Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by rico (A) on January 05, 2007 at 08:40:42

In Reply to: "pre 1980s stereo"!!!! posted by DWPC on January 4, 2007 at 14:46:02:

I ahve been an audiophile for 51 years and ,like you, stuck with stereo and analog for a long time into the surround and then the digital eras. But surround sound for films has been with us since 1977, 30 years now, and I think it is high time that the luddites get on board and give adequately presented surround sound for both movies and music a chance.

I have done extensive A/B-ing of pure stereo material and the same material on the superb Dolby Pro Logic II Music codec (developed for Dolby Labs by famed surround guru Jim Fosgate) and I now listen to all lps, tapes, laserdiscs, FM, and stereo only DVDs in this format. it has brought new life to my entire collections. It provides exactly what hi fi/stereo buffs have been seeking for years: the gestalt of the live performance, a musicality, presense (in the good sens of that overused word), warmth (ditto) and what is for me the ultinate in music sound, timbre. It also provides a truer sense of the acoustic space of the recording venue (I know, this CANNOT be true of movie sound, which has been equalized to the limit)

As for the disctrete codecs,Dolby Digital and DTS, these add an involvment and aid in the important suspension of disbelief, just as stereo did over mono.