DVD has 5.1, Blu-Ray don't. New Trend?

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Eggplant

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Since 2002/2003
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After noticing several recent Blu-Ray movie releases that do NOT have the 5.1 surround mix found on their DVD predecessors, I came across this disturbing thread on Film-Tech which seems to put the spotlight of blame on our dear friends at Universal:

http://www.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/f16/t001669/p1.html

As with 1980's Xanadu, it appears that if I want the 5.0 mix for the film of Jesus Christ Superstar, I'll have to hunt down the original DVD and endure 20-year-old SD video. The Blu-Ray has only a sloppy 2.0 audio.

Are other studios also reissuing titles on Blu-Ray with inferior mixes?
If so, this truly sucks.
 
After noticing several recent Blu-Ray movie releases that do NOT have the 5.1 surround mix found on their DVD predecessors, I came across this disturbing thread on Film-Tech which seems to put the spotlight of blame on our dear friends at Universal:

http://www.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/f16/t001669/p1.html

As with 1980's Xanadu, it appears that if I want the 5.0 mix for the film of Jesus Christ Superstar, I'll have to hunt down the original DVD and endure 20-year-old SD video. The Blu-Ray has only a sloppy 2.0 audio.

Are other studios also reissuing titles on Blu-Ray with inferior mixes?
If so, this truly sucks.

Have no idea for Xanadu, but my copy of JCSS (iirc region1) 5.0 mix has some surround activity only in Hosanna and nothing else. Bummer.
 
You can't trust the audio format on a DVD or Blu-ray package on an older film is going to ever be a discrete mix, unless it clearly states it. Few films before the 1980s had multichannel original releases. Then in the 80s, more films used Dolby theaters with LCRS 4-channel soundtracks. Dolby Digital films in the 90s were often mixed in 5.1, and only the last decade mixed 7.1 for blockbuster releases. Quite often I've seen blu-rays that claim 5.1, but it's only pseudo-surround... There was never a discrete mix. Even a 2.0 blu-ray might be a pseudo mix from mono if the original release was mono. I've been disappointed many times after buying a blu-ray expecting a surround mix that is just spread out mono. All the Kubrick blu-rays on Warner are this way. Perhaps Universal is being more honest if a surround mix isn't available. The studio also has to factor in the ROI of paying the expensive remix-from-stems fee for a blu-ray release... Will the target audience care if it's mono, stereo, 5.1, 7.1 or Atmos? Unless the studio tells you the soundtrack is remixed or remastered as a selling point, then it's probably not.

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Shame we can't even trust what's printed on the box, though we surroundphiles get used to it.

Some older films have been remixed astonishingly well in 5.1. The later James Bond series is a notable case. Funny you mentioned Clockwork Orange — I was underwhelmed as were you, yet many Warner reissues are terrific. Check out Blazing Saddles.
 
Have no idea for Xanadu, but my copy of JCSS (iirc region1) 5.0 mix has some surround activity only in Hosanna and nothing else. Bummer.

My understanding is that this is how the original 1973 magnetic prints were mixed. Maybe Universal is hoping accidental bleedthrough from matrix decoding will put more in the surrounds and make non-purists happy.

JCS has got to be the most cursed video release ever. At least two different Laserdisc issues were accidentally mono. The first DVD had the discrete 4-track mix but wasn't anamorphic. Subsequent reissues (DVD and BD) had 16:9 enhanced video but 2.0 audio.
 
My understanding is that this is how the original 1973 magnetic prints were mixed. Maybe Universal is hoping accidental bleedthrough from matrix decoding will put more in the surrounds and make non-purists happy.

JCS has got to be the most cursed video release ever. At least two different Laserdisc issues were accidentally mono. The first DVD had the discrete 4-track mix but wasn't anamorphic. Subsequent reissues (DVD and BD) had 16:9 enhanced video but 2.0 audio.

Can i say that at best it was a sloppy mix? Unless i have a bogus release...
 
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