THX WOW! (1990) [THX-WOW]

Just arrived this morning was THX "WOW!" Laserdisc.









The first time I listened to the WOW! was around late '92 or early '93 at hi-fi home cinema shop within a few miles from me.

The set-up was Pioneer CRT rear projection 50" tv, JBL HT THX series, Harman Kardon AVP1a and some Harman THX amps and price tag was around £15 to £16 grand.

The room was about near same size as my present home cinema.

The trill of hearing/listening/feeling the WOW! at first was exciting and near to what I have felt and heard at two THX cinemas in the UK, CIC Empire Leicester square and CIC/UCI High Wycombe.




Seems strange I have been after THX gear and software for years almost 20 to 25 years.



The first few seconds of the THX Broadway sends all the levels just above 0db on the Dolby CP500.

















Opening has various levels of dialouge passages from STAR WARS trilogy Willow and Indiana Jones trilogy. What no Howard the Duck then?










Sound effects kick in from a horse in Raiders neigh to stage right and rebel forces jumping into snow trench with a lot of low end to rebel x-wings taking off and a hyper-space jump to light-speed.






Effects start to get a bit threatening with an Indiana Jones shooting first at the bad guys, the pistol sounds more like a cannon blast.





Han Solo shoots first again and blows up a tie-fighter with a KABOOM in the vast openness boundless of outer-space.











Luke Skywalker, take a shoot at tie-fighter and each explosion gets more the thrilling.






Face punches that have a bit of KICK to them is a favorite sound effect that I like. This shows the ranges of Foley effects that have been used and there strength on the sub bass extension.








I like the snow on Hoth being white as that is what snow is like. Footfalls from an AT-AT with an approaching snow-speeder battling against the mighty machines.





Yes this THX WOW! Does get a bit damn loud, but that is the whole point of the sound education demonstration disc, is to educate a listener.




Lightsabers sparkle/crackle and blaze with a quick demonstration






Luke, sweeps the lightsaber from side-to-side Left stage pan as that is where it should appear at.



Then again on right stage channel.



Lightsaber is switched on and whooshes from centre to stage right.





Speeder-bike turns around and starts firing at Skywalker.



Each of the laser-blots are deflected off into diffident directions with pinging sound.



FIRE!!



Cannon fire from a tank, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, impacts with a deep thud/jolt.







"Look out"!





Warning! THX WOW! Can make faces melt if sub bass is turned up too high!



THX sound system will have your electricity bill sky-high after the Emperor, has released some energy bolts.





Lastly some more expulsions!







KABOOOOM!



Celebration we can all now relax and wiggle our fingers in our ears. I can still hear you.







I like redheads in THX they are WOW!



Wookie, recommends THX WOW! Laserdisc.











This is where they really should have left Indiana Jones at...




SLAM WHAM as the THX Cimarron spirals/twists and bends around











THX WOW! credits.



It was playing at 16Bit PCM


THX Extras

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Disc pauses with I guess flag codes that triggers a purse and then Press Play to Continue



The chap responsible for the THX program Tomlinson Holman, "Experiment" THX or "THX 1138" (1971)

Picture


Sound

Reserved for other content

Reserved side 2

Reserved side 2 additional content

good stuff, seems like you are enjoying that THX WOW

and also the disc came how i like to pack stuff IF i have the extra foam around

Point noted on the packing the foam would be lighter than the Pizza size boxes along with the bubble wrapping.

But it is a high risk. or should I say twice now and no issues, you did send those STAR WARS laserdiscs in the same type of packing.

When it arrived this morning I knew what it was and when handed to me, I wondered if there was laserdisc in the packing due to it be so, lightweight. Well its only a single Laserdisc.

Picture I was amazed at to see it looked the same as when I first saw this Laserdisc 21 years ago. No signs of Laser rot other issues.

I wonder does the THX WOW have a good track record?

WOW was pressed by Pioneer Industrial and each disc was hand checked before being given the OK for packaging and distribution. The patented THX test patterns in the vertical interval and at the end of side 2 were constantly monitored to make sure every disc pressed had the same sound and picture quality.

Nice to know. Got a mint sealed I picked up for a good price a few years back. Also got the THX ultimate demo dvd that has the WOW demo on it aswell as a lot of the THX snipes. That cost a bit more...

I got this disc for about $23 on eBay back in October 2010. Overall, it's a very fun demo disc.

Unfourtunetly, I have one gripe about this disc. Frame stops before each segment. It's cool that they give you time to setup your system right before the content, but it makes the disc unplayable on some players. On my Magnavox CDV 474 with no remote, I am virtually stuck on the table of contents and the only thing I can do is eject the disc out. Also, there's nothing on the analog audio track making it even more unaccsessable.

I miss playing this disc. I played it a lot with my CLD-A100, but it's broken.