La femme Nikita Besson multi-mixes

[Stamper]

Hey guys, I'm trying to sort out the different french and english sound mixes for La Femme Nikita (1990).

- Original 2.0 mixes both in french and english were on the first 1997 french DVD but Pal speeded up.
- Original french 2.0 mix is on the UK Blu-ray.
- There's a unique French Dolby Digital 4.0 mix on the first Tri-Mark US DVD.
- French Blu-ray as a unique french 5.0 mix
- US Blu is of course 5.1 Dolby True HD for both mixes.

Is there any Blu ray with the english 2.0 mix, and is there any english 4.0 or 5.0 mix?

Why would there be 4.0 mixes and 5.0 mixes in the first place?

[nirbateman]

4.0 could be derived from Dolby Stereo mix, and present it in a discreet form (Since DS is basically 4 channels encoded into 2).

[Stamper]

The end credits mention the film was Dolby Stereo "spectral recording" in a few theaters.

Was that surround? Or just stereo with improved definition?

Damnit, I'm gonna have to buy all versions to own all the mixes.

[Colek]

UK StudioCanal Bluray that I own (Steelbook), only has 2.0 LPCM track. It does sound very good.

[Stamper]

Yes, the UK disc is the best so far, head to toe with the US, with the Fr being last (some DNR applied)

[zoidberg]

What we call dolby surround has always been referred to as dolby stereo in theaters. Spectral recording (SR) was a superior noise reduction system that allowed a wider frequency response and dynamic range from analogue soundtracks but was backwards compatible with older equipment.

[Stamper]

I'm not sure but are there some stereo LD mixes from other film (like Aliens or Die Hard) we uploaded here, which are actually Dolby Surround? How can we tell, unless they are re-encoded in DTS-HD MA with the DS flag?

[zoidberg]

The only way to check I guess is to playback the track through a pro-logic decoder and observe the soundfield ie effects pans from front to rear, centre channel dialogue etc.

[captainsolo]

This film is a 2 channel Dolby SR matrix film as far as I know. The best sound I've heard is my remastered letterboxed LD which is far better than the 5.1 upmix.

Most films after '77 started going to matrixed stereo and by the mid 80's practically everything but low budget films were Dolby stereo. SR came about in '89 and was really a big leap forward in terms of quality for general 35mm release audio. Later optical tracks even into the 90's still carried SR encoding and modern Dolby decoders still have SR for film presentations.

As said above you just have to check tracks and credits as there weren't flags until DVD and those were barely ever used.

Die hard is Dolby stereo so check the 35mm original mix against say for example Licence to Kill's original mix which is an early SR release. SR remained dominant until a few years after ac3 premiered.

[Stamper]

I think there used to be a list, in early issues of widescreen review, where they would list all LD soundtracks and their mixes, also citing what the cinema mix was. Not sure if this popped up here, but this could prove a great source for making sure what film soundtrack is what format.