Some bad news concerning the dvd release of the original "King Kong" (2 Viewers)

[Jason_Els]

I'll ditto that last question too. I'm hoping hoping they will have something with Fay in it.

I'm so saddened she won't be in the remake. That was really going to make the film for me.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Another reason this would have been wonderful if it was released on the anniversary. As planned.
However, I am willing to wait for the 'best it can be' DVD.

Thank you Fay, for being such a grand dame, in my all time favorite movie. Rest in peace & live for ever on 'celluloid'!

 

[Mark Oates]

Saturday 21st August, BBCtv in the UK transmitted a remastered edition of King Kong in tribute to Fay Wray. In comparison with the currently available R2 edition of the movie, the transmitted copy was a considerable improvement. I don't have any details about the source of this remastered edition, but the misframing of the movie was corrected, and the image was much cleaner and a lot sharper and better contrasted (but not amazingly so). The sound was transmitted 2.0 Mono rather than 1.0, so it sounded better as well.

 

[Ryan Belfast]

Does anyone know if King Kong when it comes to SE DVD will have a Dolby Digital 5.1 Track?

 

[Patrick McCart]

Does anyone know if King Kong when it comes to SE DVD will have a Dolby Digital 5.1 Track?

The 1976 film, probably.

The original... Unless you can find a reason for a 1933 film to be remixed for 5.1, I doubt it.

 

[Kevin M]

Does anyone know if King Kong when it comes to SE DVD will have a Dolby Digital 5.1 Track?

Considering that it is Warner Brothers I doubt it, 1.0 mono most likely....but that is fine with me.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Does WB do 'true' mono (one channel)?
Or, do they do the old two channel "big fat" mono thing?

 

[Jim Barg]

The only WB DVD I have in mono is The Adventures of Robin Hood and that reads as two-channel mono in both of my players. Same with the vintage shorts and trailers in the set. Granted, I don't know if this is standard practice or just my player(s) not reading single-channel mono, so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Jay Pennington]

Interesting interview with George Feltenstein here:

http://www.theonionavclub.com/featur...php?issue=4111

Kong-relevant bit:

You know it took us literally until just a couple of months ago to get a proper element on King Kong, which is like one of the ultimate, perfect DVD releases. Everybody thinks we held off because Peter Jackson is remaking the movie, but that's just a coincidence. There was an element in Europe that we wanted to get our hands on, and it took a lot of negotiation with the archive that had it. We finally got it, and the restoration is under way. People always think there's some kind of conspiracy. [Laughs.]

 

[Jim Barg]

Thanks for posting that, as it was quite good. Wonder what title GF was talking about?

 

[Eric Peterson]

That's a good quote, but it is from the Onion. I'll need to read the whole article to make sure there's not some humorous twist there.

 

[Reagan]

Ed,

The Casablanca SE is one channel mono (DD1.0).

-Reagan

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Jim & Reagan,
Thanks. The purest in me wants one channel. However, wouldn't the fidelity be superior with two channel mono, because of the additional bit rate availability?
I have my system set up to reproduce a phantom center channel from a two channel (left/right) mono signal.

 

[Damin J Toell]

I have my system set up to reproduce a phantom center channel from a two channel (left/right) mono signal.

Anyone with a Pro Logic decoder can dump a 2.0 mono track to the center channel. It shouldn't be much of an issue what track the studio puts on the disc.

DJ

 

[Kevin M]

The vast majority of WB mono tracks are presented in 1.0 mono, there are a few exceptions but my guesstimation would be that 80% of WB's mono tracks are in 1.0...at least of the DVD's that I own and have rented.

Anyone with a Pro Logic decoder can dump a 2.0 mono track to the center channel. It shouldn't be much of an issue what track the studio puts on the disc.

The reverse is also true, you can turn off Dolby processing and send a 1.0 signal to the two main front speakers on many receivers and processors.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

That's a good quote, but it is from the Onion. I'll need to read the whole article to make sure there's not some humorous twist there.

It was from The Onion AV Club, which is legitimate.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Thanks Kevin.
Just because thing look better on paper, does not mean they will be better in real applications.
Take the NCAA's for instance!!!
I prefer not too use DPL (DPLII/x, are something else altogether). Too my ears, it muffles the dynamics.

 

[Kevin M]

Just because thing look better on paper, does not mean they will be better in real applications.

Um, okay. I wasn't really saying that one was better than the other but the answer to your first question was that since they both use (for the most part) the same bit rate then, no, you probably won't hear any sonic advantage or disadvantage between a 2.0 compared to a 1.0 mono DD track & if you dislike the sound of mono through the center speaker then you can simply shut off the processing (on most receivers and processers) and send the 1.0 channel to the two main speakers.

That's all I was saying.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Right Kevin!

On the average they both run at 192kbps (although 96kbps 1.0 mono is used from time to time however it is comparatively rare, in my experience at least. I've read that Destination Moon uses 256kbps!) and the file size between a 2.0 & 1.0 DD file is pretty much the same on many of the dvd's I have looked at on the old PC, in fact some 2.0 stereo channels actually had lower file sizes than a 1.0 mono track. It depends on the person at the mixing controls it seems.

Got it.;-)

 

[Kevin M]

Just to quote myself:

if you dislike the sound of mono through the center speaker then you can simply shut off the processing (on most receivers and processers) and send the 1.0 channel to the two main speakers.

:did you know some Criterion cases/inserts actually give this bit of advice concerning 1.0 tracks.....then again some of their mono tracks are actually 1.1 so you might not want to shut off the processing!

Now as far as King Kong using 1.0 original or a 5.1 remix....I'll take the 1.0 track all the same, thank you.