"The Haunting" DTS ES (WOW!) (Merged thread) (1 Viewer)

[Sean Moon]

The film itself is god awful. I paid a dollar to see it at the theater and was mad about it.

As for the DTS ES DVD...I bought it solely for the sound. This is the ultimate bass experience and is one of the top five soundtracks ever. I own it only for demo reasons...it is my secret weapon in case someone isnt impressed with STar Wars, U571, Fast and Furious, Saving Private Ryan, or Titan AE. Haunting is used as the show stopper!

 

[Jerome Grate]

I'll add my .02, not the best movie, but once in awhile you need a movie that you will know will put your system to the test. I got it just for that. I have to admit, I watched the 5.1 Dolby Digital version on satellite and it wasn't bad but the DTS version even with a psuedo EX set up just rocks. A must have regardless of content.

 

[Marco F]

Hi everyone,this is my first post in the forum.I purchased a Denon AVR-1803 recently.I bought the Haunting DTS-ES version to try out my new receiver in 6.1 since this movie is regarded as a reference DVD in terms of sound.Here is the problem,my Denon plays the movie in 6.1 Matrix and not 6.1 discrete.The back of the case says "Plays in discrete 6.1 channels on DTS-ES discrete 6.1 decoders.Fully compatable with DTS-ES Matrix 6.1,DTS-ES compatable,and DTS 5.1 decoders".My Gladiator DVD plays in Discrete 6.1 so I can't figure out whats happeneing here with The Haunting DVD.There is no way of switching to 6.1 Discrete manually or on auto.The back of the case in the sound format box has a picture of five speakers and one sub but has DTS-ES written beside it.Gladiator has a picture of six speakers and one sub and it plays in 6.1 discrete.Every review I have read or thread on this DVD regard it as playing in 6.1 discrete.From what I understand is 6.1 discrete and 6.1 matrix are two different things.Am I having a problem playing this movie on 6.1 discrete or is it actually suppose to play in 6.1 Matrix?.Hope I am in the right forum to ask this question.

 

[Rob Lutter]

Marco, I am 99.9% sure that this disc is discrete.

 

[Tom Blizzard]

Rob is correct.
Here's what happeneds on my Onkyo. Maybe some of this is the source of confusion.
1st: The intro stuff is multichannel (matrix)
2nd : During the FBI stuff, it goes to stereo
3rd Finally , when the movie starts, your reciever should "click" to dts "discrete" 6.1.

 

[Marco F]

My receiver doesn't jump to 6.1 discrete during the movie and stays on 6.1 matrix.Any possible solutions to correct this?.I am wondering if its my disk or the receiver thats the problem.Unless its a glitch of some sort.

 

[Justin H]

I watched it last night and my 1803 showed ES MATRIX throughout. I can't imagine its a flagging error because everything else in either matrix or discrete has been detected and played correctly.

The back of the DVD does say the following:

"Plays in discrete 6.1 channels on DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 decoders. Fully compatible with DTS-ES matrix 6.1...decoders."

Sounds like it should be a discrete mix to me. Hmmm....?

On a side note: How hot is the bass in this mix? I usually run about 5db hot and I had to jack it way down to prevent my windows from rattling out of their frames.

 

[Marco F]

The back of the box does display discrete but it runs in matrix.Sounds like false advertising..LOL.The bass hits real low in this movie.You will pop a few windows if she's cranked.I never heard anything rumble as low as this movie does.I have a Paradigm PS-1000 sub and it rumbles pretty good.Its a good sub for movies but not that great on music.I watch movies mostly anyways.Someone with a killer sub could knock the walls down with this disk.
Tom above says his changes to discrete at a certain point.I asked this question in another forum a couple people believe that this movie is discrete,but they sounded kind of uncertain.I am beginning to wonder if its the 1803 that might not be detecting it but I doubt it.My Gladiator plays in dicrete 6.1 and actually shows 6 speakers and a sub on the back of the DVD case where The Haunting shows 5 speakers and a sub on the back of the DVD case.I just bought the Lord Of The Rings Extended Edition so I'll see what it read since its in 6.1 discrete.

 

[Adam Barratt]

The Haunting DTS is DTS-ES Discrete 6.1. Without doubt, 100% sure, pinky-swear, cross my heart.
Adam

 

[CraigF]

I have this movie, and it is discrete, but I have to make sure my receiver dts is set up for 6.1/7.1 channel sound, and then I have to manually select the dts discrete mode when the disc is in, or else I just get 6.1 matrix (the dts default for the 6.1/7.1 sound setup). Can you follow what I mean? Maybe your receiver is similar??? Good luck, you should be able to force the discrete somehow if your receiver does it.
It is a very hot LFE channel, possibly the hottest out there. This is to make up for the rest of the movie (Zeta-Jones excepted)

 

[Justin H]

...oh that Theo

 

[Marco F]

I tried to manually select discrete but I couldn't find where it was or if you can with my model.I was up and down the menus a bunch of times to see if I can select discrete.Everyone knows the Denon remotes were never a friendly remote.My receiver is 6.1,but not 7.1 I'll give it another shot.I'm playing my DVD's through my Xbox system .It wouldn't even play my Lord Of The Rings Extended Edition DVD I bought today.Kept giving me the dirty disk or damaged error when inserted.Looks like I will be investing in a real DVD player Monday.

 

[Justin H]

That's a good idea Marco.

I've owned my Denon for over 3 months now and I'm practically certain that there is no way to select between matrix/discrete decoding. Has anyone stuck their ear against the 6th channel to discern if it is either matrixed or discrete?

 

[CraigF]

Hmmm, I don't even know how to select discrete with the remote on my H/K. There's a front panel button "dts" that I use that toggles modes... Similar for you?? Don't think the Xbox would be the culprit in this The Haunting case.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

Hmmm...

Some of the new Sony DTS-ES receivers have been having difficulty playing back DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 tracks in Discrete 6.1 too.

On my Outlaw Model 950 pre-amp/processor, everything has worked thus far as all DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 movies play and display as ES Discrete 6.1, and the few DTS-ES matrix discs (like Jurassic Park III) with a flag have popped into ES Matrix mode and displayed as such.

I understand it that Outlaw, as a point of reference, dealt with DTS and Dolby Labs personally in setting up the codes in the Cirrus Logic decoder chip they chose to use. Also, it contains Dolby's de-bugged DD EX-flag detection code.

Dan

 

[Marco F]

There is no way of selecting discrete on the 1803.From reading everyone's reply it seems that the 1803 is the culprit since both me and Justin have the same receivers with the same problem.Seems other receivers have this trouble also.I'm kinda bummed out about it since 6.1 discrete is what you want.When I buy another DVD with 6.1 discrete I have to pray that it will work on my receiver.The Haunting was one of the first movies to incorporate discrete 6.1 but Gladiator works on discrete and it isn't that new also.I will probably call Denon on monday and see what they tell me.I am considering returning the Denon or just sell it.This could be an odd case for The Haunting but it still sucks.

 

[Armand G]

Is 6.1 discrete indeed. I have the denon AVC-A1 SR (AVR-5803 in USA). Amp always selects the discrete track automatically. I don't think it's possible to manually select.

All my other dvd's with 6.1 discrete are automatically selected. I have:

Blade II

Rush Hour 2

The Haunting

Seven

Gladiator

LOTR EE

I you also have problems with other dvd's you should ask denon. Maybe there is a problem with the receiver.

I wish you good luck.

 

[Justin H]

Don't get too discouraged Marco. I've watched many, many movies using my 1803 and this is the only problem I've run across thus far. It has had no problem detecting the discrete track on LOTR, Gladiator, Seven, Blade, etc. It must just be a singular glitch with this disc, which doesn't worry me too badly. Do you think you could even tell the difference between the matrix and the discrete mixes? How do we know that we're not hearing the discrete mix and its just improperly displayed? I just don't want you do give up on her so quickly. It's a damn fine little unit for under $400.

If you do get a response from Denon be sure to let me know.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

I have a Pioneer VSX-45TX. In Auto detect mode, it displays DTS-ES DISC 6.1 when playing Gladiator, but not on The Haunting--just like your Denons. My receiver has 3 choices for DTS-ES/DDEX--off, auto, or on. When in on mode it matrixes a center surround channel from 5.1 sources.

I suspect this has something to do with the flagging on the disc, not our receivers.

To the best of my knowledge, very few DDEX titles are properly flagged and won't play in EX with receivers set to auto-detect, but will if EX or rear surround speaker operation is manually enabled.

I suspect that The Haunting is improperly flagged, but that it will play discrete anyway if the receiver is set to do 6.1 decoding.

 

[Marco F]

I think I will keep the receiver since its loaded for a receiver for that price range plus I got a pretty good deal on it.I think it does have to do with the flagging on the The Haunting disk.I tried Gladiator,Austin Power Goldmember and LOFT EE and they all play in Discrete.I guess The Haunting maybe does sound like it is in discrete mode even though it shows Matrix.On the other hand,I haven't listened to a Matrix mix yet so maybe I'll try one of the movies in Matrix to see if there is a difference if I can select it.I am happy with the 1803 for what it cost me.Didn't have a lot of money to spend so I was surprised what I got for that price range.Only thing is the 1803 is made in Korea.Not sure about the higher end Denons if still made in Japan.If you want to save money I guess you have to go where they are cheaper to make.Maybe I'll even email DreamWorks Pictures and see what they say.

I wanted to add that I had to exchange my copy of LOFR EE.The guy told me there are a lot of duds that don't play and a lot were returned.He seemed to be well aware of the problem.