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Re: [ARSCLIST] DVD audio level



i think some of those boxed old material re-releases just had no QC going on. they just don't care, or if it got out wrong, then they aren't going to fix it.

theatrical releases seem to follow the correct guidelines for preservation of dynamics (-20dBFS = 0VU reference, dialog properly done). a calibrated playback system could, might, maybe, give you proper theatre reproduction on such a disk.

however, there's no such standard for non-theatrical releases (such as surround concert disks). so they are big, just like the concert itself.

nor is there any standard for the special features, which are often authored by another company, or special features inserted at the last moment, produced by someone else. .... and there's no final overview (on many disks) of comparative audio levels between the main feature and the bonus craps.

i mean, tracks.

a few people do this, who really want a great product, and give a mastering engineer a chance to make sure all the pieces (even the loop music for menus) is all properly done. for sure, there is VAST amounts more Quality Check and punchlist work to do on this new media, and most people fail at it.

one big caveat: most DVD players have built-in dynamic compression. most SONY players have it default to "normal" which is not normal at all; after a near debacle after a client reviewed a Reference copy, it was found (after i insisted there was something Fishy About the Player) that the "normal" setting was hardly that; instead they needed to select "wide" range, which was actually unaltered playback dynamics... although it was never stated so in the manual at all. weirdly, this only affected the discrete analog outputs and not the digital out (makes no sense, eh).


-- w/best regards, seva mastering engineer http://www.soundcurrent.com


|| | | | | | | | Things are not what they seem to be; nor are they otherwise. -- Lankavatara Sutra


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