Survey for the inclusion of the 'Original Soundtrack' for non-5.1 movies

[AlexBC]

In a debate with Sony Pictures insider (not paidgeek, but hey if you are here too, please help us out ), we agreed that a poll be started so that he could gain feedback on the inclusion of original soundtrack (mono or stereo surround) for pre 5.1 movies on their BD releases.


Here's the scope of the argument:

While I guess nobody is against a remix per se, the omission of the original theatrical soundtrack is a real bummer or deal breaker for many enthusiasts.

My opinion is that (and I know it's shared by many) BOTH, the original audio track and whatever 5.1 remix studios want to use, should be presented in uncompressed or lossless fashion for all titles not originally mastered in 5.1 (or higher). That's maintaining the original movie integrity and offering a chance for revisionist viewing.

Remixes usually have new foley effects, music and sometimes even new dialog lines. And to make matters worse, very often some original music cues, dialogs or foley effects turn out inaubible or completely forgotten on the remixing process.

Moreover, degradation of the sound quality can also take place in a remix if too much processing is used, specially when mixers only have the final track to work with (and not the original discrete audio "stems" containing dialog, music and sound effects).

This should also be specially easy on bandwith and disc storage since the original audio will probably be either stereo or mono. And it should involve little to no cost at all, since the tracks already exist and have been prepared for use on home video presentition on previous incarnations (LD, VHS, cable etc.)

In general, DVDs with either stereo or mono soundtrack can't hold a candle to their respective LDs with LPCM audio. For the movie enthusiast, it's just about time we get back to those heydays for lossless original audio tracks on catalog titles.


Like the other polls held at AVS regarding Dial Norm and The Use of Seamless Branching for Sony, this one may prove itself very successfull if we, movie lovers, voice your concerns here.