It is possible that we will see a migration to more and more integrated cabling - Firewire is used for digital audio and video from some camcorders and for some HD devices like D-VHS, and there is also HDMI which combines digital audio and HD-compatible digital video. It's going to take a while for any sort of change along those lines to occur, however, and barring some sort of fundamental revolution you are still going to have multiple cables (the pre-amp to amp route in separatres will remain analog for a long while to come, not to mention speaker cables). As for when Firewire will become standard on DVD players, there have been some signs of progress in the last six to twelve months, but it still looks like anybody buying in the next year or two is going to have to go out of their way to find components that will support it.

DTS got off to a shaky start. They lost out to Dolby in the 90's when the standard audio format for DVD's was determined by the DVD Forum (had they won, every disc would include a DTS track and every player ever made would be able to pass a DTS digital signal). Dolby remains the official standard (and will at least until an HD-DVD format arrives), but DTS has found quite a bit of success in the last three years or so.

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