[Released] Alien (1979) - 4K UHD Audio Syncs

[izzybell]

Decided to sync a few tracks for this movie

1. 2.0 Original Dolby Stereo Mix

Sourced from the 1999 DVD (thx @stwd4nder2), To my knowledge and according to my research this DVD has the highest quality version of this mix. Available in 16-bit 48kHz FLAC 2.0

2. 5.1 & 2.0 Sensurround Mix

Sourced from a bit-perfect capture of the THX AC-3 Laserdisc [8760-85]. There's a sync of this already on Internet Archive however the one review on the page states that the track is not properly synced so I went ahead and resynced it, Available in 16-bit 48kHz FLAC 5.1. Due to the limitations of AC-3 Laserdiscs the 2.0 PCM track has considerably higher frequency detail than the 5.1 AC-3 track, since I use Sony Vegas for my syncing it was as easy as replacing the AC-3 with the stereo track. Available in 16-bit 44.1kHz FLAC 2.0

3. 5.1 Sensurround Mix (Decoded Stereo + AC-3 LFE)

Like my T2 syncs I decided to do a highly experimental audio track for this film. Using my sync of the PCM stereo version of the Sensurround mix as a base I ran the track through foobar2000's FreeSurround plugin to decode back to a 5.1 surround track, from there I added the LFE from the discrete AC-3 5.1 and made the decoded surround channels duped mono (Edit: fixed this, I had originally thought Sensurround had a mono surround but it actually has stereo surrounds). This should be the version of this mix with the most high frequency detail. Of course using a Dolby Hardware Decoder would be much better than a software plugin but as I don't have access to said equipment this is the best I could do to execute this idea and for that it should be noted as highly experimental. Available in 16-bit 44.1kHz FLAC 5.1

Freely available to all forum members new and old

[SwatDB]

Are you sure the 1999 THX DVD's Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo beats the 1992 WS LD and are you sure the 1999 DVD 2.0 mix is not a downmix of the 1999 THX DVD's 5.1 mix?

[izzybell]

I'll be honest, I forgot about the 1992 LD until after I had already synced the DVD track. Wouldn't have mattered anyways as I don't have access to said LD. Anyways I had list of Alien mixes sent to me by a friend and they had where the mixes were available from and it listed the 1999 DVD as having the Dolby Stereo mix. I'm entirely unsure about it being downmix but I don't believe it is, and even if it was the 1999 DVD 5.1 is just an upmix of the original 4.1 so it would still be a version of the original mix.

[izzybell]

Issuing out a fix for those who requested the 2.0 Sensurround syncs. The decoded one has a bug where it's stops playing midways through the movie and the 2.0 still has a little bit of the THX logo still present in the opening. New PMs will be sent soon

[FoLLgoTT]

There's a sync of this already on Internet Archive ...

Unfortenately, this uploaded file has dynamic range compression applied. And since it has 448 kbit/s, I assume it is a re-encode (AC-3 on Laserdisc had only 384 kbit/s).
I have a rip of the Laserdisc track with claims to be bit perfect and I measured the full dynamic range on it (it is the same like the 2.0 PCM track).

Regarding the cinema mix of the cinema cut: the only track which features the full dynamic range seems to be the 20th Anniversary DVD (1999). The 5.1 track is in fact a 4.1 track, because the surround channels carry the same signal. The BD and UHD BD are dynamically compressed (2.0, 4.1 and 5.1 tracks).

The "Director's Cut" was released 2003 with a Cinema DTS track in cinema. And this track has the same dynamic range as the 1999 DVD (of course with very small deviation because of the cut). So we can assume that there was not more dynamics back 1979 (which is already very very high across all movies).


PS: I recommend everyone to use AnalyzeDynamicRange. I started to analyze tracks of all realeases manually and developed the tool for exact this purpose. We are now able to detect differences in dynamics, bass extension (high pass) and channel levels immediately. I already analyzed >400 tracks and you cannot imagine how many errors, DRC and simple level "misunderstandings" I found. I even found a DC offset in one Cinema DTS track...

[izzybell]

My sync shouldn't have any dynamic range compression, it was done by lossy -> lossless syncing so everything should be there. I was curious about syncing the 1999 DVD 5.1 so thanks for the heads up. Working a lot of other syncs at the moment so it might be a sec before I do.