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first foray into HT...

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Tom Schuman

Hi board,

My modest foray into HT has yielded a decent system (see system page), and overall I'm blown away by the sound of DTS and Dolby HD, even with the cheapest Denon receiver that has the capability, and an entry line Pana. BluRay.

Dolby PLII sounds dull and (yes) compressed in comparison.

Still, the decisions of the mastering engineers and the directors about how to mix dialogue are the most important for the overall enjoyment of a film. Even with a decently-calibrated system, in general effects and music are mastered WAY louder than dialogue on most films, which is extremely annoying. For kicks, I watched Batman Begins and found the dialogue to be almost incomprehensible and mixed way down from the sound effects! Had to keep reaching for the volume control. Yuck.

A nice movie like 'Juno' or something harmless like 'Our Planet' with DTS Master /Dolby HD is just great though. Now this is home theater! And that's on a 42" Panny plasma without full resolution.

Follow Ups:

compression - Joe Murphy Jr 14:32:15 10/19/09 (2)
Dolby Pro-Logic II sounds compressed ? Are you talking about a PLII soundtrack that's sometimes included on a DVD or the PLII format itself? On a DVD, the soundtrack is indeed compressed to usually about 192kb/s (basically 2-channel Dolby Digital) and sounds pretty lifeless. However, the PLII format itself was originally made to expand 2 channels of uncompressed audio to 5.1 channels of uncompressed audio for non-discrete surround sound and, at least to my ears, sounds worlds better than Dolby Digital 5.1 despite not being discrete.
- I did mean DD 5.1, you're right. nt - Tom Schuman 04:59:26 10/20/09 (0)
  nt
- I'm no fan of DD 5.1 but DTS can be ok - John C. - Aussie 18:34:07 10/19/09 (0)
  I really hate the compression in DD 5.1 on music DVDs. DTS is bearable, but only just.
  
  But ok on movies and Prologic can be pretty effective too.
  
  But the top of the heap is the audio on the new Blu Ray discs, particulatly opera, ballet etc. Superb.
  
  John
  Sadly (or is it happily?) an incurable audio-video nutter with an indecent number of toys. Classical music forever!!!!

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