Unbreakable audio issue

[BStecke]

Fantastic . . . I picked up Unbreakable today at Best Buy and am watching it now. Between 8:30 and 8:32 on the PCM track there is a VERY noticeable popping sound in the right surround. I can reproduce it every time. This popping is not in the Dolby Digital track. Seeing as how I got this early I'll have to wait until Tuesday to exchange it, but I know a couple people out there got this . . . am I the only one with this issue?

[BStecke]

The reviewer at High Def Disc news reported some popping in his review . . . he said he'll look at the timestamps I provided to verify. There's another pop in the center channel @ 1:28:21 as well.

[Ralph Potts]

Greetings,

I reviewed Unbreakable and didn't notice any popping. I will double check and post back.


Regards,

[Maestro J]

What equipment are you using, bstecke?

[BStecke]

PS3 ---> Pioneer Elite VSX-91TXH

HDMI, but that kind of goes without saying

[Ralph Potts]

Greetings,

I can confirm that this is a disc issue. It appears on my copy as well and I also tried it on both the Panasonic BD30, PS3 and Samsung 1400.

The popping sin't very loud and occurs at a point where there is alot of train and background sounds coming through the surrounds. It is definitely audible though.


Regards,

[BStecke]

There's another member on Blu-ray.com confirming this issue as well. Hopefully this is corrected soon.

[Rieper]

Seems like there are more and more audio issues with Blu-ray releases these days.

I don't ever recall these issues with the previous 500+ titles released from the very start.

Quality control needs to be stepped up, big time.

[robertc88]

I'm to the point now of not getting BDs until I see reviews and opinions here and if there are any issues with the audio.

[Rieper]

Originally Posted by robertc88

I'm to the point now of not getting BDs until I see reviews and opinions here and if there are any issues with the audio.

Exactly.

I don't want my $2000 speakers to pop their tweeters with some audio issue.

[Maestro J]

Originally Posted by robertc88

I'm to the point now of not getting BDs until I see reviews and opinions here and if there are any issues with the audio.

I agree. This is getting ridiculous. Enchanted with split second audio drops, now Unbreakable. Disney, do we have a problem?

[BStecke]

I wrote an email to BVHE and I'll post any response that I get. Hopefully a replacement process will be implemented a la Pirates, but without the long wait with zero communication.

[solo88]

Originally Posted by BStecke

PS3 ---> Pioneer Elite VSX-91TXH

HDMI, but that kind of goes without saying

Oh no! That's my setup! First time I've seen an issue with my equipment. And I was going to buy this. Will I now be waiting to see if Buena Vista addresses it?

[BStecke]

Originally Posted by solo88

Oh no! That's my setup! First time I've seen an issue with my equipment. And I was going to buy this. Will I now be waiting to see if Buena Vista addresses it?

It's been confirmed as a disc issue. A few people with different setups have confirmed the same pops at the same times.

While I certainly don't advocate the support of companies that produce sub-par products, I probably wouldn't recommend against buying this since it's not a HUGE issue and BVHE was good about replacing Pirates. Everybody's certainly welcome to boycott or hold off, obviously, but I wouldn't say the movie is ruined due to these two occurrences.

[Ralph Potts]

Originally Posted by Rieper

Exactly.

I don't want my $2000 speakers to pop their tweeters with some audio issue.

Greetings,

No worries there. The popping (more like crackling) is not at such a level or duration that it would damage your speakers.

Regards,

[GizmoDVD]

Ok, I can now confirm the pop (actually about 2 or 3) between the 8:30 - 8:33....right before we see Bruce's son. It appears only to be coming from the back RIGHT speaker. Its very, very annoying This is through PCM.

[MSmith83]

I remember watching the BD of Chicago ( ) and hearing a pop from the left surround channel that didn't appear in the Dolby track. Another weird thing is that there was lots of background noise in the beginning with the Dolby track, whereas the PCM track sounded completely clean at that same spot.

I don't know how Disney handles its audio, but their DD tracks often sound very different from the PCM offerings, much more than with any other studio.

[GizmoDVD]

A small note, the pop is NOT present on the Dolby Digital 5.1 track.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by MSmith83

I remember watching the BD of Chicago ( ) and hearing a pop from the left surround channel that didn't appear in the Dolby track. Another weird thing is that there was lots of background noise in the beginning with the Dolby track, whereas the PCM track sounded completely clean at that same spot.

Msmith, not to derail the thread, but do you have the timecode of the Chicago pop?

[MSmith83]

Originally Posted by Ruined

Msmith, not to derail the thread, but do you have the timecode of the Chicago pop?

Sorry, it's been a while since I've watched it. It's a very quick pop that can go unnoticed at lower volumes. As for the background noise that I mentioned hearing with the DD track, it's right in the very beginning of the movie. It's strange that the noise is completely absent with the PCM track.

As I've mentioned, level-matched DD and PCM comparisons can be quite interesting with Disney's BDs. Another example is The Rock (UK version). The bass levels on that release can be way overcooked on the PCM track, but much tamer with the DD offering.

[ooms]

Originally Posted by Rieper

Exactly.

I don't want my $2000 speakers to pop their tweeters with some audio issue.

for $2k should speakers not be built like tanks? unless the more cash one spends on speakers the more fragile they become? if so, that sucks.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by ooms

for $2k should speakers not be built like tanks? unless the more cash one spends on speakers the more fragile they become? if so, that sucks.

Not always, but that can be the case. What is more fragile, a Ferrari Enzo or a Hummer? The former costs like 10x as much.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by MSmith83

Sorry, it's been a while since I've watched it. It's a very quick pop that can go unnoticed at lower volumes. As for the background noise that I mentioned hearing with the DD track, it's right in the very beginning of the movie. It's strange that the noise is completely absent with the PCM track.

Okay, if you watch it again and note the timecode let me know, I want to check out how bad it is.

[ClaytonMG]

These are from the scenes I tested. Again, NONE of these are present in the Dolby tracks. Or in the Dolby and DTS tracks on the original DVD.

6:12 - Right Front Speaker

1:16:07 - Center Channel (There might be others around this area as well, but I just passed them off as crackling from the car fire.)

1:19:04 - Crackling back and forth between the 2 front channels.

1:19:41/1:19:43 - Crackling in the left and then the right front channels.

1:20:02 - Left front channel.

1:20:56 - Apparently there's some sort of distortion in the rears...

1:21:22 - Snaps accross the front channels

1:27:25 - Center channel

1:27:26 - Center Channel

1:27:29 - Front channels in the score

1:27:31 - Front channels

1:29:55 - Center Channel

1:29:57 - Center Channel

1:29:58 - Center Channel

1:30:00 - Center Channel

1:30:22 - Center Channel

1:30:32 - Center Channel

I have not watched the entire film, I have only tested a total of 3 or 4 scenes and these are the time stamps I came up with so far. Again, none of these appear on the DVD's audio tracks or in the Dolby ones present on the Blu-Ray disc.

I saw someone mention Enchanted in this thread. I've seen the movie 3 times using the Dolby TrueHD track and I haven't experienced any audio drop outs with that title...

[rolltide1017]

Well, I'll scratch this one off my list of upcoming purchases. Ashame too, as I really like this movie. Maybe I should reconsider my receiver upgrade I was going to do in the next week or so. Seems like there are a lot of problems or weird things going on with many PCM/lossless tracks. I'd much rather listen to a clean losy DD/DTS track then a popping PCM/lossless track.

[MaynardJames]

Originally Posted by ClaytonMG

These are from the scenes I tested. Again, NONE of these are present in the Dolby tracks. Or in the Dolby and DTS tracks on the original DVD.

6:12 - Right Front Speaker

1:16:07 - Center Channel (There might be others around this area as well, but I just passed them off as crackling from the car fire.)

1:19:04 - Crackling back and forth between the 2 front channels.

1:19:41/1:19:43 - Crackling in the left and then the right front channels.

1:20:02 - Left front channel.

1:20:56 - Apparently there's some sort of distortion in the rears...

1:21:22 - Snaps accross the front channels

1:27:25 - Center channel

1:27:26 - Center Channel

1:27:29 - Front channels in the score

1:27:31 - Front channels

1:29:55 - Center Channel

1:29:57 - Center Channel

1:29:58 - Center Channel

1:30:00 - Center Channel

1:30:22 - Center Channel

1:30:32 - Center Channel

I have not watched the entire film, I have only tested a total of 3 or 4 scenes and these are the time stamps I came up with so far. Again, none of these appear on the DVD's audio tracks or in the Dolby ones present on the Blu-Ray disc.

I saw someone mention Enchanted in this thread. I've seen the movie 3 times using the Dolby TrueHD track and I haven't experienced any audio drop outs with that title...

This sucks. That whole scene with Bruce in the train station is just riddled with all kinds of pops. I heard all of the ones you posted and some you didn't as well. Disney better get to fixing this, as the PCM track is unlistenable.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by rolltide1017

Well, I'll scratch this one off my list of upcoming purchases. Ashame too, as I really like this movie. Maybe I should reconsider my receiver upgrade I was going to do in the next week or so. Seems like there are a lot of problems or weird things going on with many PCM/lossless tracks. I'd much rather listen to a clean losy DD/DTS track then a popping PCM/lossless track.

Gonna return my Amazon copy...

[Imeldhil]

Originally Posted by MaynardJames

This sucks. That whole scene with Bruce in the train station is just riddled with all kinds of pops. I heard all of the ones you posted and some you didn't as well. Disney better get to fixing this, as the PCM track is unlistenable.

The train station sequence played OK for me... So far I've only listend to the only two first that were said, nothing else.

[chucklee]

Terrible news... this was one I was really looking forward to.

There is no reason for me to purchase this crap copy; I'll hang on to my SD version (which is, ironically, broken - there is a crack around the spindle hole from an inexpertly executed removal from the case - but is still plays).

Who is in charge of checking things like this before they are released? I'll take the job, as long as my hearing holds out...

Here's hoping they fix it, and not ignore it like Paramount did the horrible PQ on the newest (SD) Star Trek: Generations release.

[Jayderek]

my copy from Amazon will be arriving today. I'll check this out myself (not to discount what others are saying) - it could be something i can live w/ short term.

Plus it seems like Disney is great for taking care of problems like this, so i'd imagine some sort of exchange program in the near future.

Thanks to those taking the time to specify the problem timecodes...