Releases with theatrical surround-sound?

[deblock]

Hi, I was wondering which releases have original theatrical surround-sound audio? thanks

[spoRv]

I bet almost all laserdisc releases - including also the ones with DTS and AC-3 tracks. At least, according to many, and the fact it costed a lot less to put the cinema track "as is" on disc, instead of remix it - a thing very important at the time, when laserdisc was just a niche format...

[deblock]

Are there any films made and released after the year 2000 that have very different Dolby and DTS tracks?

Do any DVD/Blu-ray Alien releases have the 70mm 6-track? thanks

[SpaceBlackKnight]

Most 5.1/7.1 and onward tracks for 2000s films and current on DVD/BD aren't always the theatrical ones, though some (mainly lesser films) have completely untouched that sound way better than it should for a DVD. Usually, these are separate near field mixes optimized and made for home theaters that can have drastic differences, commonly ranging from volume levels to alternate lines/music/FX. A couple DVD and BD/UHD releases do advertise the original multi track, Dolby, and/or DTS theatrical mix (or very close to it) in addition to the remixes, sometimes overlooked and insisted upon by the director or soundtrack engineer as with the Criterion DVD of Se7en.

If you are referring to releases that were in Dolby Stereo or the royalty free "Ultra Stereo" theatrically (both with 4.0 channel Surround configurations), many DVDs or BDs that have an English/original language track in Dolby Surround 192kbs are usually that original mix or pretty close to it, lossy compression aside. For the 70mm Alien mix, you may want a look at this thread: https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Dolby-...y/id/13986

Many early DVD releases from the likes of CTHV/Sony, Warner, Fox, along with Disney, Paramount, and Universal to an extent, were based on the same masters used for the later Laserdisc releases put out around the same time. Therefore many of them have the same DD, DS, DD 4.0, and/or DD 5.1 tracks with lossy bitrate differences, but generally sounding the same as their LD counterparts. Some early Universal titles and the Fox DTS DVD of Predator have a 1536kbs DTS 5.1 track, likely the same track and master used on the rarer DTS laserdiscs, as opposed to the 768kbs form of DTS that came later with SE DVDs. Also keep in mind that the 1st non-anamorphic Universal DVD of Vertigo uses the same master as the 1990s DTS Laserdisc and apparently has the theatrical re-release DTS 5.1 mix in a DD 448kbs container. However, that mix is a problematic revisionist job and definitely NOT the original, which was mono and started appearing on the Remastered anamorphic DVD featured in the Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection set.

It wasn't until when the format got insanely popular a few years in, that several studios decided to mostly forgo original mixes and focus more on multi channel "home theater" remixes to enhance sales. Most of these are near field mixes that don't stay entirely true to the original and have various other issues that are another big 'ol can of worms for another discussion. Fox has several DVD and BD titles, mainly 1950s Cinemascope productions, a few 70s/80s/90s flicks, and some MGM/UA titles, that have DD or DTS-MA 4.0 surround tracks being the multi-channel mag track or Dolby Stereo for later films usually untouched, but in descrete form as opposed to being matrixed into 2.0.

Keep in mind that several 1940s-80s films that were originally mixed in mono also have DD "Stereo" or "Surround" tracks on DVD releases, but aside a few cases where some 50s and 70s films had both 4/6 track and mono mixes made theatrically with one or both usually presented on the DVD/BD release in question, these are almost always mediocre "stereoitized upmixes" from a mono source.

[spoRv]

As SpaceBlackKnight said, early DVD releases used both video and audio masters used for the laserdics; I think for few years, until 1999, 2000 maybe; if the track was DD 384kbps, it is reasonably sure it was from LD.

[zoidberg]

I was going to write a huge spiel but honestly can sum it up as 'it depends'. The only way to be truly sure is to compare specific tracks you are interested in. Almost always the LD audio trumps the DVD audio though, but 'it depends'.

That being said recent releases which include the theatrical far-field mix (and advertise this fact) are Criterion's The Game Blu Ray and the Nolan UHD Blus. Which is weird as AVS/blu-ray forum always warned us our speakers would explode if they played far-field mixes 

[SpaceBlackKnight]

At the normal -25db volume they all play their near field remixes 

[deblock]

Hi, thank you for the information, I'm trying to find the best audio for the films I like and didn't know about the DD 384kbps tracks likely being from older masters and thus likely to have theatrical mixes. Thanks.

[spoRv]

Hi, thank you for the information, I'm trying to find the best audio for the films I like and didn't know about the DD 384kbps tracks likely being from older masters and thus likely to have theatrical mixes. Thanks.

This should be more true for DVDs that shared the masters with laserdisc - most likely up to 2000 or even few years more - reviews that talk about eventual laserdisc master would help!