Non-audio DVDs with LPCM? - Blu-ray Forum

Takeshi666 · 08-29-2019, 03:13 PM

I have this recollection that the really early UK DVD of Halloween II - the pan & scan one - had a LPCM soundtrack, which is really uncommon in movie titles because it takes up a lot of space.

Are there any particular movie DVD releases that had a lossless PCM track instead of the usual dolby digital one?

8traxrule · 08-29-2019, 10:00 PM

Most of Image’s early titles had PCM sound, as did Simitar, a budget label.

wd40cloud · 09-02-2019, 02:24 PM

Do the Right Thing (Criterion)
Pink Floyd The Wall

meremortal · 09-02-2019, 06:58 PM

It's really a shame that it wasn't utilized more for movies, at least the very least for mono and stereo soundtracks. 16 bit PCM 1.0 and 2.0 probably could've worked out without compression/space concerns.

SpaceBlackKnight · 09-02-2019, 09:30 PM

IIRC, the UK Nucleus Films DVD of Death Ship has a 2.0 PCM mono track.

LMFAObros · 09-03-2019, 06:26 AM

honestly some pcm tracks take up as much space as video encodes on DVD. If it's 5.1 or even 24bit, I doubt their will be many if any DVDs carrying these bit hungry tracks.

meremortal · 09-06-2019, 08:32 PM

I was thinking more along the lines of 16 bit LPCM 1.0 and 2.0 tracks like were commonly found on LD. LD didn't use 5.1 PCM or 24 bit tracks either. It probably could have been a fun little collector's niche at the very least to have had older catalog movies with higher bitrate audio tracks. It's nice that there are a decent amount of concert releases using them but a lot also did not. From what I recall, a dual layer dvd could hold over 8gb of data and there probably could've been room for non-5.1 LPCM and non-24 bit tracks. As long as dvd was around, it's kind of disappointing they never did find a way to author lossless audio in a more compact and efficient container similar to DTS-HD on blu. For a short while there were 'full bitrate' DTS releases but it didn't last long and sadly the standard became half-bitrate, assuming DTS was even offered at all. And on that note, something a bit better/more efficient than MPEG-2 video could have been cool as well. It's all kind of wishful thinking since blu has been around for quite a while now, although it could have come in handy for all the releases that are not available on blu.

8traxrule · 11-02-2019, 05:31 AM

Pretty sure only Blu-Ray supports 1-channel PCM, I know laserdisc is only 2-channel. The thing that impressed me most about Blu-Ray is that it supports multi-channel PCM but only the early releases had that (Damnation Alley has a 7.1 PCM track).

Some home DVD authoring programs let you use PCM audio instead of Dolby Digital, haven't played with those enough to see what effect that has on the video quality or playing time.

08-29-2019, 03:13 PM	#1
Takeshi666 Power Member Member since:Oct 2011 Location:Suomi Finland Perkele 4K collection:34 Blu-ray collection:373 DVD collection:75	Non-audio DVDs with LPCM? I have this recollection that the really early UK DVD of Halloween II - the pan & scan one - had a LPCM soundtrack, which is really uncommon in movie titles because it takes up a lot of space. Are there any particular movie DVD releases that had a lossless PCM track instead of the usual dolby digital one?

09-02-2019, 06:58 PM	#4
meremortal Blu-ray Champion Member since:Jan 2012 Location:Bedford Falls Trading Score:258	It's really a shame that it wasn't utilized more for movies, at least the very least for mono and stereo soundtracks. 16 bit PCM 1.0 and 2.0 probably could've worked out without compression/space concerns. Last edited by meremortal; 09-02-2019 at 07:15 PM.

09-06-2019, 08:32 PM	#7
meremortal Blu-ray Champion Member since:Jan 2012 Location:Bedford Falls Trading Score:258	I was thinking more along the lines of 16 bit LPCM 1.0 and 2.0 tracks like were commonly found on LD. LD didn't use 5.1 PCM or 24 bit tracks either. It probably could have been a fun little collector's niche at the very least to have had older catalog movies with higher bitrate audio tracks. It's nice that there are a decent amount of concert releases using them but a lot also did not. From what I recall, a dual layer dvd could hold over 8gb of data and there probably could've been room for non-5.1 LPCM and non-24 bit tracks. As long as dvd was around, it's kind of disappointing they never did find a way to author lossless audio in a more compact and efficient container similar to DTS-HD on blu. For a short while there were 'full bitrate' DTS releases but it didn't last long and sadly the standard became half-bitrate, assuming DTS was even offered at all. And on that note, something a bit better/more efficient than MPEG-2 video could have been cool as well. It's all kind of wishful thinking since blu has been around for quite a while now, although it could have come in handy for all the releases that are not available on blu. Last edited by meremortal; 09-06-2019 at 08:45 PM.

08-29-2019, 10:00 PM	#2
8traxrule Power Member Member since:Jul 2009 Blu-ray collection:1	Most of Image’s early titles had PCM sound, as did Simitar, a budget label.

09-02-2019, 02:24 PM	#3
wd40cloud Active Member Top contributor Member since:Aug 2010 Location:Wareham, MA 4K collection:1017 Blu-ray collection:2721 DVD collection:549	Do the Right Thing (Criterion) Pink Floyd The Wall

09-02-2019, 09:30 PM	#5
SpaceBlackKnight Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Jul 2018 4K collection:25 Blu-ray collection:346 Digital collection:20	IIRC, the UK Nucleus Films DVD of Death Ship has a 2.0 PCM mono track.

09-03-2019, 06:26 AM	#6
LMFAObros Blu-ray Samurai Top contributor Member since:Jan 2016 Location:Melbourne, Australia 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:- DVD collection:- Blu-ray reviews:73 Trading Score:10	honestly some pcm tracks take up as much space as video encodes on DVD. If it's 5.1 or even 24bit, I doubt their will be many if any DVDs carrying these bit hungry tracks.

11-02-2019, 05:31 AM	#8
8traxrule Power Member Member since:Jul 2009 Blu-ray collection:1	Pretty sure only Blu-Ray supports 1-channel PCM, I know laserdisc is only 2-channel. The thing that impressed me most about Blu-Ray is that it supports multi-channel PCM but only the early releases had that (Damnation Alley has a 7.1 PCM track). Some home DVD authoring programs let you use PCM audio instead of Dolby Digital, haven't played with those enough to see what effect that has on the video quality or playing time.

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