STAR WARS special Edition VHS WS audio problem (1 Viewer)

[Robert_Huie]

I would like to know if anyone else has had a loss of rear left and right surround sound on the SW ANH VHS widescreen edition. Mine has this problem and I was looking so forward to getting rid of it in favor of the dvd version but after hearing the recent issues I've got second thoughts now. I still have my star wars letterbox edition which is still my treasured item in my collection since it was the release prior to special edition (which docs not exhibit the above surround sound issue)

 

[Kai Zas]

Eh... Sound IS important. But have you seen the cleaned up video transfer on these dvds? And to be honest, the set isn't all that expensive. If something turns out to be broken, I'm sure Lucas will have some kind of callback program.

Didn't they call this the Archival Edition. You're not supposed to watch it, you're supposed to give it the best spot in your collection.

 

[jeff peterson]

Check The Digital Bits for information about this "error" and Lucasfilms response

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

To me, it is obvious that this is a mixing error and Lucasfilm doesn't have the guts to own up to it. The score in the 5.1 mix is correct in Empire and Jedi but A New Hope is different, ie. wrong. They cocked up and NO ONE noticed. But the hardcore audiophiles out there noticed.

It was inevetable that these DVDs would be scrutinized like no DVD ever before and I just knew that someone would find a notable, genuine error. And they have.

Recall the biggest selling DVD product ever? Hundreds of thousands (millions worldwide?) of copies returned in the mail? Not likely. I'm sure certain people at Lucasfilm/Skywalker Sound are kicking themselves and wondering what to do.

At least the 2.0 is correct.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Reading is obviously a lost art. Robert_Huie explicitly asked a question about the VHS widescreen version of ANH. (If he'd asked about the DVDs, the thread would have been closed.) So what does he get? Additional diatribes about the new DVDs.

If you have nothing to say about the VHS widescreen release of ANH, please move along.

M.

 

[JonZ]

I had the WS VHS version on last night to show my brother some of the changes that were made(I was too lazy to hook up the LD player).Could the sound problems be becuase of tape degradation?

My tapes are in pretty good shape and I didnt notice any problems(to clerify I have the box set with Vaders fave on it. The indivual boxes are the same covers and the THX Faces covers)

Edited by moderator to delete DVD discussion. DO NOT REPOST.

 

[Robert_Huie]

My tapes were like that the day I bought it, it's as if surround sound wasn't encoded because the rear speakers don't make a single sound throughout the movie. I'm just puzzled how this happened as the other 2 tapes were fine. since so far no one has commented encountering the same problem I'll assume my tape is just cursed =) Oh well, I enjoyed my non-special edition VHS more anyways

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Silly question, but you are playing them on a Hi-Fi VCR and you have that VCR set up to output the Hi-Fi track, right? Tapes also have a linear track which is a monophonic track and would result in the lack of rear channels. It would also give you tremendous amounts of hiss and horrible fidelity and wouldn't even produce sound from the left and right speakers.

Failing that, are you sure your receiver is set to decode surround sound from the tape? Sometimes a receiver needs to be told what format to play it back in depending on the input. Maybe you have it set up right now in stereo mode or Dolby 3 channel mode.

Neil

 

[Brendon]

Whilst possibly not addressing the original issue, I did take the liberty of playing my pre-SE THX PAL WS tapes through my system a whlie back.

The sound, given that it was coming off VHS, was pretty good. Back when I had a Pro Logic only amplifier, I was always more than pleased with the surround sound.

Playing it back again recently on via my current receiver (Pro Logic and PLII with and without THX post processing) was still pretty impressive - the THX tapes always came damned near top soundwise on the format.

(Best ever sound on VHS went to Raiders - the bar shoot out scene via Pro Logic was a revalation!)

Pro Logic II yielded the best results, although a more puritan approach would be to use vanilla Pro Logic to decode the tracks as this would be closer to the original intent.

As far as your problem goes, are you definately outputing the stereo signal to your setup ? If so, does the video have any kind of audio "improvement" or pseudo-surround processing engaged ?

Do any of your other Dolby Surround encoded VHS' exhibit the same problem ? EDIT: Just noticed that you mention the "other 2 tapes being fine". Apologies. Do you know anyone else with a VHS copy of ANH who could let you test it out on your system ?

Brendon