Just how real is home cinema anyway?
paul packer
popular I was one of those who was always trying to play TV sound
through his stereo to get better sound. When HT came along I welcomed
it as an enlightened entertainment breakthrough. Yet now I'm not so
sure. The sound I'm hearing from most home cinemas just isn't what I
had in mind all those years ago. What I was after was increased
realism, yet what I'm hearing these days is the antithesis of realism.
I go into shops where HT is being demonstrated and the sounds I hear
are so laughably exaggerated I can't relate them to real life at all.
Not just action scenes, though God knows they're laughable enough.
Even ordinary, everyday sounsd are blown out of all proportion.
Someone slams a door and your hair blows back. Someone starts a 4
wheel drive and the floor shakes. The slightest action is cause for
sub-woofers to start rumbling like long dormant volcanoes. The other
day I walked past a shop demoing HT and paused a moment to compare the
sounds from the shop on the one side and the ordinary street sounds on
the other. Needless to say I could find no point of comparison: the
HT sounds were just overblown, fake, thumping nonsense. Whatever
happened to the notion of realism? Whaever happened to proportion, for
that matter? I don't own a HT, and frankly I won't be considering one
until the industry adopts a more adult philosophy of more than just
effect for effect's sake.
David O'Selznick
Seriously, settings in shops are always overblown. When you get one home
you can adjust the settings to your heart's content.
I was in DIck Smiths last Saturday and they had a Madonna DVD on with the
sub-woofer turned up to full. You could hear the thing throbbing across the
street... It was actually painful to listen to when in the home theatre
section. I got some guy to come in and adjust it down but you could tell
I'd spoiled his fun...
The speaker cone (forward facing and they'd removed the grill) was
parctically confetti so you could tell it was regular practice.
"paul packer" <pac...@terrigal.net.au> wrote in message
news:3c47ef4a...@news.terrigal.net.au...
Miro
hand top end amp for left and right is much better value than a 5.1
flagship.
One little trick that has been done though is to use speaker B left and
right at the rear of the room. Surprisingly 2.0 duplicated is almost as good
as 5.1 sound effects, but much more acceptable to the ear and easier to
balance with regard to tone and pitch.
I have heard the same thing as that stated in your post from others in the
audio field.
JohnP
" Miro" <.@.> wrote in message
news:3c47f9d3$0$21468$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au...
> Not only are the sounds average but the amps dont cut it either. A second
> hand top end amp for left and right is much better value than a 5.1
> flagship.
What exactly are you suggesting? Stereo is better than Digital Surround 5.1
not even THX can achieve that miracle 8-)
> One little trick that has been done though is to use speaker B left and
> right at the rear of the room.
Why? Who wants the front fields coming from the rear as well!
>Surprisingly 2.0 duplicated is almost as good
> as 5.1 sound effects,
cough<bullshit>cough. Not by a long shot
> but much more acceptable to the ear and easier to
> balance with regard to tone and pitch.
maybe for audio recordings but not for multi streamed audio used for movies.
Remember the Stereo channel here is at best a compromise unless the original
was in stereo.
> I have heard the same thing as that stated in your post from others in the
> audio field.
Please you simply must list them all. I'm compiling a list of those I never
wish to deal with 8-)
Miro
never
> wish to deal with 8-)
>
>
For your faith and devotion, you will go straight to cinema heaven in your
afterlife, whereupon you will find fire, smoke and torment, when you realise
that the angels, whose sweet tunes, are not using the sound processing
abortion that is usually sold.
Meridian on the other hand offers some hope !
TT
angels you're pretty high ;-))
<Snip: Surprisingly 2.0 duplicated is almost as good as 5.1 sound effects>
A+B channel stereo = DD5.1 Ha Ha Ha Ha Haaaaaa! That really is good shit.
TT :o}
" Miro" <.@.> wrote in message
news:3c48aef1$0$23901$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au...
Miro
>
> TT :o}
Since when does 6 channels of crap sound better than 2 channels of
perfection.
Gordon
all processed ie synthetic anyway. Even in the days of good old stereo very
few recordings were made with just a crossed pair of mics.
I remmember when I started selling hi-fi their were still a few people
around who thought "this new fangled stereo thing was just a gimmick" and
Quad actually still sold their electrostatics singly or in pairs .
I find a good dts dvd to be very entertaining however in terms of the spine
tingleing sensation of being there good old stereo wins every time .
Does this make me a new foggy :)
Gordon
AudioEnz
pac...@terrigal.net.au wrote on 18/01/2002 10:48 PM:
> Here's one to ponder---just how real is home cinema? Before it became
> popular I was one of those who was always trying to play TV sound
> through his stereo to get better sound.
Yep, me too. Sounded much better.
> When HT came along I welcomed
> it as an enlightened entertainment breakthrough. Yet now I'm not so
> sure. The sound I'm hearing from most home cinemas just isn't what I
> had in mind all those years ago. What I was after was increased
> realism, yet what I'm hearing these days is the antithesis of realism.
Yep.
> I go into shops where HT is being demonstrated and the sounds I hear
> are so laughably exaggerated I can't relate them to real life at all.
> Not just action scenes, though God knows they're laughable enough.
> Even ordinary, everyday sounsd are blown out of all proportion.
> Someone slams a door and your hair blows back. Someone starts a 4
> wheel drive and the floor shakes. The slightest action is cause for
> sub-woofers to start rumbling like long dormant volcanoes.
This is the "bigger better faster more" approach to life, also seen (heard)
in the approach boy racers take with their car hi-fis.
> Whatever
> happened to the notion of realism? Whaever happened to proportion, for
> that matter?
It's that "bigger better faster more" approach again. The stores try to
knock you over the head with HT because everyone's so blasé about everything
these days.
Ever seen a HT demonstration using a quiet scene that puts you *within* an
acoustic? There's plenty of such scenes in movies, but because they can
sound to "real" and "natural" many potential buyers fail to see this as a
good demonstration (ie, they don't spend). That's why the lobby scene in The
Matrix is used so often - lots of bangs and crashes.
> I don't own a HT, and frankly I won't be considering one
> until the industry adopts a more adult philosophy of more than just
> effect for effect's sake.
The HT equipment industry is a bit like the music industry - it's hard to
find an adult attitude in either.
That said, there's equipment that will produce more natural sounds from home
theatre and there are plenty of movies that benefit from this sort of
equipment. HT does not have to be all zing and boom. Your HT can be as
subtle and natural as you want it.
[Movie soundtracks are manufactured of course, as are virtually all music
albums. But there are plenty of movie soundtracks that have sounds that
sound real, if the equipment will reproduce them as such.]
Michael Jones
Editor, AudioEnz
--------------------
New Zealand's online hi-fi and home theatre resource
http://www.audioenz.co.nz
Miro
> [Movie soundtracks are manufactured of course, as are virtually all music
> albums. But there are plenty of movie soundtracks that have sounds that
> sound real, if the equipment will reproduce them as such.]
Stick it in the blender and then try to put it all back together again.
TT
Oh dear, we are few snaggers short of a barbie aren't we?
" Miro" <.@.> wrote in message
news:3c48db23$0$23896$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au...
Andrew Reilly
Is this thread a content question or an equipment question?
--
Andrew Reilly
TT
concerned with Miro's removal from reality ;-))
TT
"Andrew Reilly" <and...@gurney.reilly.home> wrote in message
news:tO828.551$cS1....@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
John Doe
scaring your mother - we all like it that's why we have it. :-)
Now the real truth,
I hope your experience in stores involved more than just the 15 year old
junior at large department stores who last week was flogging toasters in
another department. I found some department stores to be quite disturbing
at their lack of knowledge and inability to understand what I required or
maybe it was just bad luck.
Now not only that and here comes the important bit... big noises sound
separation in a lot of cases will sell audio equipment. As long as its
cheap and it makes a lot of noise then they are going to sell units, the
large chains sole purpose.
The skill in the salesman is being able to see what you want without
subjecting you to a sound you are not interested in which could blow the
deal for him right from the start. The specialised dealer with quality
staff
I am sure if you find the right salesman/engineer and explain your concerns
then I am sure he/she can either help you out.
BTW I have actually heard this complaint before.
Cheers
Peter
John
"paul packer" <pac...@terrigal.net.au> wrote in message
news:3c47ef4a...@news.terrigal.net.au...
Trevor S
news:0%828.1$%t.1...@vicpull1.telstra.net...
> Andrew the sensible discussion appears in aus.dvd.
<snip>
Now THAT must be a first :)
Trevor S
paul packer
<bpr...@overflow.NOSPAMnet.au> wrote:
>
>"paul packer" <pac...@terrigal.net.au> wrote in message
>
>> On Sat, 19 Jan 2002 16:22:31 +1300, AudioEnz <in...@audioenz.co.nz>
>> wrote:
>
>> >Michael Jones
>> >Editor, AudioEnz
>
>> Thanks for such a thoughtful reply. Would that there were more.
>
>It would've been a nice idea if you were a little bit more thoughtful and
>deleted the unnecessary text when you replied, rather than quote the
>entirety of the post, only to put a one line reply right down the very
>bottom of it. :(((
Humblest of apologies. Please...please, I beg you, forgive me....