Master and Commander: what's with the audio?

Has anyone else been annoyed by the audio choices on the recent Blu-ray release of Master and Commander? This is not only one of my favorite films to watch, but with its truly astounding sound mix, also one of my favorites to listen to. I couldn't tell you the number of times I've used my standard DVD to demonstrate to friends just how incredible a home theatre screening can be.

Well, as soon as it came out a my local video store, I picked up a copy of the Blu-ray edition. I suppose I should have read the specs more closely before plunking down my money because the 5:1 English track is only available in DTS HD, if one doesn't have the equipment to play this format, and you happen to speak English, your left with either PCM audio or nothing. What makes it worse is the fact that the French and Spanish speaking fans do have a standard Dolby Digital track at their disposal. What was Fox thinking?

My Warner Blu-ray titles give the consumer an option. Their Blu-rays feature a lossless 5.1 track as well as the standard Dolby Digital. With Warners, everyone's happy - even me. Mind you, I did end up watching Master and Commander in French with English subtitles accompanied by a 5:1 Dolby Digital soundtrack. The English PCM version just didn't do the trick.

Re: Master and Commander: what's with the audio?

Your receiver doesn't decode standard DTS 5.1? If it does then the DTS 5.1 lossy track is automatically extracted from the DTS HD stream. Your equipment may not be able to play the lossless DTS HD MA track, but you still might be able to listen to the 1500 kb/s lossy core.

Re: Master and Commander: what's with the audio?

I was caught off guard also when I inserted my new blu-ray copy of "The Usual Suspects" and discovered that not all blu-ray discs have DD soundtracks. However, instead of griping about it, I viewed it as an opportunity to upgrade from my obsolete Pioneer VSX-07TX receiver to something more modern.

Re: Master and Commander: what's with the audio?

Quoted for truth. I watched this from Netflix last week, with the audio from a receiver that's almost seven years old. The "lossy" DTS sounded fantastic. I plan to upgrade the receiver soon, but haven't had any problems with any DTS-HD tracks so far.

Re: Master and Commander: what's with the audio?

There is no PCM audio track on Fox titles.

Re: Master and Commander: what's with the audio?

There are folks who wouldn't be able to play M & C in Ingles. My brother is stille using a Pioneer VSX-99 from 1995 that has no DTS, just AC-3. He knows he needs an upgrade but has kids in college and always puts it off....

The core audio isn't that far behind the DTS Master anyway IMO. It's quite good. I'm kind'a bummed out over the DTS Master on the disc because it out'ed my Onkyo 805 reciever as needing a firmware upgrade. I got the digital noise blast at about 17:20 . It was the only one.

Now, my brother would have to hook up the player's analog pair to get English audio...I know he no hablar Espanol and sure don't poly voux nothin'. He likes this film too. Next time we talk I'll ask him if he got a new reciever....proably no, he buy it when I was visiting so I'd hook it up! I'd bet. ....'an ask if he bought this disc. Proably he has not because if he did, I'd of proably gotten a phone call askin' what the hell do I do about this audio....?

Yeah, there's always analog out's.....

Re: Master and Commander: what's with the audio?

Jon, what player are you using?

Re: Master and Commander: what's with the audio?

Just repeating Edwin and Jeff's puzzlement here. First of all, I'm assuming your using an optical or coax SPDIF connection from your player to your receiver. In that case your player can send the DTS core (which it does automatically). And as Jeff mentioned, there is no such thing as PCM audio on Fox titles. They are all DTS-HD: Master Audio.

Re: Master and Commander: what's with the audio?

I have the Samsung BD-P1200. When I go into the player's menu and select the PCM option I get 2 channel sound which comes through as Pro Logic on my amplifier which is an old Kenwood VR-209. It's OK, but it doesn't have the 2 surround channels or the punch that the French and Spanish Dolby Digital tracks do.

Re: Master and Commander: what's with the audio?

We need a little more info.

1) What type of connection are you using between the player and receiver? HDMI, optical/coax SPDIF, 6-channel analog, etc.

2) Why are you only selecting 2-channel PCM from the player menu?

3) What track are you selecting from the movie? M&C doesn't have a PCM track, it has a DTS-HD: Master Audio track, from which a 1.5Mbps DTS track can be extracted by either your player or receiver.

Re: Master and Commander: what's with the audio?

My Kenwood receiver is not equipped with DTS. The connection from the Blu-ray player to the receiver is optical. When I played the movie, I selected the DTS HD track since it's the only one that has English dialogue. Once I did that, all I got was silence. The only way I can only get any audio is by selecting PCM in the player's menu. The PCM setting has no further options. This setting produces 2 channels of sound which the receiver is only able to decode in Pro-Logic, 2 channel stereo and Dolby 3 stereo.

I appreciate all the help from this forum but checking through my files, I was somewhat shocked to find that I've had my Kenwood Dolby Digital receiver since 1998 – which made me realize that it's about time for an upgrade. Thanks again guys.

Re: Master and Commander: what's with the audio?

nvm

Re: Master and Commander: what's with the audio?

OK, now it all makes sense. You are using optical, which can only carry 2-channel PCM. So if it want to upgrade cheaply, you just need to get any receiver that handles DTS which shouldn't cost you much at all. If you want to spend a few bucks more you can get one of the newer HDMI receivers that handle all the new codecs. Those are coming down in price every day. Unfortunately 1998 was at the tail end of receivers that didn't have DTS decoders. By 2000, I think most everything did. Good luck on your upgrade!

Re: Master and Commander: what's with the audio?

Wow!

Heh, yeah, it's definitely time to upgrade your receiver. Since you're in the market, I'd highly suggest looking at the lower-end HDMI receivers. Here's some for at or under $300:

Amazon.com: Yamaha RX-V463BL 525 Watt 5.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver: Electronics
Amazon.com: Sony STRDG720 7.1 Audio Video Receiver - Black: Electronics
Amazon.com: Onkyo TX-SR506 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver - Black: Electronics

Check the Receivers section for more advice.