Solid Snake

Josh Z

The Dolby Surround (2.0) track on the old Laserdisc was incredibly aggressive in the surround channel(s). Whenever characters fired Tommy guns toward the camera, the bullets would rattle around in the back. There's also a scene where a character flings a cat that pans nicely through the back speakers when you decode with Dolby ProLogic IIx. I believe the DVD (which was remixed to 5.1) was similarly aggressive.

Dick Tracy was the first movie released in the now-defunct CDS (Cinema Digital Sound) format, which was an early attempt at digital 5.1 surround. (Days of Thunder and Terminator 2 were other notable CDS titles.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_Digital_Sound

In order to show off the format, movies mixed for CDS tended to emphasize the zinging surround effects.

TomOpus

T2 in a theater with CDS was the shit.

NoirFan

Amazon pre-order is up, with a release date of 12/11.

Spottedfeather

I hope that's for real. And I just hope that it doesn't use DTS-HD Master Audio. Even with a properly set up surround system, I just don't like them. I don't know if it's the right word, but it seems artificial to me. Sort of like they amp up certain effects, drowning out (often times) the dialogue.

For features, I'd like to see a commentary with "the Kid", some sort of decent length featurette about the clothing styles and the really incredible cars, and maybe a music only track or, even better, a menu that would let you listen to all the music as a playlist.

DeanoBKN

I really hope they do a good job on the features, but something tells me it will be barebones.

Some features on the make up, costumes, set designs, I'll take anything!

Why So Blu?

Just pre-ordered. I hope it sticks.

Josh Z

DTS-HD Master Audio is just a lossless compression codec, like a ZIP file for audio. It has nothing to do with the movie's sound mix. Whatever's on the studio master is what goes into the DTS MA container. If you don't like the sound of a disc, it's the mix at fault, not the lossless compression.

RocShemp

DTS no longer does remixes, right? Because that's what Spottedfeather's post brought to mind.

NoirFan

I'm sure of it.

Josh Z

Not since the Laserdisc days, when DTS used to do all encoding in-house. Since the DVD era, DTS licenses its encoders to the studios, who do the work themselves.

rexinnih

Thansk Josh for bringing a little bit of truth to the board! And I hope the Dick Tracy just has a wonderful, Lossless soundtrack.

Spottedfeather

Why would they mix the audio so low in DTS-HD Master Audio tracks ? The difference between this and 5.1 is staggering. It's the same thing with True-HD, though the difference isn't quite as big.

Drexl

More dynamic range? In order for certain sounds like explosions to be very loud, the dialogue is set at a relatively low level. If you don't like it, you could see if there's a setting on your player for DRC (dynamic range compression) to bring the sounds closer together in level. If there's a difference on your system between lossless and lossy, it could be partly due to such a setting being enabled for lossy but not applying to lossless.

Movies have not fallen victim to the "loudness wars" in music, where everything is loud and there's a lack of dynamic range.

Spottedfeather

You can't use Night Mode on DTS-HD Master Audio.

Solid Snake

Night mode? wtf is that?

Spottedfeather

Night mode keeps the loud noises from being louder than the soft sounds. Keeps the sound even.

RocShemp

If your receiver has Dolby Volume or Audyssey Dynamic Volume, you can use either of those with whichever source.

Josh Z

Don't confuse volume for quality. If the volume is too low, you can just turn it up on your receiver. As Drexl explains, most Blu-ray soundtracks are set to a lower default volume than, say, broadcast TV in order to give extra headroom for a movie soundtrack's dynamic range.

DTS tracks are generally set 4 dB louder than Dolby because Dolby uses DialNorm to set a default volume and DTS doesn't. Once you volume match, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio are both 100% identical to the studio master. If they weren't, they couldn't be called lossless.

E Unit

kefrank

I loved this movie as a kid, but I haven't seen it in forever. I recall the kid being kind of annoying even then. Does it hold up pretty well?

E Unit

Somewhat. One of the movie networks was showing it a few months ago and I finally sat and watched it all again. I like the look a lot more this time around, but I was bored a bit by the story. I did still enjoy nearly every actor (especially Pacino) just hamming up their performances. Still worth getting IMO, as long as the price is decent.

Mr. Cinema

Hopefully Disney puts a little effort into the transfer on this one.

rexinnih

Nice, slipcover?

Solid Snake

even watching it as a kid...I didn't give a damn about that kid.