rocket1312

I like to consider myself a purist when it comes to audio tracks on BD/DVD. If a film was originally released in mono or 2-channel stereo, generally speaking, that's how I want to watch it. I know some people want nothing to do with an audio track if it's not 5.1 (or 6.1 or 7.1), but that's not really the point of this thread.

What I'm interested in, is if you were to watch a BD with a mono or 2-channel stereo track (most Criterion BDs of older films only have the original mono track, for example), how do you configure the sound in your home theater? What I mean is, are you content to have the sound coming from the center channel only if in mono? Do you split the track so that it comes from the front L/R speakers (some mono tracks are already encoded this way)? My receiver has a 7 channel stereo mode which either sends the same track to all speakers (if mono) or it sends the L channel through all the L speakers and the R channel through all of the R speakers. I like to use this mode because it creates a fuller sound and better mimics the experience one would have watching in a theater. Does anyone else even think about this sort of thing, or am I all alone?

rexinnih

I was watching a Criterion last night and as is my usual custom at the start up of a movie, I look at my receiver to see the audio format light up. For mono movies, I leave them alone. For Stereo, I let DTS Neo do it's magic.

Alan Smithee

If you are a "purist", using that mode that send a mono track to every speaker is far from that. Mono tracks should come only from the center speaker. That's how it would be in a theater, though there haven't been any movies produced in mono for a long time.

When I got my new receiver I had it default to standard Pro-Logic for 2-channel tracks, then I learned that a lot of recent 2-channel mixes were meant to be played in Pro-Logic II (Movie mode) so I keep it on that now instead. While it does alter older sound mixes a bit, it doesn't do so enough to bother me too much, as accidentally playing something meant for Pro-Logic II in regular Pro-Logic would bother me more. Some may see used PLII for everything as blasphemy however. The most "impure" things I do are: Keep EX decoding on for all 5.1 sources, reason being that not everything meant to be played that way is flagged as such. (My apartment living room isn't even shaped the right way to take full advantage of the extra rear channels and they aren't placed too far from the regular surround speakers, but there was no way I could just not hook them up.) I also keep Pro Logic II decoding on for music and other material with MIGHT be meant to be heard just through the front left or right speakers, but sometimes there's no real way to be sure about that. I have a separate 2-channel sound system that I do my serious music listening on anyways.

milo bloom

(bolded) That doesn't sound right, I'm fairly certain theaters always had more than one speaker, even in the days of mono only sound. There's no way the speaker technology from the early days of film was enough for one speaker, even a big one, to carry the sound throughout the whole theater.

So the idea of sending a mono track to all speakers may be a bit gimmicky in the home, I would certainly have no qualms about sending it to the L/R speakers or even L/C/R for a fuller distribution.

rocket1312

I guess that's why I started the thread. I wasn't sure if mono was only supposed to come from a center channel. I couldn't imagine that all theaters in the mono era only had a single center channel, but maybe they did. Though in the grand scheme of things, it hasn't been that long since mono tracks were used. While Hollywood hasn't used mono since probably the late 70's, lower budget independent stuff and some foreign releases were using mono into the 90's. I guess I just assumed that those tracks were played through all speakers in the theater.

Do you have an example of a modern 2-channel track that is intended to be played in Pro-Logic II? I admit, the whole surround decoder issue is something I'm not very knowledgeable on. I appreciate that in their liner notes, Criterion mentions if a soundtrack on one of their discs is meant to be played with Pro-Logic, but I don't think I've ever seen a track meant for Pro-Logic II. I guess I don't understand why modern surround tracks wouldn't just be encoded as 5.1.

Alan Smithee

Well, this is obviously supposed to be played in PLII:
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Pro-Logic II has been around a while now, though labeling for it is kind of vague. I've mostly seen video games labeled with it, though I have one HD-DVD called "Nature's Journey" that has a Pro-Logic II track on it.

I was a projectionist for nearly a decade, and Dolby sound processors had a setting for mono soundtracks which you were supposed to keep them on when playing those, which played the sound ONLY through the center channel. The actual center speaker in most theaters consists of a horn and a woofer. The left, right and surrounds were not used during mono playback. The last major studio movie to have a mono soundtrack was The Naked Gun, though the semi-indie release The Brothers McMullen was in mono in 1995. Several Woody Allen movies were technically released in stereo (labeled on the film as such) but were actually mixed in mono as Woody Allen didn't like stereo. I ran "Small Time Crooks" which actually had a digital soundtrack with audio only in the center channel.

Jason One

I just always stick with Pro Logic II. It keeps mono in the center, and turns stereo into 5.1. It works so well, there's no reason to use anything else.

Why So Blu?

Center channel.

Alan Smithee

Center channel.
Surround channel.
Surround channel.


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