Warner Bros Blu-ray audio

[SeanMF]

So other than the obvious complaint with wb and the lack of hd audio on their blu-rays (which lately all of the new releases seem to be getting hd audio...except nights in rondanthe). I noticed WB's dolby truehd is 16bit on the few I checked out (correct me if I'm wrong) and other major studios usually use 24bit. What is the difference between 16 and 24 bit? Anything I'd notice? Seems like WB is skimping on the hd audio when they do use it also.

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by seanfarley2

So other than the obvious complaint with wb and the lack of hd audio on their blu-rays (which lately all of the new releases seem to be getting hd audio...except nights in rondanthe). I noticed WB's dolby truehd is 16bit on the few I checked out (correct me if I'm wrong) and other major studios usually use 24bit. What is the difference between 16 and 24 bit? Anything I'd notice? Seems like WB is skimping on the hd audio when they do use it also.

You don't know the difference between 16 and 24 bit..... but since Warner is using 16 bit, you're going to complain about it?????? Ahhhh I see. I think we have enough Warner Brother's Witch-Hunt threads.... but to answer your question, most Blu-Ray Audio soundtracks are 16-bit, 48 kHz , so you are getting the soundtrack in full fidelity. However, there are quite a few Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks that are 24-bit, 48kHz, so these are downsampled down to 16-bit, 48kHz. The same is true for 24-bit, 96 kHz soundtracks

[MrTaxMan]

Originally Posted by seanfarley2

So other than the obvious complaint with wb and the lack of hd audio on their blu-rays (which lately all of the new releases seem to be getting hd audio...except nights in rondanthe). I noticed WB's dolby truehd is 16bit on the few I checked out (correct me if I'm wrong) and other major studios usually use 24bit. What is the difference between 16 and 24 bit? Anything I'd notice? Seems like WB is skimping on the hd audio when they do use it also.

Difference? CDs have 16-bit audio, which sounds pretty darn good to most people. So 16-bit audio is nothing to sneeze at. 24-bit allows for a greater dynamic range and better resolution. You should be able to hear a slight improvement if you have a better-than-average sound system and better-than-average source material, such as a concert disc.

One key premise of your question is incorrect. You said that for TrueHD releases, "other major studios usually use 24bit". The fact is that of the over 200 BD releases in 2008 that had TrueHD audio tracks, only 1/3 of those releases were 24-bit. So I would say 24-bit TrueHD is the exception rather than the rule.

However, it is true that overall Warner does not use 24-bit audio as much as other studios, like Paramount and Universal. I have no explanation for that.

Here's some studios and the percentage of their BD releases that use 24-bit audio (of any type):

Universal: 80%
Paramount: 54%
Disney: 53%
MGM: 50%
Fox: 39%
Lions Gate: 34%
Sony 21%
Warner: 6%

[Clark Kent]

Most any movie made in the past few years has a soundtrack master at 24 bit/48 kHz, including Warner movies. Warner has been purposely downsampling their soundtracks on new releases to 16 bit/48 kHz. I have seen it speculated this is done because Warner typically re-purposes Blu-ray encodes globally and a 16 bit soundtrack saves space over the 24 bit soundtrack. Warner likes including multiple lossy audio tracks on its foreign releases that eat up space. It appears to be a business decision to minimize costs but it is also a practice that only Warner regularly follows among all the Hollywood studios. I have also seen Sony accused of doing this same practice.

[davcole]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Most any movie made in the past few years has a soundtrack master at 24 bit/48 kHz, including Warner movies. Warner has been purposely downsampling their soundtracks on new releases to 16 bit/48 kHz. I have seen it speculated this is done because Warner typically re-purposes Blu-ray encodes globally and a 16 bit soundtrack saves space over the 24 bit soundtrack. Warner likes including multiple lossy audio tracks on its foreign releases that eat up space. It appears to be a business decision to minimize costs but it is also a practice that only Warner regularly follows among all the Hollywood studios. I have also seen Sony accused of doing this same practice.

Thank you for sharing that. Perhaps that is their reasoning if they are using multiple lossless encodes internationally? I know Sony has done this with a few titles with multiple lossless tracks. Still the practice is disheartening as sonically their is a difference between 16 and 24 bits. I hate listening to what is supposed to be master quality audio that has been downgraded at the expense of saving space.

[tvine2000]

i think wb needs to get there pq act together.
have you seen interview with a vampire....its sucks
have you seen the mask....sucks.i know ,newline.
the one studio that put bd over the top and hd dvd in the grave just don't seem to give a dam about blu-ray.

[aramis109]

Originally Posted by tvine2000

i think wb needs to get there pq act together.
have you seen interview with a vampire....its sucks
have you seen the mask....sucks.i know ,newline.
the one studio that put bd over the top and hd dvd in the grave just don't seem to give a dam about blu-ray.

I can pull out poor PQ movies from any studio. You've named ones that have probably not gotten the best treatment. Have you seen Dark Knight? ...doesn't suck.

[Rantlers]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I was just wondering, is there a simple way to determine whether a blu-ray has a 16-bit or 24-bit lossless track other than to just see how many mbps is streaming while the movie is playing?

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by Rantlers

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I was just wondering, is there a simple way to determine whether a blu-ray has a 16-bit or 24-bit lossless track other than to just see how many mbps is streaming while the movie is playing?

I think the case is supposed to have that information. You can also try this site:

http://www.blu-raystats.com/Stats/Stats.php

Click on the movie and you get the audio and video specs, although the bit depth information is not always included.

[SeanMF]

Originally Posted by MrTaxMan

Difference? CDs have 16-bit audio, which sounds pretty darn good to most people. So 16-bit audio is nothing to sneeze at. 24-bit allows for a greater dynamic range and better resolution. You should be able to hear a slight improvement if you have a better-than-average sound system and better-than-average source material, such as a concert disc.

One key premise of your question is incorrect. You said that for TrueHD releases, "other major studios usually use 24bit". The fact is that of the over 200 BD releases in 2008 that had TrueHD audio tracks, only 1/3 of those releases were 24-bit. So I would say 24-bit TrueHD is the exception rather than the rule.

However, it is true that overall Warner does not use 24-bit audio as much as other studios, like Paramount and Universal. I have no explanation for that.

Here's some studios and the percentage of their BD releases that use 24-bit audio (of any type):

Universal: 80%
Paramount: 54%
Disney: 53%
MGM: 50%
Fox: 39%
Lions Gate: 34%
Sony 21%
Warner: 6%

I guess I was looking mostly at recent blu-rays I had received (most universal and wb) and saw they were 24 bit and wb was 16-bit...not that it matters...just seems maybe wb was skimping on the hd audio still even though they promised new releases from here out to have dolby truehd. The percentage break down explains that...I figured out the 16/24 bit difference shortly after I posted this awhile back.

[liquidice]

Here's one for ya, Sara Bareilles: Between The Lines - Live At The Fillmore has audio at Dolby True HD 5.1 24 bits 96 kHz, but the sound is truly bad, as you can read on the review here. I ended up buying this recently just to have it in my concert collection, and the review was no joke. I was very ashamed of the audio coming from my speakers. Especially the low end just not being there, it sounded like nothing else in my collection. Therefore, just because a blu may boast a 24 bit 96 kHz, doesn't mean it's gonna be a shining star.

[Opips2]

I'm curious about war format HD DVD Vs. Blu-ray

Warner Bros. joined to support on HD DVD. I want to know that Warner Bros. movies has good higher audio more than Blu-ray?

Is that True???

My favourite SONY Picture movies is pure awesome audio!

[SeanMF]

Originally Posted by Opips2

I'm curious about war format HD DVD Vs. Blu-ray

Warner Bros. joined to support on HD DVD. I want to know that Warner Bros. movies has good higher audio more than Blu-ray?

Is that True???

My favourite SONY Picture movies is pure awesome audio!

Huh? I'm not quite sure this is proper english. Where are you from Opips? Are you asking if any Hd-dvd's had better quality audio than the same blu-ray?

[Opips2]

Originally Posted by seanfarley2

Huh? I'm not quite sure this is proper english. Where are you from Opips? Are you asking if any Hd-dvd's had better quality audio than the same blu-ray?

Yeah, that's right. If that's true! Warner Bros is bias on bluray. I'll been upset.

[SeanMF]

Not to my knowledge...I think the audio has been the same for the hd-dvd as the blu-rays. Might be a case where there is dolby digital plus and a hd track/and or dolby digital track for blu-ray version. I'm not sure though...as far as I know...they kept it the same for both versions audio and picture quality wise. I do know batman begins wasn't released on blu-ray because of internet capabilities (correct me if I'm wrong anyone).

[FilmmakingFiasco]

I know that Sopranos Season Six Part 1 had a better audio track on Blu-ray. The HD-DVD had DD 5.1 and the Blu-ray had DD 2.0 and PCM 5.1

[Polyh3dron]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

You don't know the difference between 16 and 24 bit..... but since Warner is using 16 bit, you're going to complain about it?????? Ahhhh I see. I think we have enough Warner Brother's Witch-Hunt threads.... but to answer your question, most Blu-Ray Audio soundtracks are 16-bit, 48 kHz , so you are getting the soundtrack in full fidelity. However, there are quite a few Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks that are 24-bit, 48kHz, so these are downsampled down to 16-bit, 48kHz. The same is true for 24-bit, 96 kHz soundtracks

What?

If your receiver supports 24-bit 192khz audio like mine does (and to my knowledge, every current HDMI-enabled receiver out there does), this downsampling you speak of will never take place. Where exactly did you get this idea from?

[J6P]

Originally Posted by seanfarley2

Not to my knowledge...I think the audio has been the same for the hd-dvd as the blu-rays. Might be a case where there is dolby digital plus and a hd track/and or dolby digital track for blu-ray version. I'm not sure though...as far as I know...they kept it the same for both versions audio and picture quality wise. I do know batman begins wasn't released on blu-ray because of internet capabilities (correct me if I'm wrong anyone).

You know who could answer this in about two seconds...Dobyblue.