GregK

Hello All,

I feel really bad about not getting back to the group earlier, but I had a minor technical snag. The suggested software and instructions are perfect. Using TSmuxer I was able to keep the new 7.1 DTS-MA mix, but placed the original 5.1 DTS-MA mix as track #1. Everything seemed to have worked great, but my technical snag occurred about 52 minutes into the feature where my original disc has a minor nick. This causes a 3 to 4 second hiccup during playback, and when ripping the disc, this hiccup/defect caused the video to go out of sync with the patched in audio by roughly 4 seconds. But up to my bad spot on the disc, I was able to listen to both soundtracks in sync with a high quality bluray image, and was able to easily switch between the two.

It was interesting to hear the differences just on the opening notes after the Universal logo. The notes ring far deeper in the original 5.1 mix than they do in the remix. There were a few times when music was slightly lower on the remix when compared to the original. Some of the panning is different as well. One that comes to mind is in the opening sequence with the velociraptor, the head of the team says something like "tasers to full intensity" or something like that. The camera pans while he is saying this line, and his voice tracks him and pans to hard left. In the new 7.1 remix, his voice still pans, but is no longer hard left and can also be heard in the center channel. The helicopter landing at the dig site also has a little more ooomph in the original mix as well. In the original mix, more of the music resides in the three front channels and has a little more heft in the LFE channel. I have a 7.1 discrete setup and played the original 5.1 track as DTS-ES to obtain rear channels. In this mode when comparing the two mixes, I didn't feel like the 7.1 remix was major step up, and the extra "discrete" channels didn't seem to have any standout 7.1 moments. In other forums, I have read the remix has some foley effects changed in a few spots as well. If true, it wouldn't surprise me.

Were there times when I preferred the 7.1 remix? I have to admit the "sonic ping" used to see dino bones at the dig site sounded deeper and louder in the new mix. The same goes for the brontosaurus stomp on the ground after it was standing on its hind legs. The 7.1 remix in that case just went a tad lower.

So which mix, based on the 52 minutes of comparisons, do I prefer? Without hesitation, the original DTS mix. Audio was a very important part in the planning of Jurassic Park, so a LOT of time was spent on that mix for its premiere release. I don't know how much time was spent on the remix, but you can be sure Spielberg wasn't sitting through that session (OK ..'maybe' he stopped in once and said "sounds good!"), nor would Universal allocate the same amount of hours for an audio remix. The original mix was also the premiere of the DTS theatrical sound system, and they really wanted to showcase this. To me, that is audio history that should be preserved. I want to hear what I and everyone else heard in DTS theaters in 1993. And on that note I tip my hat and thank those who made this original track possible. Job well done!!!!

PM sent!

The WSR/DTS trailer disc is a unique bird, as it was done for Widescreen Review subscribers with the help of DTS. Trailers for a good number of features are on tap, including the first two Jurassic Park movies, all encoded at the DTS 1506 kb/s bitrate. The Lost World trailer in DTS 5.1 is particularly effective.

The DTS demo disc that was given out at one of the CES shows also has a trailer or two - I just need to see which DTS trailer is on my given demo disc.

Hello! I am GregK, and just found this forum and thought this project sounded amazing:

Disclord (Ty) is indeed a hard person to get ahold of. I've had some delightful conversations with him on quad audio, older video formats, including VHD 3-D videodiscs, and have had a lot of conversations of botched video releases where the audio has been altered.

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Before I forget and speaking of Disclord, I want to mention the Sensurround DVDs, as this sort of thing belong in this thread, being that the original JP mix is a bass lovers delight.

When Universal released the handful of Sensurround titles from the 1970's, Universal released them in Dolby 1.1 (mono with LFE track). The results were less than stellar. I heard Battlestar Galactica in Sensurround during its original theatrical run , and the DVD's LFE track by comparison is certainly lacking. It was Ty who realized Universal had not applied the needed DBX NR to the original Sensurround tracks, so he manually decoded them himself with reportedly stellar results. I don't have access to a DBX type II decoder, but when I imported the AC3 track into my editor and did a significant raise on the LFE, it then sounded a lot better. This also applies to Sensurround encoded DVDs of Midway and Rollarcoster. And what is supposed to be the original 3.1 Sensurround secondary audio track on the Earthquake DVD is a joke. Whatever that secondary 3.1 track is on the Earthquake disc, it isn't true 3 track stereo, nor is it the original sensurround track. Stick with the 5.1 remix for Earthquake and call it a day.

Battlestar Galactica also offered optional directional steering for the low bass, which I can personally attest to working wonderfully. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensurround Sadly, I don't see anyone finding a Sensurround Mod-III type decoder and decoding this track for directional steering anytime soon.
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But back to Jurassic Park: A friend locally had owned the DTS laserdisc which sounded amazing. The 1st DTS DVD release of JP had a track that sounded almost identical to the Dolby Digital DVD version, and those listeners who compared it to the DTS laserdisc were (rightfully) having a hissy fit. Universal didn't know what to do, so they inquired with DTS and "requested the mix used for the laserdisc", and DTS supposedly complied. As soon as the limited edition DTS DVD (silent) repress was available, I did my exchange. I don't know if the DTS DVD repress is 100% accurate to the DTS LD (or the DTS theatrical mix), but the bass on that mix is substantially better than both the previous DTS DVD release and the Dolby Digital DVD release. I would love to be able to compare it to this new remuxing effort, if the file is still available somewhere. If anyone has leads or suggestions, please feel free to PM me!

I do remember there were a few DTS variations of the classic first spinning logos intro. I have a DTS trailer disc issued by WSR which has that, as well as a few of the DTS demo discs. I would have to check to see if I have both variations of that first intro. Oddly, my DTS DVD repress of JP uses the Piano DTS trailer instead.