Image's MST3K: The Movie PCM Tracks?

[Kevin M]

In a recent thread I complained that the OOP Image disc of Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie was crappy, people responded by saying that they thought the transfer was pretty good and that it had a nice PCM track...

even the PCM DPL track sounds good!
The movie was in DTS Stereo if I recall. No point in using DTS over PCM, since PCM is higher fidelity
I think Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Movie used a PCM track only for its Dolby Surround soundtrack. At least that's what the back of the case says.

...so I went and checked this DVD out again to refresh my memory (Hey I've been wrong before

) but the disc I found only has a DD 2.0 surround track.
Did Image release two different versions of Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, one with PCM DPL & one with Dolby Digital 2.0?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Many DVD players report PCM as DD 2.0 for some reason

My reciever does not lock into DD mode for it, or any other PCM disc

 

[Kevin M]

I tried this disc on three different players (Sony - Pioneer & Yamaha) and all three said Dolby Digital 2.0.
Oh, by the way, you guys were right! The non-anamorphic transfer is pretty damn good. I don't know what the hell I saw three years ago.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

That's probably because the track is labeled as such in software. The could name it Shabooboo if they wanted to

and that's what would show up

It's definately PCM

 

[AndrewR]

My player says it's Dolby 2.0 too. And my reciever agrees with it.

Just piping in.

Andrew

 

[Kevin M]

It's being decoded as a DD 2.0 track, Jeff. No matter what the display on my players might say, my receiver is detecting, decoding and playing a DD 2.0 track not PCM. And before you say that it's now my receiver that is screwed up, I took it over to my brother's house & his Sony DVD player & Denon receiver say the same thing, DD 2.0.
It is definitely not a PCM track.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Hmm, I'll have to double check

 

[Kevin M]

Of course I wish it was a PCM track.

Jeff, have you checked your DVD player's set up menu to make sure that you don't have the player piping the DD 2.0 track through your digital outlet in Pulse Code Modulation? My player requires this (you have to manually change it over in the set-up menu) in order to channel a Dolby track through the analog outputs, it also comes through the digital out in PCM but it is still a DD compressed track from the start.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

It is not PCM. My DVD player says it is DD2.0, and my receiver says it is DD2.0.

So I popped in Bjork's 'Volumen' disc. My DVD player says 'LPCM 48/16', and my receiver says 'Linear PCM'.

Yes, the back of the package says 'uncompressed PCM for optimum stereo fidelity'. It is wrong.

 

[PeteD]

It is PCM. My Denon reciever says that it's decoding Dolby Pro Logic. It doesn't mention PCM, although it is decoding Dolby Pro Logic from the 2 channel PCM mix.

My old Pioneer reciever said it was PCM.

It is PCM. Even says on the keep case if I remember correctly.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Pete,

Then why does my receiver say Dolby Digital, when other PCM discs cause my receiver to say PCM?

 

[Kevin M]

The dvd I have (and, like I said in my opening post, unless there were two different Image releases) does not have a PCM track that I can find no matter what the box says. My receiver (and my brother's) can only report what kind of signal it is detecting, it can't lie. And my brothers SONY DVD player tells you exactly what the signal is and what it is detecting is Dolby Digital Surround 2.0 192kbps that is exactly what it says.
Hey, it's pissing me off too!

 

[PeteD]

Sadly, most of my collection is boxed up as I'm in the last stages of getting ready to move.

I'm fairly certain it's PCM, but willing to admit i'm mistaken. My old Pioneer definetly detected the stream as PCM.

After i'm settled in I'll check it out...

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I have just poked around this disc further on the PC with a DVD-ROM drive.
1) No PCM. No, no, no. It is not there.
2) The disc (not the package) has the Dolby Digital logo screened on it!
3) The Dolby Digital 2.0 is actually 384k, double the typical DD2.0 bitrate.
4) 'Amazon Women on the Moon' is PCM. And this is also screened on the disc instead of the Dolby Digital logo.
Summary: The snapper case for 'MST3K: The Movie' incorrectly states that the movie is PCM. But the DD 2.0 bitrate is fantastic!

 

[Kevin M]

The Dolby Digital 2.0 is actually 384k, double the typical DD2.0 bit-rate.

Yeah, my brother pointed that out to me a few days after my last post in this thread, I just didn't want to bring it up anymore

:b
You're right, it does sound pretty good.
NOW WHY THE HELL CAN'T MORE STUDIOS USE (IF NOT PCM) HIGHER DOLBY BIT RATES IN THEIR 2.0 SURROUND OR MONO TRACKS?
..umm sorry.

 

[PeteD]

Alrighty.. My Denon reciever and Pioneer player say its DD2.0

I KNOW that my old Pioneer receiver said it was PCM, but since I don't have the unit anymore I can't for certain say that it wasn't a misconfiguration on my part.

So, from this point on I guess I'll have to lean in the direction of DD2.0.

Nevertheless, for a DPL disc, this has really great sound.

P.