I've watched (and listened) to laserdiscs at times for two weeks straight without any dvd/blu ray viewing. When you go back to dvd/ blu you really appreciate the the ld format even more especially in the audio realm. DVD/Blu is no comparison to the rich, full non compressed sound of laserdisc.

Forget the technical stuff about bit rates and all. I'm talking about what pleases my itching ears. I'm not a blu ray basher but the audio is sometimes too "supersonic". Yeah, lostless audio but there's an artificial element to it, to me. Some DVDs sound pretty good but I always remember what drew me to laserdisc in the early days. When DVDs came out I would hear said in my (somewhat) local laserdisc store, "the audio is thin." I stand by that statement today. What do you think

I'm still partial to the DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD codecs of Blu-ray. Sorry.

TLK

I can't mess with preference. It's all good.

I still think the PCM mix on the Ghostbusters LD sounds better than the blu ray release. It sounds very more ambient on the criterion release.

I think this has more to do with the audio mixes used than the audio codes. I've never been a big fan of the idea of making 5.1 mixes of every thing. How many studios are going back to the original audio stems and making entirely new mixes? I'm not saying that it isn't done in some cases, but I doubt it's being done on every release. I had the same arguement back when DVD first came out.

That said, DTS-HD MA is going to be light-years ahead of any other audio codec, and will sound so when the proper mix is applied.

I do like LD-PCM tracks - and am always very partial to DTS soundtracks over Dolby Digital on LaserDisc or DVD. Even DTS on DVD is not as good (in my opinion) as the LaserDisc counterpart.

Hello remington,
I agree with you on DVD's sounding thin with a number of titles.

Yes' there have been exceptions to the rule at times, of which has been a great credit to the guys ''sound engineers''
DTS ES of the ''1998 THE HAUNTING'' was awsome.

MASTER & COMMANDER DTS ES the DVD box set R1 is a revelation in sound.

I cannot think of others at this time but, with Laserdisc's richness in sound, which was nearly always noticeabley more more fuller, & enveloping than the DVD counterpart's.

I also stand by this & yourself on this matter. ''for the ears do not lie''

Regards

I used to do a demo of Aliens on LD vs DVD. I'd sync them up and toggle between the audios. No question that the LD was superior. You don't realize that you are missing the feet splashing in the rain when the crew first lands on the planet on the DVD but it is supposed to be there.

Well I guess you have to distinguish between movies and musical. Movies I wouldn't know about since it's not that big of a concern to me. But as far as musical, Arcadia's - So Red the Rose. Comparing the DVD/PCM sound to the LD release. No comparison, the DVD is superior with the remastered sound
Elvis

Also I would add, any DVD/BR coming out today is almost always superior in sound to LD, on the musical side that is.

Laserdiscs at least seemed to be mastered louder than their digital counterparts.

The Arcadia laserdisc you quote only featured analog audio so it not really a fair comparison.
Also many music DVDs do not feature PCM audio. Probably the only reason that one did was it was something of a special edition. Most don't.
Most music LDs featured both analog and PCM audio so can easily match or exceed their DVDs equivalents.

Picture wise there are also not many music DVD re-issues I have seen that were better than the LD as quality was not a consideration when producing music DVDs - just value for money in terms of putting lots of content on the disc. So if you are a video collector you will weep!

Other PCM DVD releases:
ABC
Adam Ant
A-ha
Annie Lennox
B-52's (remaster in 2304 kphs sound)
Bangles
Big Country
Billy Idol
Bjork
Chris Isaak
Cyndi Lauper
David Bowie
Depeche Mode
Echo and the Bunnymen
Duran Duran
Electronic
Enigma
Enya
Eurythmics
Falco
Fixx
Frank Tovey
Fuzzbox
George Michael/Wham
Heaven 17
Human League
Japan
Laura Branigan
Limahl/Kajagoogoo
Love and Rockets
Madness
Madonna
Prince
Men at Work
Ministry
Rick Springfield
Modern Talking
Smiths
Morrissey
Mylene Farmer
New Order
Oasis
Nine Inch Nails
OMD
Pet Shop Boys
Pretenders
R.E.M.
Roxy Music
Spandau Ballet
Specials
Style Council
Talk Talk
Tears For Fears
Thomas Dolby
U2
Ultravox
Yello

Getting tired of writing them all down. These are all PCM releases on DVD with video collections/extras. Would seem your statement doesn't seem correct. Lately the DVD releases have been superb and better quality than the LD's in Picture and Sound digitally. The recent Thomas Dolby collection was a great example along with the Spandau Ballet.

As I said before, I've got all the LD's transferred digitally that I want, most were stereo sound or even analog only. I won't deny that LD has some great material available better or only in the musical category. But often I find the newer DVD releases superior in quality of my transfers, which were pretty darn good. Arcadia, Thomas Dolby, Spandau Ballet, B-52's being great examples, with remastered sound. Expect more to come, many will probably never make it, but I got em digitally stored off of LD!! But the best thing about it is that I can use the LD picture and restore the sound tracks with any remastered/cd sound tracks at my leisure.

Elvis

I counted 57 titles on that list so it is a small sample you have quoted.
I have over 5000 music laserdiscs and at least 1000 music DVDs.
If you compare a larger sample you will see PCM isn't the norm nor is good quality.

Funny, first you say it's quite rare, now it's a small sample, LOL. That was just one genre area, I could go on. I'm just talking about promo vids + some selected live tracks. Most of the desirable material off of LD for myself is in analog/stereo, not even PCM. All in all I would say my PCM DVD tracks are about even with my LD tracks and of course the DVD material not PCM dwarfs the LD material which is mostly analog/stereo, equivalent at best. I have about 500 DVD's musical in my specific tastes, of which about 150 or slightly more have PCM sound . Let alone all the high quality PCM tracks available with VJ services online. Or better yet replace the audio with LPCM sound. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

If I were a new musical video hobby hound. I would start with the cheapest sources first and work my way to LD last (chances are that a better DVD release will become available and you can skip the LD release all together). Then I would only buy, rip, sell. Try not to overpay (like most of the rare titles here on LD database are listed) but wait patiently for Ebay auctions, they will become available at reasonable prices. Buy a high quality LD player for high quality transfers, again don't overpay, keep resale value in mind. Once all done open a store and sell all the LD's/ DVD's to get your $$ back. Only loss is your time, but that's the price of fun and enjoyment.
Elvis

If you're comparing the digital track of a laserdisc to a bd/hd-dvd or even dvd then the newer format should win. If you're comparing the analog track of a laserdisc that's a completely different story but ultimately preference will come down to the audio set up and individual preference. I prefer analog in almost every case, but again that's me. I enjoy digital sound but with a direct comparison on a good system, the analog is more pleasing to my ears. I suspect it comes down to what you are use to. I was listening to music and movies in analog and it feels real to me. Younger listeners who are accustomed to digital will prefer that format I guess. I lament the fact that this exact same thing is happening with photography and film. Digital will be the only way many people will ever see images soon, and that will be the standard. In 10-20 years, film will look strange to people.

Ron

The Laura Branigan DVD you mention I believe I may have:
http://www.laurabraniganonline.com/store/prod05025.php

I am a big fan of her music so couldn't wait to get hold of that CD/DVD.
It looked to be very interesting as it featured 10 music videos.

Boy was I disappointed though when I played the DVD.
The picture quality for most of the videos was really poor.
The audio sounded like it was from VHS - really noisy and harsh - I know what it should sound like as I own all of her albums on both LP and CD.
The worst thing about it though was that the audio was not even in sync with the video on several tracks.
If this is an example of 'better DVD reissues' I think I will stick with laserdiscs.

Actually the two Laura Branigan concert LDs have yet to be re-issued on DVD. I have most of her other videos on 3M promo music LDs so could have put together a higher quality compilation myself.

Your purely into the technical angle. Like I said in the opening thread, forget all the tech talk. What SOUNDS good to you? Well, I guess these juiced up dvds sound good to you, that's great. But "better" quality on dvd? Again, that's the technical standpoint. I relate to what my ears tell me. Many dvds sound great on a good system, but the full, open, uncompressed sound of laserdisc hits my analog ears with just the right "feel."

I feel like the LD audio arguement is the same arguement for people arguing for/against bottled water. I can't tell the difference and I don't think anyone else who takes the Pepsi challenge can either

It would be hard not to tell the difference on a good system.

I never understood why people wanted DD5.1 on LD, to me it is horrible compared to LPCM despite the discrete channels; there is just no detail to my ears.

As far as the new codecs go I prefer DTS-MA.

The bottom line to me is the actual human doing the sound mix. For example I will use “Alien”; there is a scene near the beginning of the film where Ripley is talking to two other characters (forgot the names) while steam is venting. Listen to the Laserdisc and her voice is properly muted by the steam, now pop in the DVD and her voice is mixed higher by mistake, now pop in the new Blu-ray and it sounds muted again due to the venting steam like the LPCM on the LD.

Another good example is the sound of the gunshot to put down the horse on the Costner “Wyatt Earp”. On the LD it is load and piercing while on the DVD it is muted almost to the point you don’t pay any attention to it thus you miss the point of how senseless the death of the animal was (I don't have the BD yet to compare...).

I think a lot of the differences we hear are due to human error and not this codec vs. another.

Please give me some feedback on my opinion if you like...