Lossless Audio: Which takes the cake ?

[mrhonda2]

The title says it all. Beating a dead horse, maybe Highs are meant to sound high and yes lows are meant to sound low. Dolby definately sounds midrange straight across the board. It has been confirmed with Transformers, The Nightmare Before Christmas and others that I would expect nothing but the best sound. Dolby Vs DTS:On paper, the same result. In reality, sorry. How many other things in this world are equal on paper? It is how it is mixed some say. Are all of the Dolby movies mixed poorly? Can't think of even one that stands out..not one.

[JasonR]

The people in the Transformers thread realized they had DRC on, maybe that is your issue? I thought it sounded phenomenal.

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by JasonR

The people in the Transformers thread realized they had DRC on, maybe that is your issue? I thought it sounded phenomenal.

Excuse the ignorant question, but what is DRC?

[Joe Cain]

Originally Posted by mrhonda2

The title says it all. Beating a dead horse, maybe Highs are meant to sound high and yes lows are meant to sound low. Dolby definately sounds midrange straight across the board. It has been confirmed with Transformers, The Nightmare Before Christmas and others that I would expect nothing but the best sound. Dolby Vs DTS:On paper, the same result. In reality, sorry. How many other things in this world are equal on paper? It is how it is mixed some say. Are all of the Dolby movies mixed poorly? Can't think of even one that stands out..not one.

You're entitled to your opinion...
but The Nightmare Before Christmas sounds fabulous and not at all "flat."

[JasonR]

Dynamic Range Compression

Dynamic Range Compression is a process for altering audio to make the highest and lowest volume closer together. This is commonly done when encoding audio for DVD sources since they're generally recorded with a range that would cause problems for viewing at home due to the variance in volume.

http://www.afterdawn.com/glossary/te...ompression.cfm

[Sonny]

There are lots of Dolby TruHD BD's that sound "perfect". I'm with you on the fact that TruHD has its ups & downs.... DTS-HD MA & good O'l PCM don't give such a wide range of "perfect" if you will...

[Riff Magnum]

Ultimately, it comes down to source material and the care/time/money spent on the current transfer.
Directors and sound engineers that took the time to make everything sound and look perfect and natural from the beginning are gonna reap bigger rewards with the new formats. Obviously the transfer requires the utmost attention to detail as well, but credit and attention need to be placed at the feet of the PEOPLE responsible for the results, not some gizmo or new technology.
I think several people have mentioned before that there are great audio tracks across all the new audio codecs.

[Blu-RayLover]

Originally Posted by mrhonda2

The title says it all. Beating a dead horse, maybe Highs are meant to sound high and yes lows are meant to sound low. Dolby definately sounds midrange straight across the board. It has been confirmed with Transformers, The Nightmare Before Christmas and others that I would expect nothing but the best sound. Dolby Vs DTS:On paper, the same result. In reality, sorry. How many other things in this world are equal on paper? It is how it is mixed some say. Are all of the Dolby movies mixed poorly? Can't think of even one that stands out..not one.

The performance of Dolby TrueHD depends a lot on the bit-rate used to produce the soundtrack for transfer to video. So far, it’s already been reported that “Transformers” does have some technical problem of clarity or distinction from the (standard) 5.1 Dolby core on the disc. As for the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mix on “Nightmare Before Christmas,” this presentation is flawless and if it doesn’t sound right on any system, then perhaps some adjustments need to be made at either the player or receiver! Certainly, playing the “Nightmare Before Christmas” through direct bit-streaming delivers a soundtrack that is the equal, if not, superior to DTS HD MA! In the coming months, more and more Dolby TrueHD titles in 7.1 will be appearing and this should mark a new beginning to high-quality surround sound.

[Leon Liew]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

Excuse the ignorant question, but what is DRC?

Go to the forum under 'Blu-ray movies and Releases' on the thread
'Transformer Blu-ray is weak' and you'll get your question answered
about DRC.

It's my own opinion here that the older Dolby Digital codec which is a lossy
audio format where it's compressed to the point that DRC is needed in order
to hear more pronounced dialoque amid all the sounds and bass of the movies.

Whereas the newer Dolby TruHd which is lossless does not require any DRC
to control the dialoque in movies.

[mrhonda2]

Nightmare is probably the best TrueHD movie to date, but far from flawless. My set-up is done properly with a system that is more than able to deliver the goods. Maybe it is still too early to judge considering there are still the odd BD coming out solely in lossy format

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by Leon Liew

Go to the forum under 'Blu-ray movies and Releases' on the thread
'Transformer Blu-ray is weak' and you'll get your question answered
about DRC.

Link please!

[Bageara]

Originally Posted by John72953

Link please!

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=63221&page=9

[Johnny Vinyl]

Thanks, jinzo 1975

[Driver_King]

I haven't watched Transformers on Blu yet, but I do have it. I shall check my settings to make sure DRC isn't on. I wonder if Twister had DRC on it. All of those movies I've watched incorrectly.

[CasualKiller]

I just watched it last night, amazing audio, wife was complaining because her dishes were vibrating in the cupboards upstairs lol.

[Joe Cain]

Originally Posted by mrhonda2

Nightmare is probably the best TrueHD movie to date, but far from flawless.

I'm sure you've listened to all of them.

Originally Posted by mrhonda2

My set-up is done properly with a system that is more than able to deliver the goods.

I'm happy for you. I have ears, and they lead me to a different conclusion.

Originally Posted by mrhonda2

Maybe it is still too early to judge considering there are still the odd BD coming out solely in lossy format

Which has nothing to do with your initial claim.

[kingofgrills]

Originally Posted by mrhonda2

Nightmare is probably the best TrueHD movie to date, but far from flawless. My set-up is done properly with a system that is more than able to deliver the goods. Maybe it is still too early to judge considering there are still the odd BD coming out solely in lossy format

Would you please give us the details on your properly finished reference system you used to draw your conclusions? It's always great to see reference level system examples around here.

[Clark Kent]

It all comes down to the use of dialnorm on the Dolby TrueHD encoders the studios use to create the Dolby TrueHD soundtracks on your Blu-rays from the original PCM studio masters. Dolby stupidly set the default position for dialnorm to "on" in their encoder and many of the brain dead studios leave it that way when creating the Dolby TrueHD soundtracks. Dialnorm can't be applied to PCM soundtracks and DTS wisely left the dialnorm default in their encoder to "off". Dynamic range compression is the enemy of high quality movie sound and should never have been used on a BD.

There is some disturbing information coming to light that Sony has started using dialnorm on their Dolby TrueHD tracks recently after promising us they wouldn't last year.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

It all comes down to the use of dialnorm on the Dolby TrueHD encoders the studios use to create the Dolby TrueHD soundtracks on your Blu-rays from the original PCM studio masters. Dolby stupidly set the default position for dialnorm to "on" in their encoder and many of the brain dead studios leave it that way when creating the Dolby TrueHD soundtracks. Dialnorm can't be applied to PCM soundtracks and DTS wisely left the dialnorm default in their encoder to "off". Dynamic range compression is the enemy of high quality movie sound and should never have been used on a BD.

There is some disturbing information coming to light that Sony has started using dialnorm on their Dolby TrueHD tracks recently after promising us they wouldn't last year.

For the umpteenth time:
DialNorm is a simple volume level change. DRC is completely different. Dynamic range is NOT affected by DialNorm at all!

TrueHD has a night mode (DRC) which on a lot of decoders is set to "Auto". The studios sometime decides to set the DRC flagged to "ON" (probably to get less complaints for those who "keep having to turn up & down their volume on title *xxxxx*"

Transformers was a decision by the sound mixers to mix a lot of the bass to the main channels. Since TrueHD is an exact representation of the original masters, it exposed those who don't have their bass management set properly!

Finally, for those who think DTS-MA is "all that" obviously haven't listened to titles like RoboCop, Hoosiers, The Fly etc. Put those up against titles like Cloverfield, Batman Begins, The Perfect Storm, or Beowulf and tell me again TrueHD sounds "flat".

[crackinhedz]

DialNorm is a simple volume level change. DRC is completely different. Dynamic range is NOT affected by DialNorm at all!

correct.

DRC is a good idea (like using late at night), not so good when its on unknowingly and you think the music is "flat".