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Topic: CONAN films now in stereo!

Claude S. Ayakawa
Film God

Posts: 2738
From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 08-03-2011 11:02 PM

After all these years since the movies were were released to theatres in the United States, both CONAN THE BABARIAN and CONAN THE DESTROYER can now be heard in full 5.1 stereo on Blu Ray discs for the first time. The movies previously were only available in mono on tapes, laserdiscs and DVDs in this country. THe BDs were released yesterday and I spent some time last night going over both of the discs and found the stereo sound and picture quality are excellent. I knew CONAN THE BARBARIAN would sound great in Stereo because it did even in the original mono mix. Because the music was originally recorded in stereo and there were individual foley material for the sound effects, it was not too difficult for Universal to create a stereo track for the movie. Listening to the stereo last night of CONAN THE BARBARIAN, the mix sounded like any other current movies that were released in stereo. The picture quality of CONAN THE DESTROYER is fantastic but the sound is not as strong as CTB in my opinion but it is still a great improvement over the original mono sound. CTD on DVD was not 16X9 enhanced but it is on the Blu-Ray and seeing the movie properly presented in that format makes all the difference in the world as far as picture quality is concerned.

-Claude

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Chris Slycord
Film God

Posts: 2986
From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 08-04-2011 09:03 AM

5.1 isn't stereo btw.

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Claude S. Ayakawa
Film God

Posts: 2738
From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 08-04-2011 01:46 PM

I know that, smarty pants!

-Claude

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 08-04-2011 05:13 PM

quote: Chris Slycord
5.1 isn't stereo btw.

"Stereo," in the context of motion picture sound, is two or more channels. Therefore, I'd say it is acceptable to consider "5.1" a form of stereo sound.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 08-04-2011 05:52 PM

Agreed. I did research into this when I saw the DOLBY STEREO DIGITAL logo back in the ancient days of yore. I thought Dolby was just being stupid by saying that the print had digital and stereo on it (like anyone in the audience would care if the digital print also had a stereo track). Lo and behold stereo basically means "multichannel".

From Dictionary.com:

quote:
a combining form borrowed from Greek, where it meant “solid”, used with reference to hardness, solidity, three-dimensionality in the formation of compound words: stereochemistry; stereogram; stereoscope.

Look up STEREOPHONIC and you get:

quote:
pertaining to a system of sound recording or reproduction using two or more separate channels to produce a more realistic effect by blah blah blah...

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 08-04-2011 05:56 PM

While the term "stereo" means two or more discrete channels of audio in the mix, the word "stereo" still has a connotation of being 2 channels and nothing more.

Dolby did marketing research and ran focus groups regarding the term. They found out the same thing: most people think stereo means 2 channel audio. So Dolby dropped the "stereo" term from the Dolby audio formats that used it in 1995.

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Mike Heenan
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1896
From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 08-04-2011 06:19 PM

Getting this back on track, it's a shame universal didn't include the extras from the foreign DVD release of Destroyer, there's some cool things there.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 08-04-2011 06:47 PM

in 1982 and '84 respectively of each "Arnie/Conan" release, the prints I ran in a mono house did have the "Dolby A" encoded stereo tracks ... and then is when we would have to boost the fader up since these early tracks were processed with a lot lower output than normal mono tracks.

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 08-04-2011 07:15 PM

quote: Bobby Henderson
While the term "stereo" means two or more discrete channels of audio in the mix, the word "stereo" still has a connotation of being 2 channels and nothing more. Dolby did marketing research and ran focus groups regarding the term. They found out the same thing: most people think stereo means 2 channel audio. So Dolby dropped the "stereo" term from the Dolby audio formats that used it in 1995.

Yes, but I think Dolby (the company) created that perception in the first place when "Dolby Surround" processors hit the consumer market.

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Mike Heenan
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1896
From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 08-04-2011 11:07 PM

STereo Conan the Barbarian prints? Those must be rare. I've handled 5 of them and all were mono. IIRC my Destroyer print is mono as well, I'd have to check.

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Geoff Jones
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 579
From: Broomfield, CO, USA
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 08-08-2011 10:46 PM

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents

There appears to be an audio problem with Universal's new Conan the Barbarian Blu-ray. Essentially, the film's "remastered" 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack is missing several pieces of choral music in Basil Poledouris' score and select instruments are apparently inaudible in the mix.

It also appears there may be occasionally inaudible sound effects. And the disc doesn't include the original mono mix, so you've no other option.

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Jonathan Goeldner
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1360
From: Washington, District of Columbia
Registered: Jun 2008

posted 08-12-2011 07:15 PM

^ well that sucks, tampering with Basil Poledouris' score is a big NO-NO in my book.

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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 08-12-2011 09:29 PM

Every Conan The Barbarian and Conan The Destroyer print I've ever handled has been mono.

There's NO excuse for the original mono mix NOT to be included on a Blu Ray release.

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Ron Funderburg
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 814
From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA
Registered: Nov 2007

posted 08-18-2011 11:19 AM

When quadraphonic first came out it was called quadra-stereo and quadraphonic they dropped the stereo just like dobly digital

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