Question about Spanish language tracks on DVD/Blu (1 Viewer)

[Harry-N]

First off - I don't speak Spanish - or French. I barely speak a little German, but as a typical American, I'm rather mono-lingual. So my question may seem a bit odd, but I'm also a bit of an audiophile.

On many US DVDs and Blu-rays, particularly television shows, I've had occasion to switch the language track - usually in an effort to get to commentaries or some other audio track - and usually, I'll have to pass through Spanish tracks and French tracks to get there. On the occasion that I've stopped to listen to the Spanish track, I'm often appalled had how BAD they sound. There are times it sounds like they were fed through a telephone line, they have such low fidelity. And then I might get to a French track, if there is one, and it almost always has better fidelity, almost close to the English track in sound quality.

So basically, my question is, "Why are the Spanish language tracks often so horrible sounding? Is there a reason? Or am I way off base?"

 

[Robbie^Blackmon]

For vintage shows, I should say, they're usually scavenged from well-used 16mm prints that are several generations away from anything original due to the dubbing process, which could be quite crude to put it mildly.