Molly said:
For me, *all* 5.1 sounds more faint than 2.0.
I really have no idea what this means . . .
Do you have a 5.1 setup, or are you listening to them downmixed to stereo? If so, Dolby Digital decoders when downmixing automatically engage non-defeatable dynamic range compression in accordance with the DRC profile specified in the AC3 bitstream, the end result of which is a hideous reduction in the power of the soundtrack. This is all well and good if you are listening on crappy tv speakers that can't handle high peak volumes (which Dolby seems to assume, rightly or wrongly, to apply to nearly all listeners), but is completely unnecessary if you have a capable stereo setup. The fact that this DRC could not be turned off was the bane of my movie-watching existence for two years, until I was able to add a center and rear speakers to my system. Anything less than all five speakers will result in DRC (the presence or lack of a subwoofer makes no difference). When I was finally able to demonstrate to my lady friend what I'd been griping about all that time, she was quite startled to say the least--the difference is not subtle.
So if this is what you're refering to, then unfortunately the only solution is to get full 5.1, or to choose stereo or DTS tracks when available, since they do not have this issue. If you meant something else . . . well, then I can't help you. ;)
I don't know why d_j is having problems getting a successful AC3 encode from the uploaded stereo track--is anyone else having similar issues? Maybe it's some kind of Mac/PC incompatibility? I can do my own AC3 2.0 track and upload that if need be.
I agree that 448 AC3 for the 5.1 would be best for most folks. Some part of me wants to have DTS and higher bitrates, though my speakers may not be hifi enough to actually resolve such that kind of subtle difference; and I'm not sure how much benefit there really is, since there is occasionally a certain harshness to the sound, most likely because of the age of the material. But in theory preserving as much fidelity as possible is always a good thing for those who can take advantage of it.
I really couldn't give less of a crappe about the films coming out on Bluray unless the original versions are included and restored. And even if they did, it's not at all certain they would master the audio from the 70mm mix--no matter how good the picture was, I might well want to mux it with my own soundtrack, unless by some chance they actually did come through and do it properly, and how much chance is there of that, really? I certainly am not remotely interested in having the rubbishy 2004 audio mix in glorious Dolby TrueHD . . .