Please post your thoughts and comments on this BluRay Video release from Broadway Video of the classic Rutles "All You Need is Cash" film, that also includes a DVD with "Can't Buy Me Lunch". 
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BluRay Music Video Poll Rutles - ANTHOLOGY [BluRay Video]
- Thread starter JonUrban
- Start date
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Here's a look at the BluRay 5.1 audio via AudioMuxer in Sound Forge:
Well, all I can say is "Don't get your hopes up."
Consider that the opus was originally created for US TV in the 70's, and your audio expectations will be met it seems. This is not a spectacular 5.1 mix, although it seems they actually tried. There are times when it works, and other times it does not. I happen to love this music. To me, it's so remarkable and so ingenious that I still marvel at it when I hear it. Hoping for a fully realized 5.1 "Cheese and Onions" was, alas, too much to ask for.
Once I watch the video I'll comment more, but a quick run through on the PC with the audio reveals about what you see in the post above. The rears are ambience, except when crowd noise is required for the "live" stuff ("It's Looking Good"). That's where the 5.1 works the best here. Still, it does sound great - it's just not "stunning" 5.1.
More later...........
Consider that the opus was originally created for US TV in the 70's, and your audio expectations will be met it seems. This is not a spectacular 5.1 mix, although it seems they actually tried. There are times when it works, and other times it does not. I happen to love this music. To me, it's so remarkable and so ingenious that I still marvel at it when I hear it. Hoping for a fully realized 5.1 "Cheese and Onions" was, alas, too much to ask for.
Once I watch the video I'll comment more, but a quick run through on the PC with the audio reveals about what you see in the post above. The rears are ambience, except when crowd noise is required for the "live" stuff ("It's Looking Good"). That's where the 5.1 works the best here. Still, it does sound great - it's just not "stunning" 5.1.
More later...........
As I suspected, this is a reworking of the mono soundtrack, there are no instances of real front back separation. There is a very mild stereo spread at times, as if they couldn't get aggressive when most of the soundtrack had to contain elements from the film. So for some of the music they may have utilized the stereo mixes, but even here the spread is modest. It is clear there wasn't much money available for a true restoration effort. The film elements are better than the DVD, but not enough unless you are watching on a bigger screen, but then the source elements severely limit resolution. Better than the awful Rhino 5.1 mix, for sure.
Do I have to spell it out? V-e-r-y l-i-t-t-l-e s-e-p-a-r-a-t-i-o-n Ono!
"I have always thought in the back of my mind, (US TV in the '70s was) MONO."
http://www.vtoldboys.com/hw1970.htm#vtbtm
The Ampex AVR-2 (1974) Digital TBC, compact Quad used in studios and remote trucks. Uses 110-volt single-phase AC (other quad models required 220-volt or 3-phase AC service).
A stereo audio headstack was available-- the first quadruplex video machine to have stereo.
AVR-2 is pictured here http://www.lionlamb.us/quad/avr2_2.jpg
So...which version of the Eric Idle + Dan Aykroyd scene did they use? I've never noticed any other variations, but there are at least two different versions of that scene. The NBC-friendly one involves a coughing fit, the other has Idle ending the scene with "What's it like to be such an asshole?"
leevitalone1
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
actually tv sound has always been FM band a very high band, very clean and free from noise. There were shows in stereo, but no tv capable of it.
VHF TV sound was actually two different bands: from channels 2-6 and 7-13. UHF channels 14-83 were in a separate band. I could receive the audio from Milwaukee's channel 6 on my FM radios.
I'm thoroughly confused.@: Did you mean that the shows were originally produced in stereo? If the broadcast or cable channels weren't broadcasting in stereo, then the show wasn't stereo, even if the source was.
No doubt I'm being a nit-picky-bitch, although I don't mean to be.
As I recall, it was '84 when stereo TV's were dribbling in. Just a handful of models were dribbling in at that point. The dealers we sold to had very little interest, just as most of their customers. In spite of that, it became the standard in a few years.
Dolby (linear) stereo VHS recorders were introduced in '81. Beta was the first with Hi-fi stereo, also in '81. VHS Hi-fi followed a few years later. LD stereo was introduced in the late '70's. When I was at Pacific, we demo'ed LD before it was available to the public, thanks to Pioneer.
Now, back to Dirk, Stig, Ron & Barry, with Leggy guesting on adding machine.
I'm thoroughly confused.
@: Did you mean that the shows were originally produced in stereo? If the broadcast or cable channels weren't broadcasting in stereo, then the show wasn't stereo, even if the source was. No doubt I'm being a nit-picky-bitch, although I don't mean to be.
As I recall, it was '84 when stereo TV's were dribbling in. Just a handful of models were dribbling in at that point. The dealers we sold to had very little interest, just as most of their customers. In spite of that, it became the standard in a few years.
Dolby (linear) stereo VHS recorders were introduced in '81. Beta was the first with Hi-fi stereo, also in '81. VHS Hi-fi followed a few years later. LD stereo was introduced in the late '70's. When I was at Pacific, we demo'ed LD before it was available to the public, thanks to Pioneer.
Now, back to Dirk, Stig, Ron & Barry, with Leggy guesting on adding machine.
alk3997
500 Club - QQ All-Star
Let me throw on my AVSForum hat for a second...It's easy to confuse FM with FM. The FM being discussed here is frequency modulated, meaning that the audio was encoded into a frequency modulated signal. This did not mean that TV was in the FM (also standing for frequency modulated) band. The FM band was in the channel 6 area as correctly pointed out by Quad Linda. But what is being discussed here is that the audio was frequency modulated rather than amplitude modulated or phase modulated.
The purpose is that FM, like on your car radio, is relatively immune from noise and can go 20Hz - 18kHz (pilot gets in the way to go higher).
In the early 1980s, the FCC approved TV Stereo. In 1983-ish, I purchased a stereo TV Tuner from Radio Shack and had that hooked into my receiver. It was great compared to the normal mono sound. The first show I remember in stereo was "The Tonight Show". I also remember NBC's "Michael Nesmith in Elephant Parts" mid-summer replacement show in stereo. It was amazing! Luckily the Rochester, NY NBC affiliate was one of the first to change over to stereo, which also included a transmitter upgrade.
Now, of course, I hear a 5.1-channel show and just think it is normal. But, there was a time when getting two channel was amazing (and the world was not in black-n-white).
Tying this back into the subject matter - the Rutles "All You Need is Cash" was about 5 years too soon for stereo TV. Of course, then all of the production from the cameras, to the editing, to the mixing board to the distribution has to support stereo. That can take years by itself as companies wait for the obsolete equipment to fail before getting the replacement.
The purpose is that FM, like on your car radio, is relatively immune from noise and can go 20Hz - 18kHz (pilot gets in the way to go higher).
In the early 1980s, the FCC approved TV Stereo. In 1983-ish, I purchased a stereo TV Tuner from Radio Shack and had that hooked into my receiver. It was great compared to the normal mono sound. The first show I remember in stereo was "The Tonight Show". I also remember NBC's "Michael Nesmith in Elephant Parts" mid-summer replacement show in stereo. It was amazing! Luckily the Rochester, NY NBC affiliate was one of the first to change over to stereo, which also included a transmitter upgrade.
Now, of course, I hear a 5.1-channel show and just think it is normal. But, there was a time when getting two channel was amazing (and the world was not in black-n-white).
Tying this back into the subject matter - the Rutles "All You Need is Cash" was about 5 years too soon for stereo TV. Of course, then all of the production from the cameras, to the editing, to the mixing board to the distribution has to support stereo. That can take years by itself as companies wait for the obsolete equipment to fail before getting the replacement.
Answering my own question, "asshole" is incorporated into the film, the alternate version (which I forgot ends with a suicide!) is a semi-hidden extra.
I don't know why they felt the need to reformat for 16:9, though at least they had the sense not to reformat shots that couldn't survive the cropping. While there was some stuff made primarily for 4:3 TV that was protected for possible theatrical cropping, this wasn't.
