Elvis = Wow

[soGM]

Pristine video, sound wonderful
Appreciated the editing, entire experience
Get It

 

[Gui0312]

Pristine video, sound wonderful
Appreciated the editing, entire experience
Get It

Can’t wait till see it, just want it to come down a bit first

 

[Substance]

All Baz Luhrman films are excellent. Moulin Rouge! is the best one but this one was very entertaining too.

 

[Oldred]

We watched Elvis last night for the first time despite having bought it a while back now. I wasn’t quite as impressed by the sound as I had expected to be. So much so that I am now wondering if something isn’t quite right. Last week we were watching the Jack Ryan series and the sound on that was excellent and so something has either just broken/errrored or maybe the movie is just like that. The most noticeable and obvious thing is around the stage performances. We have watched those sort of things in simple 5.1 for live gigs where the crowd noise erupting around you makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. So I was expecting something special in the movie with so much control (relatively) but it was either a big opportunity missed by the Director, very deliberate (not sure why) or we have a problem to track down. Will watch something else tonight to be sure.

 

[Substance]

We watched Elvis last night for the first time despite having bought it a while back now. I wasn’t quite as impressed by the sound as I had expected to be. So much so that I am now wondering if something isn’t quite right. Last week we were watching the Jack Ryan series and the sound on that was excellent and so something has either just broken/errrored or maybe the movie is just like that. The most noticeable and obvious thing is around the stage performances. We have watched those sort of things in simple 5.1 for live gigs where the crowd noise erupting around you makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. So I was expecting something special in the movie with so much control (relatively) but it was either a big opportunity missed by the Director, very deliberate (not sure why) or we have a problem to track down. Will watch something else tonight to be sure.

This is something with Dolby Atmos. There are fundamental differences with the Dolby TrueHD (which Atmos is folded into) and DTS HD MA (DTS-X) codecs.

DTS-HD MA version is required to have a core DTS 5.1 (legacy lossy version) folded into it for backwards compatibility with older DTS decoders. This requirements causes the dynamic range to shrink in certain areas so the DTS-HD MA soundtracks are generally more consistently hotter in mastering (also more suitable for moderate listening volumes).

Dolby TrueHD container doesn’t need to include a Dolby Digital fall back option embedded into it since a separate Dolby Digital track is mandatory on the Blu-ray dic requirements. Because of this the sound engineers can opt to take full advantage of the very high dynamic range. They don’t need to worry for the quality of the embedded legacy track like in the case of DTS. Some masters have very wide dynamic range which results less than engaging results in moderate volumes. Jack Ryan is a TV show and it was probably mastered with TV audience in mind (aka TV speakers or a sound bar). Did you try watching Elvis at 0db on the volume dial? That’s the intended reference volume level.

 

[Oldred]

This is something with Dolby Atmos. There are fundamental differences with the Dolby TrueHD (which Atmos is folded into) and DTS HD MA (DTS-X) codecs.

DTS-HD MA version is required to have a core DTS 5.1 (legacy lossy version) folded into it for backwards compatibility with older DTS decoders. This requirements causes the dynamic range to shrink in certain areas so the DTS-HD MA soundtracks are generally more consistently hotter in mastering (also more suitable for moderate listening volumes).

Dolby TrueHD container doesn’t need to include a Dolby Digital fall back option embedded into it since a separate Dolby Digital track is mandatory on the Blu-ray dic requirements. Because of this the sound engineers can opt to take full advantage of the very high dynamic range. They don’t need to worry for the quality of the embedded legacy track like in the case of DTS. Some masters have very wide dynamic range which results less than engaging results in moderate volumes. Jack Ryan is a TV show and it was probably mastered with TV audience in mind (aka TV speakers or a sound bar). Did you try watching Elvis at 0db on the volume dial? That’s the intended reference volume level.

Apologies for the delay in responding.

I will be honest despite being tecnically orientated (career, life etc.) the one area that I have never quite engaged or had any interest in has been the AVtech which makes life difficult at times . My passion for the sound, visuals and the movies themselves are huge but deciphering the marketing blurb left me cold ever since the VHS/betamax/Phillips 2000 and I rely on trusted dealer translation and my ears/eyes at every new purchase. Movie wise we go for the Atmos/HDR versions and rely on the MADVR to sort the visuals and the Storm to do the rest. So I am remarkably naive when it comes to this stuff and don't have the patience to sit and get right into the detail. Long preamble but seems worth explaining.

So we watch movies in Atmos wherever available and they typically have sounded excellent. Some leverage it better than others but they have all sounded good to date. Elvis was sort of at the bottom/uninspiring level for me on the sound side. The music was great but presentation and particularly the crowd scenes disappointing. I was wondering if it was Director choice to present those scenes more as if you watching them on the TV and had deliberately flattened the sound but it would have been odd to do that. or at least in my mind a poor choice because simply making the crowd erupt around you as if you are there seems to be one of the easiest things to do with huge impact, particularly with this type of movie.

I could do with a ladybird book of AV terms/choices and TBH I really need to get deeper into what things I can do with the K itself. Its all configured/calibrated by the experts to play the best in the best way but I have no idea really about the options I have or what makes sense when. It's all my own fault and I cringe at the thought of getting my head around it. Re the general tech, its having to dig your way to the bottom of the marketing rubbish before you get to anything meaningful and then you get into the subjective stuff. it's the same with hifi.

Sorry I am digressing. Back to Elvis, it was just that other Atmos sound good but that one was surprisingly low down the batting order for us and I wondered if it was the movie/director or a local problem. We watched Heat again last night but that isn't Atmos but that sounded fine. I will dig around and see what I can find. thx

 

[Oldred]

I did finally get around to testing some other movies again and the Atmos is most definitely working in the cinema room systems - so for now I will put it down to the movie/director choices.