I have some other suggestions:
I think the English mono tracks for Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back should be LPCM 1.0 instead of DTS-HD Master Audio since there is little difference in quality and/or size and LPCM has increased compatibility compared to DTS-HD Master Audio.
I also think that the English 35mm Stereo mixes should be Dolby TrueHD instead of DTS-HD Master Audio so that there can be surround matrixing similar to the LaserDisc audio.
Dolby TrueHD has this Dolby Pro Logic capability but for DTS-HD Master Audio, I’m not sure.
There was apparently something called DTS Stereo which was used on some LaserDiscs and theatrical releases but I’m not sure if it can be used in the modernized DTS and DTS-HD codecs.
I also think that the alternative English LaserDisc mixes should also be in Dolby TrueHD, if it is still allowed in the 48MBps bitrate limit of Blu-ray.What do you think of the isolated score being in LPCM 2.0? Already posted about it but barely anyone replied to it.
I second this
Wait. I also forgot:
- I think the 5.1 mixes should be in 6.1 or 7.1 instead (most likely 6.1)
I actually talked to hairy_hen about this, he said he probably couldn’t perfectly test this as he only has a 5.1 system and is not entirely sure on how good it would sound.I’m not sure of the value of this. If the whole point of the 5.1 mix is to approximate the theatrical 6-channel mix, wouldn’t adding extra channels move it further from that goal? It’s already a little bit off because 5.1 doesn’t quite equal 4.2–but there’s no home video 4.2 standard, so 5.1 is about as close as you can get. I suppose you could do 6.1 and have the two rear channels duplicate the center rear (effectively 4.1), but that seems a lot of effort (and duplicated audio data) for a dubious return, and you could accomplish more-or-less the same with a phantom center in 5.1 if that was your goal. It’d upmix to sound exactly like that on 6.1 systems anyway.
Now if the point was to make an entirely new and spiffy 6.1 or 7.1 mix, without any attempt to be authentic to the original, maybe that’d be fine.
Okay. But how about a 6.1 Matrix style (AKA: 5.1-ES)? Will it still be different from a regular 5.1 mix if you only have a 5.1 system?
I am not sure which official Blu-rays have a DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 Matrix track but I do know that the Theatrical Editions of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Extended was 6.1 Discrete) and the Japanese, Chinese-language and French Blu-ray releases of Howl’s Moving Castle (US and UK release was plain 5.1, even if you select the Japanese audio and 6.1 Matrix only available in Japanese audio).
Here is the LOTR: ROTK Theatrical Blu-ray: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Lord-of-the-Rings-The-Return-of-the-King-Blu-ray/1973/
Compared with the Extended Blu-ray: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Lord-of-the-Rings-The-Return-of-the-King-Blu-ray/19931/
Also, the Japanese release of Howl’s Moving Castle (misprinted as 6.1 Discrete but actually 6.1 Matrix according to BDInfo, also, English audio is always 5.1 regardless of version, it’s also the only Studio Ghibli film with 6.1 Matrix since everything else they did which was theatrically presented in DTS-ES 6.1 or Dolby Digital EX 6.1 is in 6.1 Discrete, but usually only in Japan): http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Howls-Moving-Castle-Blu-ray/28162/
Compared with the US version (US and UK Blu-ray is the only way to watch the English dubbed version with lossless DTS-HD Master Audio since Japan only has them in lossy DTS 5.1, unfortunately the Japanese audio is only plain 5.1 in the US and UK versions unlike the 6.1 Matrix audio in Japan): http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Howls-Moving-Castle-Blu-ray/48187/
Also, I love the fact that you can matrix the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks of the Dolby Stereo version to 4.0 with Dolby Pro Logic.
It doesn’t work for every DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Blu-ray I tested but it worked on the Studio Ghibli Blu-rays which were theatrically presented in Dolby Stereo and it also worked with some Criterion Blu-rays like Brazil.