What are the differences between Dolby True HD, DTS-HD Master Audio and Linear PCM Uncompressed? I was under the impression that they're all lossless and, well, basically the original sound. Wouldn't that make them all identical and impossible to tell apart?
Chimera
13th Mar 2008
General questions
6th Feb 2006
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Question: Anyone who's read 'Life, The Universe & Everything' will now why the bowl of petunias thought 'Oh no, not again' just before it plummeted towards Magrathea, but had Douglas Adams already conceived that backstory and just couldn't fit it in to the narrative at the time or was it something he only came up with when writing part 3?
Chosen answer: Because it was a radio show originally, Douglas Adams would write broadcasts from show to show. He did not know where something would lead, which let the plot become random and funny. So ultimately it was originally created to be funny, then he found a way to link it back in later.
15th Aug 2005
24 (2001)
Question: Strangely, unlike seasons 2 & 3, there's no option to branch the deleted scenes back in to season 4 and on disc 7, the first deleted scene is under the heading "Season 4 Director's Cut Promo". Is this really as black and white as it seems or am I missing something? Has anyone heard any rumours, or facts, that Fox is planning to release Season 4 Director's Cut in the near future?
22nd Jul 2005
General questions
What was the first film to be released in cinemas in stereo sound, and which was the first to be released in surround sound?
Chosen answer: Fantasia, released in 1941, became the very first film to incorporate surround sound. During the '70s, Dolby experimented with placing two separate sound signals on the film. Because of the reduction in the detail that could be incorporated when reducing the area available for the analog signal, Dolby also incorporated noise reduction with a resultant change in the playback response from the Academy Curve. The first film to use this purely stereo sound was "Lisztomania" in 1975.
13th Jun 2005
General questions
If both contain 2 rear speakers, 3 front speakers and a sub-woofer, what is the difference between Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 ?
Chosen answer: Compression rate. Dolby Digital 5.1 compresses the digital signal to one twelfth (1/12) of its original size, whilst DTS 5.1 compresses the signal to one quarter (1/4) of its original size. Whilst on the average home theatre there would no detectable difference, its when you start to get into more professional sound equipment that there becomes a noticeable difference.
13th Jun 2005
Cheers (1982)
Question: Does anyone know whether the coloured-in photos, which appear throughout the opening titles sequence, are real or made up for the show? If they ARE real, when George Wendt's name appears there's a shot of a man holding a newspaper with 'WE WIN' as the headline - does anybody know what this referred to?
Answer: Here is the source of the "WE WIN" photo: http://www.oldnycphotos.com/nyny587ac.html Brooklyn, of all places.
Chosen answer: The pictures in the opening sequences are real pictures of people enjoying alcohol (from various dates), and are not meant to represent or include any of the cast members. The "we win" sign (most likely not a newspaper headline) is referring to the end of prohibition (1933) A fitting tribute to a show about drinking alcohol.
The word "Nazi" appears in the caption to a story underneath the headline. Maybe the headline refers to the Nazi surrender.
14th Apr 2005
Cracker (1993)
Question: In the final few scenes of this story, DS Beck has abducted David Harvey and has taken him to the top of a tower block in order that they can both leap off. Fitz and Penhaligon race to the top to try to talk Beck out of it. In the original broadcast on UK TV (1995), Fitz speaks with Beck at length on the rooftop (as in the novel), but in all repeats and subsequent VHS/DVD releases this scene is missing and has never been seen since. Now, Fitz only manages to reach the rooftop as Penhaligon is looking over the side after Beck has jumped pulling Harvey with him. Is this scene un-cut on the Region 1 DVD of this show? (I don't want to buy it just to find the same cut version again). (02:25:00 - 02:26:45)
Chosen answer: I still own on tape the 1995 UK TV broadcast version of that episode, and it definitely doesn't have Fitz talking Beck out of jumping. It is definitely in the novel adaptation of 'Brotherly Love', but as far as I know never made it to the final cut of the TV version. I'm presuming therefore the scene wouldn't exist on the Region 1 DVD. The only TV version I have ever known to be of that scene is Fitz just turning up after Beck has jumped and then comforting Penhaligon. A few scenes did get lost from the original broadcast to the subsequent DVD/VHS releases though, but as far as I'm aware that was never one of them.
25th Mar 2005
General questions
What is the difference between subtitles and closed-captions? Over here in England we don't bother with c-c's, but I've noticed that a lot of my R1 discs have subtitles in some languages and c-c's in others. Also, on some discs the 'subtitle' button will display the c-c's but on others it won't. In those cases how do I display the c-c's?
Chosen answer: Closed-captioning is for the hearing-impaired, and thus displays things like sound effects (ie *doorbell ringing*) and musical notes on either side of the dialogue to represent singing, whereas subtitling is usually just a translation of the dialogue. As for displaying the c-c's, it probably depends on the DVD in question, though some TVs and DVD players have built in c-c settings which can be turned on to access the captioning.
3rd Apr 2004
The X-Files (1993)
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Chosen answer: It appears there is no difference. You can follow the links for the sources here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_TrueHD.
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