[WXIII]

Can you tell which sound format is played during a movie? For example, can you tell the difference between SDDS, DD and DTS in a commercial movie theater? I ask this because one of my local cinemas actually labelled what soundformat is being played in each auditorium.

 

[NetworkTV]

It depends on the movie. Some movies make full use of the whole audio spectrum and the capabilities of a high end theater sound system. Others provide little more than stereo sound. You'll hear the difference only when the sound uses a particular format properly. Hence, blockbuster action movies sound so much better in a DD or DTS theater than in a theater with lesser systems, while some movies that rely on simple, low FX stories and are very dialog heavy will play almost as well in any setup.

 

[Frank J Manrique]

posted by NetworkTV:


"It depends on the movie. Some movies make full use of the whole audio spectrum and the capabilities of a high end theater sound system."


Uh...what?


Now days all theatrical film prints come equipped with a backup optical track (Dolby SR), DTS time code (the actual sound is produced by CD-ROM discs that are synced by the time code from the print), Dolby Digital and Sony SDDS.

How theaters are equipped with will result in availing from one or more of any of those tracks.


By the way...all soundtracks have full frequency bandwidth (20 Hz to 20 KHz, at least), even the analog sound optical track...


-THTS

 

[FredProgGH]

Quote:

Originally posted by WXIII Can you tell which sound format is played during a movie? For example, can you tell the difference between SDDS, DD and DTS in a commercial movie theater? I ask this because one of my local cinemas actually labelled what soundformat is being played in each auditorium.

I'm sure I'll be flamed for this, but I am convinced at this point that, given a good quality system in a commercial auditorium, if you blindfold someone and expose them to a random selection of the different audio formats they will not be able to tell the difference.

 

[NetworkTV]

Quote:

Originally posted by Frank J Manrique posted by NetworkTV: "It depends on the movie. Some movies make full use of the whole audio spectrum and the capabilities of a high end theater sound system." Uh...what? Now days all theatrical film prints come equipped with a backup optical track (Dolby SR), DTS time code (the actual sound is produced by CD-ROM discs that are synced by the time code from the print), Dolby Digital and Sony SDDS. How theaters are equipped with will result in availing from one or more of any of those tracks. By the way...all soundtracks have full frequency bandwidth (20 Hz to 20 KHz, at least), even the analog sound optical track... -THTS

I wasn't referring to the frequencies used (so I guess spectrum was probably not the best word - it was just the one that was in my head to describe it). I was referring to how well a movie soundtrack uses the sound envelope. Some films use DD or DTS to it's fullest extent with a lot of discreet sounds coming from the various speakers. Some don't. What I simply stated was that those that don't fully use the capabilities of the higher end formats will sound roughly the same no matter what audio setup you listen to them on. Only those that truly use all the available channels to their fullest will provide a sound that is discernable from one system to another.


So, for example, "The Matrix" will show a more noticable difference between sound formats than, say, "The Stepmom."