Hi, my name is Bram, and I am a sucker. I fell for this thing hook, line, and sinker. DVD Spectacular is not really a movie. It is a series of test tones and video test patterns to align and configure for home theatre system. I knew that going in. What really sold me was this, “...the DVD Spectacular version [of the 1812 Overture] is, bar none, the most realistic and lifelike 5.1-channel recording I’ve heard to date.” Seeing that line on the back of the DVD made me drop the $16 faster than you can Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Holy hamhocks batman, A Dolby Digital 1812 Overture. I’m imagining only one thing at this point, HUGE CANNONS! I love the 1812 and the cannons have always been my favorite. I couldn’t wait to hear the whole thing in surround sound with the HUGE CANNONS that dolby digital can do.
This DVD is designed to show off the power of DVD. It is supposed to show how the Dolby Digital sound format is leaps and bounds above anything that can be produced on CD (hence the name “DVD Spectacular”).
In case you are not familiar with Dolby Digital, here is a brief synopsis. Dolby Digital, aka Dolby 5.1, uses 5 separate channels, each feeding a different speaker, to create a surround effect (front right, center, front left, back left, and back right). The “.1” is called the Low Frequency Effects channel or LFE. The LFE is limited to bass and can provide up to 4 times the sound (+6db) of the regular sound track. It is often used to augment “big” scenes, like explosions or shoot outs. Dolby Digital also requires decoding by a Dolby Digital compliant device before being amplified to each speaker.
Now that I have you enticed, lets look at the rest of the DVD.
The Video Test Patterns:
These are what you would expect. A static pattern is put on your TV screen for about 60 seconds. The test patterns allow you to properly adjust the screen for size, shape, and color. The first 2 patterns are black and white collections of straight lines, horizontal and vertical. The rest are various incarnations of color patterns (one is the stereotypically screen typically called a test pattern). There are 8 of these things. You only need 2 (number 1 for screen shape and 5 for color). I hate to call the rest window dressing, because they really don’t add anything. I guess they are there because DVDs have a lot of storage space and these don’t use much. Plus, they can’t use the video tracks for anything else, so they might as well put something on the screen.
Audio Test Patterns:
After listening to these test patterns, I though I was going to shoot myself in the head. The first “test” is to verify the speakers. Voices call out the locations of the speakers. If the location comes from proper speaker (a graphic on the screen syncs with the voices to let you know where the voice is coming from), then your speakers are attached properly. I guess this might be nice if I had no clue what I was doing, but I have already set up my system and used it. I know the speakers are in the right order and that they are all attached. The second annoying thing is that the voices speak at the same time. They start in front and gradually slide toward the back, ending in a symphony (or was that cacaphony) of “Right Front, Left Back, etc. It is kind of cool (the first time) to hear each speaker say its location, but it really isn’t useful. You can’t use this for anything but verifying your speakers are attached. “Strike 1”
The second tone is white noise. It rolls around the room, hitting each speaker (with the corresponding graphic on the TV). This does everything the previous test tone does, but isn’t as annoying and can actually be used to adjust the individual speaker levels. This mode is also fairly useless; my receiver does the same thing and it also includes the subwoofer, which this DVD does not. Most receivers I’ve seen include the same feature. “Swing and Miss!”
One set of sounds helps set the timing, this might be useful. It is a series of clicks that come every 5 seconds or so. By setting the speaker delay, these clicks are supposed to arrive at your ear at the same time. Mine seemed set right, but I’m not really sure that I could hear a millisecond difference (the resolution of the delay timer). This probably requires test equipment to do right. If I had the test equipment, I probably wouldn't need this DVD. The clicks can also be used to verify speaker polarity. Not bad, not good. “Ball.”
The rest of the sound patterns are junk. One pattern highlights the differences between Dolby Prologic and Dolby Digital. Great, but that doesn’t help me set my speakers. Since the differences are highlighted with very unpleasant sounds, I sure wouldn’t try to use these to show off my system. Another pattern “verifies speaker response”. It plays a sweep from 20Hz to 20KHz for each speaker. Yet again, it is useless. You can’t change the frequency response of your speakers. There is nothing adjustable. It even does this test for the LFE channel (the LFE, by definition, has a response of 20Hz to 120Hz...basically, you sit in silence for 30 seconds). “Big strike 3!”
Other Stuff
The best part of the DVD? The Dolby promos! When Dolby Digital first came out, these were before every movie to highlight the awesome sound of Dolby Digital. Remember the Dolby Train? How about the Helicopter in the City? Those are included, plus the “Egypt” and the “Canyon” promos. These are great. Each has great separation effects, full spectrum sound and cool computer generated graphics. They were great back then and are great now. Too bad they only last 30 seconds each. For 2 minutes, it is nice, but the promos don’t make the DVD. They do make a Dolby Digital system look really good.
What about the 1812 Overture
This is the best recording I have heard of this piece of music. The surround channels are noticeable and add to the music, providing a little bit of live color and warmth to the sound. The center channel provides beautiful depth to the choral section. Everything blends so nicely. It sounds so sweet. So, what about the HUGE CANNONS!? Not there. First off, the “cannons” sound just like tympanis...a common symphony hall trick when no cannons are available. Second off, the DVD back lies. This track is not in 5.1, it is in 5.0 sound...that means no LFE channel. The HUGE sound that I was looking for was just a whimper. The rest of the symphony overcame the “cannons”. The DVD includes a stereo version of the same track. It sounds almost as good as the Dolby Digital version. The beauty of this recording lies in the excellent recording and the addition of the center channel sound. The rear channels added a little bit, but not as much, and were not that independent of each other. Disappointment abounds!
So, what does this mean? Without an LFE and independent rear channels, the 1812 Overture might as well have been recorded in Dolby Prologic. Prologic can be encoded in a stereo signal on a CD. It would have sounded just as good. There is no reason why this had to be on a DVD. It also doesn’t show off the power of Dolby Digital. This track should have been a single, available for a few bucks, not on a DVD for $16. It is not very Spectacular.
There is a second 5.0 audio track on the DVD, Piano Barcarolle, played by Richard Rodney Bennet. It suffers from the same problem as the 1812. It sounds good, but a Prologic version would have sounded the same. It doesn’t highlight any real strengths of the Digital sound format.
Lemme Guess...you didn’t like it?
I didn’t like it. The audio tracks are a huge disappointment and the test tracks aren’t any more than I already have built into my receiver. The Dolby Promos were great, but they last 2 minutes. For 16 bucks, I can rent 5 movies that will highlight my system far better than this DVD. Basically, this DVD is for suckers. I fell for it too. Shame on me. If you want DVD spectacular get the Matrix
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