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is surround sound a gimmick?

Knavish

Knavish

Senior member
Is surround sound a gimmick?

I realize that being a home theater forum, this is probably not the right place to ask this question... 🙂 Back years ago seem to remember way more surround sound in movies -- like when Jurassic Park (or one of its sequels) came out, it was pretty impressive for both the graphics and sound. (Dino's jumping overhead & such.) Recently I've seen both Iron Man 2 & Robin Hood in a relatively up-scale theater and no surround sound effects have really stood out to me. It really just seemed like loud 2.1 sound, or maybe 3.1 (center+2.1).

Am I just not noticing surround sound any more or do movies just not use it as much? Maybe my local theater is crappy?
 
While I haven't seen either of those movies I would think they would have decent surround sound given their target audience so I am going with Crappy theatre or poorly designed audio layout theatre.

When its setup right you can hear if the person or action going on is behind you to the right, left right beside you or in front of you. It definately adds to the experience of action/horror/sci-fi movies. (You hear the machine gun 'next to you' firing at the advancing enemy while the enemy tank shoots a round that 'flies overhead') It usually doesn't add much for Comedies and Dramas 🙂
 
Yeah next movie I go to I'll check out the theater that use to advertise all-digital projection. They might have slightly newer hardware.

I bet the huge theater room that they show the opening-night movies in probably has less optimized sound, too.
 
Knavish said:
Yeah next movie I go to I'll check out the theater that use to advertise all-digital projection. They might have slightly newer hardware.

I bet the huge theater room that they show the opening-night movies in probably has less optimized sound, too.
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actually the shitty one in town has a large theater room and a bunch of smaller ones

The smaller ones here are shittier...
 
I think the explosion in HT setups has really dulled our expectations in a theatre. We have very small, controlled enviroments with very high end equipment that just simply provides a better experience than many commercial theatres can provide.
 
vi edit said:
I think the explosion in HT setups has really dulled our expectations in a theatre. We have very small, controlled enviroments with very high end equipment that just simply provides a better experience than many commercial theatres can provide.
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LOL this. That and I get a much better picture on my 55" HDTV than I see at most theaters.
 
Surround sound is not a gimmick, but .... in many cases ... the differences between 5.1 and 6.1 and 7.1 are so subtle, that some may consider the additional channels to be a gimmick.
 
surround sound is definitely not a gimmick (when done right). I dont go to the theater often, but recently saw Iron Man 2 in IMAX (fake non-curved screen IMAX) at a AMC Lowes theater. I was blown away by the audio quality of this theater.
 
Knavish said:
Is surround sound a gimmick?

I realize that being a home theater forum, this is probably not the right place to ask this question... 🙂 Back years ago seem to remember way more surround sound in movies -- like when Jurassic Park (or one of its sequels) came out, it was pretty impressive for both the graphics and sound. (Dino's jumping overhead & such.) Recently I've seen both Iron Man 2 & Robin Hood in a relatively up-scale theater and no surround sound effects have really stood out to me. It really just seemed like loud 2.1 sound, or maybe 3.1 (center+2.1).

Am I just not noticing surround sound any more or do movies just not use it as much? Maybe my local theater is crappy?
Click to expand...

I saw Iron Man 2 at a good theater but you could tell all the sound only came out of the front speakers and it sucked during the whole movie. Surround sound is definitely not a gimmick. Simulated surround sound is.
 
A lot use basically PA systems as their speakers, and others are not properly set up.

The thing is, surround sound actually is a gimmick in that the sounds for the surround effects are mixed in later (although to be fair that's not much different from a lot of sound effects). That being said, it can go beyond that and enhance the film, and like audio in general are dependent on how well they're done.

I'm pretty indifferent on surround sound myself, I'd generally prefer better quality stereo (or 2.1). Stereo on its own, can actually do a stellar job of giving depth, imaging, and placement, which is actually much more convincing than surround sound (which because of how its done tends to focus on placement). Even then it still comes down to the material having these characteristics to begin with.

If you want an idea of the imaging ability of just two speakers, just search for binaural recordings, there's several popular ones (virtual haircut for instance).

It'd be nice if we'd get more actual 3-dimensional recording, either via binaural (which would be doubly nice for headphones and then they could just match it to the proper speaker placements, it would be great for first person scenes or scenes where they focus on the character noticing sound and tilting their head) or a 3-D mic (I believe Grado has been working on one, although the focus for it has been live music recording).

Sorry for the rambling about stuff that isn't entirely pertinent...
 
Games should demonstrate the benefits of surround better than movies when the movies' recording technology is less than stellar.
 
At my local theater, only one room has surround. It has been broken for 2 years and only the fronts work, but hey, it's got surround!

I think it's gimmicky for movies, sure. But not for gaming!
 
Preferences vary, but there is an optimal place to experience the sound system in most theaters. Choose a row about two thirds of the distance from the screen to the back of the theater. Try to sit one or two seats from the exact center of the row. The reason is that most sound technicians check the audio levels from the center seat about two thirds back from the screen. Since the sound from right and left speakers are equalized for the center, you want to sit slightly off-center to enhance the stereo effect.

It's not a gimmick. DTS sounds better IMO then DD. Tho have AC3, is better in any flavor then nothing.

I think it depends on the movie as well, some low budget movies even tho done in surround sound are just poor to begin with. Try watching the matrix in DTS, and you'll see what I mean.
 
vi edit said:
I think the explosion in HT setups has really dulled our expectations in a theatre. We have very small, controlled enviroments with very high end equipment that just simply provides a better experience than many commercial theatres can provide.
Click to expand...

This too. My level of theatre pickiness went up in proportion to the quality of my home theatre
 
TwinsenTacquito said:
At my local theater, only one room has surround. It has been broken for 2 years and only the fronts work, but hey, it's got surround!

I think it's gimmicky for movies, sure. But not for gaming!
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def not gimicky

watching blackhawk down in dolby digital was the shit!

maybe I am lucky, I dont live in that large of an area(just over 100K people) but one of the theaters is full digital projection(so amazing) and surround in all 14+ theaters

the 16 screen place isnt digital but does have surround in all

the few big screens have 'thx certified' 🙄 surround systems
 
Yeah I'm definitely trying a different theater for the next movie. I just expected the theater to have a decent system -- it's part of the newest big mall in the area, about 8 yrs old.
 
Pia said:
Games should demonstrate the benefits of surround better than movies when the movies' recording technology is less than stellar.
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You do know that what is recorded on set is only the dialog and even then as much as 60% of that dialog could be lipsynced in a studio?

everything else is added in post production. Every footstep, car by and explosion.

There is a pfx (production effects) track that is all the possibly usable stuff pulled from the on set recordings but it is 1 mono track compared to 600 tracks both mono and stereo that are added and mixed for sometimes months to create the entire experience.

darkswordsman17 said:
The thing is, surround sound actually is a gimmick in that the sounds for the surround effects are mixed in later (although to be fair that's not much different from a lot of sound effects)
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ALL the sound is mixed later see above statement.
 
BoberFett said:
You mean all that dialogue in a noisy club that can be heard as clear as day without the actors screaming at each other wasn't recorded on set?


D:
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probably not but interestingly all those people you see are SILENT on set. They use floor thumpers so that they all "move to the beat". Then later on a group comes in and "act" all of the background people. These people mostly speak 3 languages and can at the drop of a hat act a conversation about anything. They get paid $1000 a day too.
 
Exterous said:
This too. My level of theatre pickiness went up in proportion to the quality of my home theatre
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I think we have a winner.... I am very critical of sound at the theatres now. But I also have higher end equipment at my home with multi-point room correction and signal equalization/speaker correction.
 
vi edit said:
I think the explosion in HT setups has really dulled our expectations in a theatre. We have very small, controlled enviroments with very high end equipment that just simply provides a better experience than many commercial theatres can provide.
Click to expand...

I agree. I don't have crazy equipment at all, but I still get better sound at home, and picture quality is pretty damn close for my eyes, too.
 
thomsbrain said:
I agree. I don't have crazy equipment at all, but I still get better sound at home, and picture quality is pretty damn close for my eyes, too.
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Maybe...If you ever get out to Los Angeles head out the the arclight. You will hear sound as it was meant to be. During avatar I was blinking during the explosions and felt air hit my face hahahaha Thats fucking sick.
 
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