Video Asylum

Posted by JLivermore (A) on October 17, 2003 at 07:05:41

In Reply to: 5.1ch downmixed to 2ch when played in 2ch system? posted by jealouse on September 28, 2003 at 05:47:57:

This is something that I was hoping to do - get rid of my home theater gear (less speakers). So I tried doing this, downmix 5.1 -> 2 channel using the RCA 2 channel outputs on my Sony 999ES going directly into my 2 channel sysetem.

I noticed that there was some ambient voice cues that were downmixed into the 2 channel signal which left a center channel hole in the sound. This was specifically noticable in voice tracks. It was very bizarre in my system.

My conclusion was that modern 5.1 soundtracks do not necessarily downmix perfectly to 2 channel audio. Perhaps the older 5.1 DVDs when DVD was a new media. At the time I only had a 2 channel system, and yes this worked great! Just like a HiFi VCR. But I think with today's modern DVD production process, they probably utilize the 5.1 mixing to greater extent.

I would be very curious to hear about other people's experiences with this. I may be out in left field here, but this was my conclusion. Has anyone else noticed this?