Fox War Classics - The Blue Max - Released May 20 (1 Viewer)

[Randy A Salas]

That 'goldish seal' would be the Blue Max.

:b

I have too many DVDs to look at...

 

[Joe Caps]

Someone earlier in this thread assured us the new DVD of Blue max IS 4.0. Sadly, I got it today and it is only 2.0 as are the new dVDs of The long Hot Summer and From the Terrace

 

[Stephen PI]

Douglas R. wrote:
Just got THE BLUE MAX and I'm pleased to confirm that it IS 4.0 with quite extensive surrounds.

Steve Pi replied:
Thanks Douglas, I have ordered "Blue Max" based on your comment. Hopefully "Bismarck" will be 4.0 also.

Douglas, when you come on a public forum and say that IS 4.0 when it ISN'T, it is unfair on the person who wants to fork out the bucks only if it is 4.0. I thought I could rely on somebody here to know when they recognise the difference on their decoder whether it is decoded two track or discrete four track, apparently not.

I also want an explanation from Fox to why they have put out several major releases in 2.0 only. "The Blue Max" is one of my favorite films and the audio is a pale shadow of how it should sound. It appears that Fox don't seem to be very concerned about this issue. Their packaging in the past has been grossly inacurrate. The quality of their transfers have been inconsistant.
I assume there is somebody working there that knows when 2.0 matrix audio was introduced and that stereo was discrete prior to that? I would appreciate a truthful explanation from Fox to tell us that the original master audio is beyond repair or is mislaid, just so that we know that they are aware that they know the differences. I think it an injustice to the consumer who has spent a lot of money on accquiring a decent 5.1 sound system and then has to play a historically inaccurate soundtrack.

 

[Douglas R]

Douglas, when you come on a public forum and say that IS 4.0 when it ISN'T, it is unfair on the person who wants to fork out the bucks only if it is 4.0. I thought I could rely on somebody here to know when they recognise the difference on their decoder whether it is decoded two track or discrete four track, apparently not.

My sincere apologies. This was down to my ignorance and misunderstanding between 2.00 surround and 4.00. I was under the impression that 2.00 surround was the same thing as 4.00 but I see now that 4.00 means three front speakers and a mono surround whilst 2.00 surround is two front speakers and a mono surround. I hope I've got it right now. Please understand that I certainly did not intend to deliberatly mislead anyone.

 

[GregK]

Hi Douglas,

To clarify a little better on this issue, Dolby Digital 4.0 means the 4 channels are delivered discretely as in no matrix decoder, hence no matrix artifacts, inter-channel bleed-through etc..
2.0 Dolby Surround, on the other hand, has had the 4 channels matrixed into 2, then the DPL decoder does it's best to decode it back to 4 channels. The sticky issue with "The Blue Max" is it originally had a discrete 4 channel mag audio track, so DD 4.0 should have been the delivery format, but it sadly was not.

 

[Stephen PI]

DouglasR wrote:
My sincere apologies.

Thankyou for your apology, Douglas.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Does anyone know if this release is anamorphic? The listing at Amazon and the DVDTalk review don't mention anything about enhanced or anamorphic, This is the 2003 Fox release.

 

[Joe Caps]

Blue Max is anamorphic.

Complaint here - Fox continually gives us films that were originally 4.0 in 2.0 mixdowns only. they can't have lost all of the originals!!


Warners does this with their scope films from the fifties also - Helen of Troy, Blood Alley, Sea Chase and Battle cry are 2.0 only.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Originally Posted by Joe Caps
Blue Max is anamorphic.

Complaint here - Fox continually gives us films that were originally 4.0 in 2.0 mixdowns only. they can't have lost all of the originals!!


Warners does this with their scope films from the fifties also - Helen of Troy, Blood Alley, Sea Chase and Battle cry are 2.0 only.

Joe, thanks for the info on this one.