I ran DAD decoded tonight. I think I may be the only person who has wondered about these weird early 6.1 systems as much and their applications today in HTs and Blu-ray.
I also may be a bit nuts.
The SE is flagged for both EX and ES. No other copy is.
The SE has some very very slight color differences, but I chalk it up to an older more inferior transfer. Otherwise they’re identical, but the SE is riddled with edge enhancement and is noisy. This why the UE/BD appears softer but are more correct despite Lowry probably degraining too much of the master.
Audiowise, the extra rears are primarily throwing around some score and extra effects. The Dolby EX track is noticeably better than the DTS ES, with better highs, bass and details. The DTS is a muffled in comparison. The UE seems to have the exact same audio tracks, as the Dolby is better and at the same old lower bitrate (384 kbp/s) with the DTS seeming slightly muffled. As always the UE’s levels may have been tweaked slightly but I cannot tell for sure. I think for DAD they merely used the previous DVD’s audio.
The BD DTSHDMA is likely the best audio as it doesn’t have the muffled problem and is the most detailed courtesy of the lossless encoding.
However, it is not encoded for ES and I had to force PLIIx to engage the surround back channels. IIx is a better decoder for all of these formats and is unlimited but I’m beginning to wonder if the original decoded rear channel can be brought back on newer releases that aren’t designated EX or ES compatible. Technically once something is encoded it should remain there but I can see a clueless person years down the road pull the source 5.1 audio or merely force 5.1 in the authoring stage and thus mess with or negate the intended rear center. Many people leave PLIIx on for all 5.1 tracks as it “envelops” the listener more, but I think this isn’t a good practice. I have had a hard time trying to figure out if TWINE and DAD are actually coming across as intended with a matrixed center rear or if they are merely being played back in the technically correct but still faux 7.1 of today’s home theaters.
Note: I did run every track in standard direct 5.1, Dolby EX, DTS ES matrix and PLIIx.
And as I use an action sequence and the title song to examine the soundmixes, I hope my neighbors like the hovercraft chase and Madonna.
Long story short, BD for video despite the film needing a new scan. BD for audio, but I give the purist nod to the SE DVD Dolby EX decoded into either EX or PLIIx.