DTS

What it was
Digital Theater System was a digital surround-sound system, like the more familiar Dolby Digital. It launched in 1993 in 876 cinema screens across the US. There were some tests done with smaller movies, but the first blockbuster to frighten children with terrifying DTS sound was Jurassic Park.

Why it lost
Like most things, brand recognition is everything. The problem for DTS is that it only started in 1993 and its direct rival, Dolby, had been going since 1965. Nearly everyone had Dolby noise reduction on their compact cassettes, we've all heard of Dolby Stereo and Dolby Pro Logic for VHS, and these days there aren't many folks that haven't heard of Dolby Digital. DTS also suffered from a lack of decoder support. While all surround-sound systems support Dolby, the same can't be said for DTS.

Why it should have won
One of the great things about DTS in cinemas is that it greatly simplifies the process of releasing movies worldwide because, unlike Dolby, the sound isn't stored on the film print, but instead on a CD-ROM that's synchronised to the film using a timecode. This means that when releasing the film in France, say, you can simply replace the sound disc and use the same print.

DTS also has more scale in cinemas, theoretically. Say you wanted to have a cinema with 20 surround-sound speakers, there's no trouble with DTS. You simply add more CD-ROM hardware and you can synchronise as many channels as you like to the timecode.

When it comes to home cinema, DTS has the trump card too. It uses fractionally more space on the disc to create a less compressed sound than Dolby Digital, which uses 384Kbps. DTS has two modes, 768Kbps and 1,536Kbps.

HD DVD and Blu-ray get it even better, because these high- definition formats can both accommodate uncompressed DTS Master Audio, which is essentially identical to the soundtrack you get in the cinema.

Our fantasy outcome
To ensure a favourable outcome in this cinematic drama, Captain Tech would need to somehow launch DTS into the mainstream. To do this he'd probably have to persuade everyone in the film industry -- perhaps with the help of his new friend Mr Rex here -- to put DTS surround tracks on every DVD. Indeed, he might even have to persuade the DVD Forum to make it mandatory on all DVDs. It's tough, but there's nothing our boldly drawn time-travelling hero can't accomplish.