DVD/DTS Poll Queen - A Night At The Opera (30th Anniversary Collector's Edition) [DTS 96/24 DVD+CD]

[neil wilkes]

As you know, DTS 96/24 has a "core" stream that's standard 48kHz. It is pretty save to asume that DVDdecrypter doesn't know about the DTS 96/24 extension.

Just been talking to DTS about this, and it should make no difference.
DVDDecrypter extracts the raw DTS stream "as is", and I will be attempting another decode with the DTS-HD StreamPlayer.
This has successfully extracted 24/96 PCM from the Genesis discs & the Depeche Mode discs, so we will soon see.....

 

[JohnN]

Re: The Elliot Scheiner Thread - Queen A Night At The Opera XXX
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...he-Elliot-Scheiner-Thread&p=100116#post100116

 

[fredblue]

A "9".

It doesn't sound as balanced in 5.1 to my ears as the Elliot Scheiner-only DVDA that I'd enjoyed prior to this coming out but I love it for the extra video content and the genuine 5.1 of GSTQ among other "crazy little things".. :banana:

 

[fredblue]

i bought this DVD-A some 3 years ago.
never got patience to listen to the disc from start to the last chord.
incredible bad sonic picture. high pitch "s, sh" of voices easily can develop ears cancer after 5-10 minutes of listening.
unfortunately this defect appears not only on this disc but quite often can be heard on many others.

"ears cancer"..?!? WTF..?!

Freddie's vocals were always rather sibilant and edgy, live and on record.

I like to think of it as a feature of his singing style rather than a deficiency of his records, the production of his studio work, the mixing/presentation of his live vocals, his voice, my playback equipment or my hearing!

 

[kap'n krunch]

Even the best engineers f*ck up every once in a while...
One of the MAIN RULES OF RECORDING VOCALS:
USE A DE-ESSER!!!!!
I even know how to to it with a Parametric EQ and a noise gate thru a patch bay!!!!!

BTW, that was one of the things that Steve Perry did to the new release in vinyl of Journeys' greatest hits...he said he went ONE by ONE of the "ESSESSSSSSSSssss" and edited them....not a fan of Steve as a performer onstage AT ALL, but he did have a GREAT voice..and some of the songs weren't so bad..

 

[LizardKing]

I realize the stereo version isn't the focus here, but I found it interesting that the stereo tracks on CD included in the new anniversary edition DTS DVD-V, were LESS dynamically compressed than the stereo tracks on the older DVD-A versiion

DVD-A stereo 'Death on Two Legs"

2007 anniversary CD

btw, the mulichannel mix on the DVD-A doesn't seem to be squashed like the stereo mix -- here's LR channels of Death on Two Legs

maybe someone else could rip the 2007 DTS 5.1 LR channels for comparison.?

I'll try and rip the DVD-A 5.1 & the 30th Anniversary DTS 96/24 on the weekend...

I must admit that the DTS on this isn't bad.....still prefer the DVD-A though

 

[ssully]

L&R of a 5.1 mix is not quite an apples-to-apples comparison to a 2.0 mix, for reasons that should be obvious: a 2.0 mix includs all the subwoofer and center and surround channels energy too.

Still, the DVD-A 2ch vs the CD 2 ch amplitude comparison is pretty straightforward. However, it says nothing about EQ differences. A badly EQ'd mastering with larger dynamic range may or may not sound better than a well-EQ'd mastering with less DR.

(I say this as the 'krabapple' who started that AVSF thread.)

 

[Owen Smith]

That is definitely different to both my versions, which are Hollywood Records.
Your Bar Code is different, the logo placement on the back cover is different, and the disc number implies EMI put that one out.
I'd suggest it might be a UK/Europe version apart from the NTSC logo on the rear cover.
Wonder if the mix is different, or if it is the same as one of the 2 DVD-A versions I have here.....

I have a UK Parlophone DVD-A of ANATO and it is also NTSC. All the UK DVD-As I have (I'm in the UK) are NTSC. I think the idea is that DVD-As are region free so will play worldwide, but to ensure the video plays worldwide it has to be NTSC. UK/Europe has had multi standard TVs that will play both PAL and NTSC for at least 25 years, and it has always been a requirement for our DVD players to support NTSC (since Region 2 encompasses Europe on PAL and Japan on NTSC). Conversely in the US a lot of equipment was NTSC only until quite recently. So DVDs intended for worldwide region free release always have NTSC video, including DVD-As.

 

[MyCuff]

K

I don't have a parlophone version. That is seriously scarce & I have only ever heard about it & never seen one.
I have the 2 Hollywood records versions (The Pre-Release & the one I got from yourself), with different hub numbers but I have not (yet) had the time to check the mixes. I will try to make time.
Different Hub Numbers mean that a different master set was used. This could be caused by one of 2 things - either an authoring error or a mix change. Given the potential for a clash between Elliot & Brian May, I suspect the latter. ALl I do know is that one of the engineers at Brian May's studio confirms there were multiple versions done for ANATO.

I have a parlaphone version, and also a US one. They sound identical.

 

[LizardKing]

OK - Here's a comparison of "Death on Two Legs" from the DVD-A & the 30th anniversary version:

DVD-A (below):



And the 30th Anniversary DVD (FYI - DTS 96/24 stream converted to WAV using the ARCSoft DTS Decoder)


Can you say "LOUD"...:yikes

 

[Owen Smith]

Sigh, how sad. I just don't understand why these muppets think jamming everything up to 11 is a good idead. Loudness Wars are ultimately futile even in stereo, but surely in the tiny multi channel market the mixers realise that the small number of customers are mostly quite discerning.

 

[Scott M4]

Sigh, how sad. I just don't understand why these muppets think jamming everything up to 11 is a good idead. Loudness Wars are ultimately futile even in stereo, but surely in the tiny multi channel market the mixers realise that the small number of customers are mostly quite discerning.

They probably want the 5.1 mix to sound louder on the radio.

 

[ssully]

Supposedly the two mixes are different as well.

What if you compare the lossy track on the older DVD-A, to the lossy track on the newer one?

 

[0tto]

"ears cancer"..?!? WTF..?!

Freddie's vocals were always rather sibilant and edgy, live and on record.

I like to think of it as a feature of his singing style rather than a deficiency of his records, the production of his studio work, the mixing/presentation of his live vocals, his voice, my playback equipment or my hearing!

sorry to tell this, but you're wrong.
there isn't such thing as sibilant vox in live environment. you can heard it only in recorded sound and this mainly due to bad mics
or incorrect use of mics.
it's not as much notable under conditions like: lossy compression format, music filled up by lots of electrical with heavy distortion
instruments or playback on cheap transport/amp/acoustic chain.
with relatively good system those sibilant of the vocal, becomes terrible side effect, which can kill any sort of enjoyment of listening
even most loved artists or songs.
in fact i'm quite surprised that among several thousand of QQ members, i'm the lone, who time and time again rises this complaint.
why others don't hear such defect, which exist perhaps on the more than half of the records?

 

[wavelength]

sorry to tell this, but you're wrong.
there isn't such thing as sibilant vox in live environment. you can heard it only in recorded sound and this mainly due to bad mics
or incorrect use of mics.
it's not as much notable under conditions like: lossy compression format, music filled up by lots of electrical with heavy distortion
instruments or playback on cheap transport/amp/acoustic chain.
with relatively good system those sibilant of the vocal, becomes terrible side effect, which can kill any sort of enjoyment of listening
even most loved artists or songs.
in fact i'm quite surprised that among several thousand of QQ members, i'm the lone, who time and time again rises this complaint.
why others don't hear such defect, which exist perhaps on the more than half of the records?

I was not aware of Sibilance as an recording issue. I'm sure I have heard it but did not know it had a name. After some googling I see that it is indeed something to be dealt with. Interestingly, one solution is for the vocalist to chew gum while singing - which made me think of John Lennon who often can be seen chewing (gum I presume) in video clips.

 

[neil wilkes]

Supposedly the two mixes are different as well.

What if you compare the lossy track on the older DVD-A, to the lossy track on the newer one?

There is no supposedly about it.
The DVD-A was the second 5.1 mix of this album (the first was not approved and was heavily tweaked for the DVD-A, and for the DTS-DVD version it is different again. The differences are quite subtle between the DVDA & the DTS-DVD but they are there - the most obvious one is the anthem at the end, but other changes have been made too)

 

[Wildman]

I got this one Saturday and gave it a couple of spins over the weekend. I was only able to give it some volume in a few places and it seemed to sound pretty good. This morning I gave it spin with the video monitor turned off and put some volume to it. Without the video distraction, it became a very harsh, loud, and compressed beast. Every time I cranked it up, I had to turn it back down. I just couldn't get up to the level I like to listen to a good mix at. At a lower volume you get the loudness button effect and the sound improves. I can tell that there is a good mix in there, but I guess I'll have to get the DVD-A to hear what the mix really sounds like. Until then, I will enjoy this disk for what it is while understanding it's limitations.

With the video content and new discrete elements, I think it's still a good disk to have. But, it's not the definitive version that it could and should have been.

I'll have to think about this one a bit before voting.

 

[ssully]

There is no supposedly about it.
The DVD-A was the second 5.1 mix of this album (the first was not approved and was heavily tweaked for the DVD-A, and for the DTS-DVD version it is different again. The differences are quite subtle between the DVDA & the DTS-DVD but they are there - the most obvious one is the anthem at the end, but other changes have been made too)

'God Save The Queen' is obviously different because the multis weren't available for the DVD-A...so the later DTS is the first time it got a surround mix.

But what other differences, subtle as they may be, can you point to?

 

[Owen Smith]

'God Save The Queen' is obviously different because the multis weren't available for the DVD-A...so the later DTS is the first time it got a surround mix.

But what other differences, subtle as they may be, can you point to?

The ones I remember are:

DTS DVD is cursed with over compression for Loudness Wars in the 5.1

Swirl around of wind at the start of Prophet's Song is 360 degrees in the DVD-A going round all speakers, it is very much shortened in the DTS DVD (a great shame).

 

[GOS]

Had this one a long time. Always enjoyed listening to this. To me, it's very nice, lots of bass and a lively mix. I gave it an 8.