and we cut to another part of the piano. Then, we cut to one of the hammers of the piano, and it hits the strings (the footage is played in reverse). We then cut to more hammers of the piano (one of which has the Yamaha logo on it) moving up and hitting the strings. We then see several strings in the piano vibrate as part of the picture fades to black and the rest appears in a box in the center of the screen. The "dts" logo appears in the box and shines, as "(R)" appears at the top right part of it, with "DIGITAL SOUND" below it, and another defunct website link appears below.

FX/SFX: Live-action and superimposed fading.

Music/Sounds: Several calm piano notes with a choir, followed by three more piano notes when each letter in "dts" shines.

Availability: Common. Appears on DTS DVDs of the time, like on several Universal, DreamWorks and Fox titles. Again, the audio can only be heard if you have the right equipment. It was also used in some cinemas at the time.

Editor's Note: This logo is a favorite of many because of its calm nature.

5th Trailer (2001-2005)

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Nickname: "Sparks"

Trailer: Many blue sparks fly around the screen, forming a 3D DTS logo. Later, one spark hits the DTS logo, making it 2D. While this happens, the URL address "www.dts.com" wipes in below the logo. This all happens on a black background.

FX/SFX: The sparks.

Music/Sounds: Several whooshes, a deep drone, and a loud whoosh.

Availability: Uncommon; used in tandem with the previous logo. Again, it's found on many DVDs with DTS audio, like Shark Tale, Zathura, and Weird Science. It was also seen in some cinemas at the time.

Editor's Note: This logo may be intense, but not like its very first logo. The sounds, however, may catch a few off-guard.

6th Trailer (2008-2013?)

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Nicknames: "Band", "DTS Ring", "Sparks II: Beautiful Boogaloo"

Trailer: We see a bunch of sparks passing by. Then a lot of other yellow and orange sparks come in and fly in all directions, making a really colorful composition, and finally folding into a new DTS logo looking like a four-lined Mobius band. As they fold, metallic words also appear right to the logo, reading "dts" with a "Digital Surround" byline.

Variant:

• For Blu-ray releases and early DVDs, "HD" is added on the side of "dts" and the byline now says "Master Audio".
• A shorter version exists.

FX/SFX: The light sparks and logo folding.

Music/Sounds:

• A composition made of whooshing sounds, strings, and wind chimes, which was also used in the Lightbox logo.
• A majestic piano composition, playing in synth with action and adding several whooshing sounds as the logo folds.

Availability: The DTS Digital Surround variant can be seen on a few DVDs with DTS audio, but is not as common on there as the previous trailers were. The DTS HD Master Audio variant is uncommon and is seen on Blu-ray releases, as well as the DTS Demo Blu-rays.

Editor's Note: TBA.

7th Trailer (2010-late 2010s)

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Nicknames: "Living World of Audio", "DTS Ring II, DTS Ocean

Logo: On a black background, a blue sound test/radiowave forms. Then, it turns into ocean and the background turns into sky blue. We pan down into the ocean and we see green wavy lines resembling seaweed with music notes on them. Then, the camera pans with coral reef-like objects, and many orange/yellow DTS rings from the previous logo appears. One DTS ring zooms in and flashes with causing the words "dts" to flash in one by one and "HD" (both the ring and HD has white aura around it) flash as well. "Master Audio" then fade in.

Variant: There is an extended version, where the beginning shows one wave at first before many others form behind it and rumble, and the ocean scene long pauses before the camera pans down. The underwater scene is also extended as well, with things related to audio and music forming various sea life, including CD and mobile phone fishes and a whale made from microphones.

FX/SFX: Amazing CGI!

Music/Sounds:

• Short Version: Sounds of sound testing, and the ocean, then a tune with flutes and a choir, as well as flashing sounds for the "dts" text and the bubbling.
• Extended Version: Same as above, but the sound testing sounds and the ocean sounds are time-stretched. When the camera pans down into the ocean, a extended version of the music plays.

Availability: Seen on Blu-ray releases from CBS Home Entertainment, such as older movies and TV shows released by Paramount Home Media Distribution such as A Boy Named Charlie Brown, and CBS Films releases from Lionsgate Home Entertainment such as the 2017 release of Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life.

Editor's Note: This logo was mistaken to be released in 2017. Some users eventually found the real release year.

8th Trailer (2011-2020)

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Nicknames: "Reversed Pounding Paint Blobs", "DTS Ring III"

Trailer: The trailer starts with paint blobs suspended in mid-air. The blobs are pulled backward, creating a large blob of paint on the BG, as the footage slows down. this repeats 2 more times, the third time revealing that the large blob in the BG is the DTS wordmark. The Signature ring motif forms to the left of the logo. and everything rotates around, as light fills the screen, in a similar manner to the Searchlight Pictures logo. After the screen is filled with light, everything fades out.

Variant: A variant also exists in which the DTS logo is formed in 2D, the logo doesn't rotate and the light doesn't appear, and there is a different background for when the logo is formed, with various blurry orange sparkles flying around in the background.

FX/SFX: The logo being formed from paint blobs, which are being hit in reverse, the glowing, the logo being drawn and rotating, the lights. A mix of live-action and CGI.

Music/Sounds: A three-chord sounder with splashing sounds throughout and sparkling notes on the third chord. It was composed by Diego Stocco, who explains the process behind the logo here. There is also a short documentary you can view here which shows the process of how Stocco composed the logo's soundtrack.

Availability: Current. Seen on newer Blu-ray and DVD releases such as the Lionsgate Home Entertainment releases of Good Will Hunting, Warm Bodies, Ender's Game, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Divergent, I, Frankenstein, The Legend of Hercules, the 2015 Blu-ray release of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Shaun the Sheep Movie, and Boo! A Madea Halloween, among others. Was also seen on some DTS cinemas at the time. The variant listed above can be seen at the end of Diego Stocco's "Making Of" video about the logo.

Editor's Note: Thanks to Diego Stocco, this logo is creatively sounded.

9th Trailer (2015-2020)

Nicknames: "Out Of The Box" "DTS Ring IV"

Trailer: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: TBA

Editor's Note: TBA

10th Trailer (2016-2020)

Nicknames: "Listen" "DTS Ring V"

Trailer: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: TBA

Editor's Note: TBA

Other Links

• Links for the "Organic" trailer:
  • [1]
  • [2]
  • [3]