Ghostbusters 4K UHD (1984)

[DMRI2006]

It is amazing that many people think multi-channel sound began with 5.1, and yet existed for years before it with Dolby Stereo (Surround). Most "2.0 stereo tracks" from the late 70s and 80s aren't 2-channel stereo tracks, they're multi-channel Dolby Surround soundtracks and only require you to press the right button on any kind of modern AVR to process properly (and by modern I mean anything from the late '80s onward). A lot of people apparently don't know what button to press! (and apparently some at the studios as well

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I think that might be the problem with the GB 2.0s, yep: they've been mastered with the phase inverted. So what's in-phase and would normally come from the fronts is coming from the rears, and vice versa. How someone even manages to flip the phase when mastering it is baffling but there was still some kind of demented/misguided thought process there as both of the 2.0 tracks are affected as we know.

It's particularly baffling because in all the years I grew up with Dolby Surround soundtracks on laserdisc and VHS (encoded as stereo, meant to be played back as matrixed surround), I never heard these kinds of problems. QC has become so poor only in the last few years have we heard these kinds of things.

But since it happened to Kino recently with HARD TARGET as well, it'd be interesting in knowing WHAT exactly is causing this and what stage of the transfer process does it occur.

[Gold Ranger]

Originally Posted by megafan2000

Quick checking - what's the current status of this - like is there going to be a second wave? I pre-ordered back on January 2 and still waiting. Not high on my priorities at the moment as life overall has been in the crapper since holidays but just kept it there to maintain the 100 price from Amazon. Anyone else still waiting?

Out of print/production
No second printing known, but based on the previous release (SteelBook) it won't be getting one.

[SHARKTOPUS]

Originally Posted by Jason One

Does anyone know if this release contains the same BDs (with the correct 2.0 tracks) that were included in the 2019 4K steelbook?

No, these are the same disc's that were in the 2014 DigiBook release.

[megafan2000]

Originally Posted by Gold Ranger

Out of print/production
No second printing known, but based on the previous release (SteelBook) it won't be getting one.

I kinda figure that but it freaking blows for me in that I put a pre-order in and never got one. Amazon basically oversold right?

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

It is amazing that many people think multi-channel sound began with 5.1, and yet existed for years before it with Dolby Stereo (Surround). Most "2.0 stereo tracks" from the late 70s and 80s aren't 2-channel stereo tracks, they're multi-channel Dolby Surround soundtracks and only require you to press the right button on any kind of modern AVR to process properly (and by modern I mean anything from the late '80s onward). A lot of people apparently don't know what button to press! (and apparently some at the studios as well

Yeah. I don't want to shame anyone for not knowing this but it regularly amazes me as to how many people in this hobby of ours are just completely unaware of matrixed audio. Admittedly, discrete multichannel audio has been the default for most major movies for roughly the last 30 years so people growing up in that era will have had little exposure to it, especially as newer sound formats have added more and more and more and more and more and more channels so the very notion of listening to some basic AF 2.0 mix is anathema to most people who have a surround setup. "I didn't buy all this kit just to listen to some old-ass mix" etc etc.

[Gold Ranger]

Originally Posted by megafan2000

I kinda figure that but it freaking blows for me in that I put a pre-order in and never got one. Amazon basically oversold right?

I think everyone oversold!
It also doesn't help that amazon shipped it stupidly and have so many damaged items and returns so they blew through their allowed stock.
Mine was damaged badly and wasn't allowed a replacement.

[PonyoBellanote]

I mean, I join the people who legit didn't know that Dolby Stereo *actually wasn't* 2.0 Stereo but 4.0, somehow?? Could it be that it always was Stereo but there was also Stereo Surround and that might've been 4.0?? It confuses me, but I guess I understand.

I however will never have ability to have surround, or decoders, so the stereos will stay as stereo here.

ON THE TOPIC OF GHOSTBUSTERS - I just recently watched the new disc in my TV and it looks AMAZING. It's a very very good update that makes an already good print shine even more. I recommend it.

[andreasy969]

Originally Posted by PonyoBellanote

Could it be that it always was Stereo but there was also Stereo Surround and that might've been 4.0??

Dolby Stereo is Dolby Stereo. And Dolby Stereo is 4.0 surround (L, R, C and mono surround). The additional 2 channels are encoded into L and R in a way they can be extracted and won't intrude when playing in 2.0. That's, in simplified layman's terms, done by adding the identical center signal to both L and R. This identical signal in both L and R is later being detected, extracted and becomes the C. The mono surround is also added to both L and R, but (opposed to C) shifted/out-of phase, so they cancel each other out re. the audio coming from L and R. And for the surround speaker the shift is also being detected, reverted and, in phase again, goes to the surround speaker(s).

[PeterTHX]

Discrete multichannel's been around since FantaSound (1940) and other experimental formats until it was standardized with the large format spectaculars of the 1950s and CinemaScope - which had 4.0 discrete magnetic tracks. It kind of died out in the late '60s/early '70s and was only revived in 1975 when 70MM Dolby Stereo 6-track came onto the scene and blew the doors open in 1977 with Star Wars.

[toasted]

Alright, it’s officially been TWO WEEKS since I heard from Sony about actually getting my Ghostbusters 4K disc, so I sent an email dripping with sarcasm, in hopes that it will get me SOMEWHERE.

“Hello! It’s been two weeks since I’ve heard anything regarding the “research” being done about a resolution to my problem, so I decided to do a bit of research of my own as to what you could do, just to help the process out! Here’s my list of suggestions.

1. Send me a new Ghostbusters 4K disc. It’s the quick, easy solution, and the one that actually solves my problem.

2. Refund me. Doesn’t get me my Ghostbusters disc, but it softens the blow of paying a pretty decent chunk of change and not getting what I paid for.

3. Let me joyride in the Ecto-1. It’s impractical, but it would be good PR, don’t you think?

I hope for a swift response, and have a lovely week!”

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by toasted

Alright, it’s officially been TWO WEEKS since I heard from Sony about actually getting my Ghostbusters 4K disc, so I sent an email dripping with sarcasm, in hopes that it will get me SOMEWHERE.

“Hello! It’s been two weeks since I’ve heard anything regarding the “research” being done about a resolution to my problem, so I decided to do a bit of research of my own as to what you could do, just to help the process out! Here’s my list of suggestions.

1. Send me a new Ghostbusters 4K disc. It’s the quick, easy solution, and the one that actually solves my problem.

2. Refund me. Doesn’t get me my Ghostbusters disc, but it softens the blow of paying a pretty decent chunk of change and not getting what I paid for.

3. Let me joyride in the Ecto-1. It’s impractical, but it would be good PR, don’t you think?

I hope for a swift response, and have a lovely week!”

I'd go to the BBB. I just did that with Vudu.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Discrete multichannel's been around since FantaSound (1940) and other experimental formats until it was standardized with the large format spectaculars of the 1950s and CinemaScope - which had 4.0 discrete magnetic tracks. It kind of died out in the late '60s/early '70s and was only revived in 1975 when 70MM Dolby Stereo 6-track came onto the scene and blew the doors open in 1977 with Star Wars.

In case this is reference to my post re: discrete multichannel, I didn't say that it didn't exist before the last 30 years, I said it wasn't the default for most movies before that time. And the ones that did have it were usually restricted to playing back in the largest theatres so most people who saw x movie would've seen a 35mm print in mono, whereas the Dolby Stereo then discrete digital eras saw multichannel sound become as ubiquitous as colour or widescreen, and without having to see some fancy large format print. Point being that digital audio truly democratised surround sound and it coincided with the boom in home theatre led by DVD, so people getting into surround sound over the last couple of decades will have had little call to play some pathetic 2.0 mix on their all-singin' all-dancin' setup with its twelvety-seven speakers. Hence the collective "huh? Wazzat?" when the mind-bending sorcery of matrixed audio is revealed.

[singhcr]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

In case this is reference to my post re: discrete multichannel, I didn't say that it didn't exist before the last 30 years, I said it wasn't the default for most movies before that time. And the ones that did have it were usually restricted to playing back in the largest theatres so most people who saw x movie would've seen a 35mm print in mono, whereas the Dolby Stereo then discrete digital eras saw multichannel sound become as ubiquitous as colour or widescreen, and without having to see some fancy large format print. Point being that digital audio truly democratised surround sound and it coincided with the boom in home theatre led by DVD, so people getting into surround sound over the last couple of decades will have had little call to play some pathetic 2.0 mix on their all-singin' all-dancin' setup with its twelvety-seven speakers. Hence the collective "huh? Wazzat?" when the mind-bending sorcery of matrixed audio is revealed.

I will say that one of the areas of confusion is the name itself: Dolby Stereo. It is a stereo track on the print, but the final playback is not two channel. That was what I assumed for years as opposed to say six track mag stripe on 70mm or Dolby Digital which was discrete 5.1 or higher.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by singhcr

I will say that one of the areas of confusion is the name itself: Dolby Stereo. It is a stereo track on the print, but the final playback is not two channel. That was what I assumed for years as opposed to say six track mag stripe on 70mm or Dolby Digital which was discrete 5.1 or higher.

That's a very fair point re: the nomenclature, even Dolby changed the name to Dolby Surround when using it on TV programs or on video. But even so, how many of these same confused people would've had any idea what to do with a DS track if it didn't have any surround flagging? The name itself doesn't tell you what to do with it, there's just this fundamental disconnect as what this tech is and does. I mean, my very first AVR didn't even have any discrete digital surround formats, like at all, it was purely analogue with 'Dolby Pro Logic' but as I read magazines like Home Cinema Choice and whatnot I knew what DPL was and how it applied to getting surround from 'stereo' sources.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by singhcr

I will say that one of the areas of confusion is the name itself: Dolby Stereo. It is a stereo track on the print, but the final playback is not two channel. That was what I assumed for years as opposed to say six track mag stripe on 70mm or Dolby Digital which was discrete 5.1 or higher.

Well back in the '50s "Stereophonic Sound" meant multichannel discrete, either 4.0 or 6.0 (Todd-AO multi-center channel layout). Then it was 6-track Dolby Stereo. Even Dolby Digital was "Dolby Stereo Digital" when officially introduced in 1992. "Stereo" just meant more than mono, but since stereo LPs were limited to 2 channels it stuck in people's heads that it means 2 channel. Dolby had to change it to "Dolby Surround" when selling home decoders because of this. The theatrical nomenclature never changed until the introduction of Dolby Surround 7.1

[bleakassassin]

There's one thing regarding Dolby Stereo that can make things frustrating: How are you supposed to know that a given stereo track on a release is Dolby Stereo? It seems like studios often don't like to label when a stereo track is that, or a true stereo track, or a dual-channel mono track.

[laughingmaniac]

Originally Posted by bleakassassin

There's one thing regarding Dolby Stereo that can make things frustrating: How are you supposed to know that a given stereo track on a release is Dolby Stereo? It seems like studios often don't like to label when a stereo track is that, or a true stereo track, or a dual-channel mono track.

The only way to know for sure is to pass the audio through a phase meter.
Otherwise, the end credits logo will tell you if it's matrixed audio with a Dolby Stereo or Dolby SR or Ultra Stereo logo. If the logo is only the Dolby one (not digital) then it's basic LoRo stereo. If there's no logo for audio standard at all then it's either mono or stereo (with an obvious audio difference).

[Ben_UK]

Some of the grain looks nicer on the ultimate collection discs, maybe a better bitrate?

For example;
https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=3&x...&l=0&i=10&go=1

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Ben_UK

Some of the grain looks nicer on the ultimate collection discs, maybe a better bitrate?

For example;
https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=3&x...&l=0&i=10&go=1

Agreed, but good luck seeing that difference more than 4' away on most screens.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by bleakassassin

There's one thing regarding Dolby Stereo that can make things frustrating: How are you supposed to know that a given stereo track on a release is Dolby Stereo? It seems like studios often don't like to label when a stereo track is that, or a true stereo track, or a dual-channel mono track.

People twist themselves into knots over this, but if the movie has a designated “2.0 stereo” track on whatever disc and it was made after Star Wars in 1977 then it’s 99.9% likely to be a matrixed surround track. It really is that simple. But even if it’s not and you engage a surround DSP it’s not going to ruin the audio, as if it’s straight stereo it’s still going to have the dialogue mixed equally between left and right so the DSP will extract that into the centre, and if it’s dual mono it’ll just steer everything into the centre speaker. If it’s not doing either of these things and it sounds funky and weird then just turn the DSP off.