"the wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round..."

oh sorry, this is a question that is regularily asked, guess I throw in my two cents... again..

-Super Speedway
-Stormchasers - the DTS track is a speaker killer
-Bram Stoker's Dracula (Superbit - DTS track)
-Brotherhood of the Wolf Canadian Version - the DTS track nearly gave me a heartattack, the soundtrack literally throttles you to the floor.
-The Patriot (Superbit - DTS) fantastic enveloping music and sound effects, one of my personal demo DVD faves even though the movie itself is flawed.

Not a movie, but a shameless promotion for a music DVD that I love totting:
Super Furry Animals - Rings Around the World - great DTS soundmix on a great DVD version of an album from a great Welsh band.

Not exactly a movie, but the best sounding dvd I own is the DTS version of Nine Inch Nails: And All That Could Have Been. I'm not technically proficient enough to explain why, but I believe it has something to do with the disc space dedicated to audio. A 90 min. show is spread across 2 discs and a DD 5.1 track is not included(a seperate release carries the DD 5.1 track).

-The Gift - very subtle but evocative and haunting soundmix, check out the one scene where a very distant train can be heard from the right speaker, wow! Check it out!

Agreed. Maybe starting this One & Only thread will cut down on the duplication. Merged threads with recent audio reference thread.

Just got done watching The Matrix (for the umpteenth time...had to see it on my new HDTV!) and I was/am still impressed with the lobby scene and the rooftop battle. The bullet-time scene with Neo on the roof is still in my home theater "demo rotation" when people come over, to show a good combination of what is happening on-screen matching the sounds coming from all around. As the camera swirls, so does the audio.

Just my 1/50 of a dollar...!

If you want a good base demo, go to the begining, when the men are chasing Trinity or go to the Kung fu sequence.

These movies have voices in the surrounds:

Spiderman - when Willem Dafoe is talking to himself for the first time as the Green Goblin.

X-Men - when Wolverine is walking through the academy and Dr. X is talking in his head.



My favorite test CD is Bachbusters. I enjoy the fugue from Tocatta and Fugue in D minor.

Even though the movie ain't great, Signs is a great demo if you want surround action. especially when the family is trapped in the basement and you can hear the aliens running all around you.

You mean you actually felt something grab you pull you onto the floor?!

(Sorry, it just drives me nuts when people say "literally" when they mean exactly the opposite: "figuratively".)

oops! so sorry...

Chicken Run - Inside the meat pie machine, when the burners light up and revolve around the room

Add to this list Donnie Darko, with Frank's voice coming from the surrounds on occasion as well...

Can't believe no one has mentioned Twister - DTS. The entire movie sounds incredible. Any of the scenes where there's a tornado involved has excellent surround useage and just sounds great in general.

I'll also toss out Apollo 13 and Dante's Peak, both DTS only and great sounding.

Here's a link for LFE demos.

http://www.svsubwoofers.com/faq.htm

The demo info. is a little over 1/2 way down


A lot of other posters already recommended excellent demos.

If not already mentioned and clean for the kids:

Titan AE

Ice Rings of Tigrin: Ch15 - 1:02:24

Contact (honorable mention)

Pod Entry: Ch31 - 1:45:53

Monsters Inc.

Door chase: Ch27 - 1:07:22

Final Fantasy (short one)

The landing: Ch1 - 0:03:09

There are so many to mention. Super Speedway, which was mentioned is a stellar surround demo as well as dynamic range capabilities. The pod racing scene in The Phantom Menace is another classic in its own right. Search around and do some testing yourself. You obviously will have the equipment for reviewing these mediums, so take advantage of it.

Regards,

Official Best Surround Sound DVD & Scenes Thread
 

To build on this thread from Iron Giant here, I thought it would be nice to have a "sticky thread" that would display not only certain DVDs with awesome surround usage but also some specific scenes from DVDs. This would be a great reference for those wanting to showcase their systems. I know we had a thread similar to this sometime last year, but I was unable to dig it up.

Try to be as specific as possible, such as DVD name, edition, chapter number, time count, etc...

I will start with a few of my faves: (in no particular order)

1. Saving Private Ryan DTS Special Limted Edition: Chapters 2, 3, & 4 - "Omaha Beach," "Rallying", & "Breakthrough"

2. Jurassic Park III: CE: Chapter 6 - "Dual of the Dinosaurs"

3. Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones: Chapter 7 - "Speeder Chase" and Chapter 28 - "Asteroid Chase"

4. U-571: CE: Chapter 15 - "Depth-Charged"

5. Toy Story 2: UTB: Chapter 2 - "Buzz's Mission"

The Matrix - Chapter 30: Dodge This!
Minority Report - Chapter 9: Auto Assembly Line
Monsters, Inc - Chapter 27: The Door Vault
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace - Chapters 20-22: The Podrace and Chapters 37-45: Final battle and 3-way Jedi Duel

Twister DTS - The entire movie. No, I'm not kidding :)

New thread closed so I will bump this one up...

Have to agree with SPR. I also like the diva scene in The Fifth Element. The opening crash scene in Pitch Black is great for room shaking.

I will throw my picks in too....these are the ones I use when friends come over and I want to show off....

MATRIX - Dodge This for sure!

GLADIATOR - "on my signal, release HELL"

HEAT - Downtown shootout

SW Episode 1 - Pod Race Scene

ARMAGEDDON - Beginning when asteroids devour NYC

THE ROCK - Criterion Editon, the Ferarri Hummer chase through the streets of SF.

GONE IN 60 SECONDS - The Nick Cage version, the Mustang chase scene

T3 - the whole movie is SOOO DANG LOUD rumbles the house!

THX spot with the robot? - that uses all the speakers and is fun to watch too!

thats all I can think of for now!

good recent demo discs
open range my god is that gun fight loud. I jumped several times, not expecting such loud sound
underworld, supposingly has extreme lfe, but didn't get to hear it that was since people in the house were sleeping.
freddy vs. jason

Star Wars Attack of the Clones: Speeder Chase, Asteroid Chase, Clone War, and finale.
Star Wars The Phantom Menace: Pod Race, Duel of the Fates.
Freddy VS Jason: The whole damn movie! Great atmosphere.
Matrix/Matrix Reloaded: End of Matrix. Burly Brawl, Highway chase.
Superman The Movie: Credits, Krypton blowin up, Chasing the Rockets.
Raiders: Beginning in the jungle, truck chase.
Blade 2: Opening.
Wes Cravens New Nightmare: Dream world!

Daylight (DTS)
plenty of powerful deep low end bass

Pirates of Caribean
good surround plays

Lethal Weapon 1, 2, 3 (DTS)
again, plenty low end bass

Pearl Harbor (Vista Series DTS-ES)
fantastic pciture transfer & great surrounds, plenty low end (check out the attack scenes)

The Time Machine(new one) when the morlocks come out to hunt and capture people just rocks in DTS,you can hear the darts whizzing from behind you and thunking into the t.v. lol,has really great bass yoo

hijack - but there's this taco bell commercial that basically says exactly what you are talking about here... creepy.

Daredevil (DTS track) makes fantastic use of the surrounds and creates truly a wide, immersive soundstage.

<b>We Were Soldiers</b> The 5.1 EX track is an aural assualt.