Just Watched the Terminator 3 DVD...

[John Beresford]

...and all I can say is WOW----BIG TIME.

THIS IS the new reference DVD for demo-ing a system, folks---NEVER have I heard such an active, aggressive STANDARD 5.1 Dolby Digital mix as on this DVD. EVERY speaker comes to life during the action sequences, drawing you TOTALLY into the film, and your subwoofer will rattle with lots of spaceships taking off, machines twisting and buildings exploding. This sounds better and more powerful than some DTS mixes I have heard, and I have heard some good ones. I thought my Daredevil DTS disc was a reference quality DVD; THIS blows that away, and T3 is only in DD 5.1....

The film itself was awesome, too. I wasn't a fan of these films until a friend of mine brought the T3 DVD over last night and I think Im going to buy this 2-disc set of T3; I remember him bringing over T2 one night years ago, and THAT sounded incredible, too, but I think it was a DTS soundtrack if Im not mistaken. At any rate, this T3 disc is AWESOME. Really. It makes, believe this or not folks, the "Episode II: Attack of the Clones" 5.1 Surround EX DVD seem weak in comparison---and that disc sounds awesome with special effects and lightsabers whizzing around the room.

Hands down the best action film of the year, and the DVD is astonishing on sound. I am blown away by the fact that this was a mere standard 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack; all the DVD's in my collection which only boast 5.1 DD soundtracks sound just average compared to Terminator 3, and this includes titles like "John Carpenter's Escape From LA," "Demolition Man," "Spider-Man," "John Carpenter's Vampires," "Stigmata," "The Patriot" and many more. This is the BEST standard 5.1 Dolby Digital DVD on the planet, I think; sounds were coming from everywhere through my system and the overall playback level was LOUD and aggressive; at "50" on my receiver's volume, it was very, very loud to the point we needed to turn it below 50 because it was getting late in my apartment building; but even at mid-40's, the sound was still aggressive...THIS is the way DVD soundtracks should be...I have DVDs that you cant even HEAR until 60 on the receiver volume, such as "John Carpenter's Halloween" (no matter how many times it was remastered for 5.1 and THX certified, it's still a very low mix), "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Special Edition" (man, does this "newly mixed Stereo Surround" mix suck; sounds completely useless until you're turning your system almost all the way up), and believe it or not, even "Spider Man" in standard Dolby Digital 5.1; for some reason, you need to turn your receiver volume pretty high on Spider-Man to get a loud mix of dialogue and effects---I need to turn my Onkyo to at least 55 to feel "immersed" in Spider Man....

Not the case with Terminator 3....

[kelsci]

John; I have not rented this disc yet but from your review I am looking forward to it particulaly if you say Episode 2 sounds lame against T-3. In the theater I saw a preview of T-3 some months back and to me the trailer had far better sound then the movie THE MATRIX RELOADED. Some reviews of T-3's disc did not seem to feel the exuberance you felt about this disc's soundtrack. I shall see for myself.

[John Beresford]

John; I have not rented this disc yet but from your review I am looking forward to it particulaly if you say Episode 2 sounds lame against T-3. In the theater I saw a preview of T-3 some months back and to me the trailer had far better sound then the movie THE MATRIX RELOADED. Some reviews of T-3's disc did not seem to feel the exuberance you felt about this disc's soundtrack. I shall see for myself.

Kelsci,

Thank you for the reply; I am very curious which review sites/reviewers were more put off by this soundtrack than turned on, because I cant see how that can be. The soundfield was brimming with effects from every single angle and startled me and my friend a couple of times with surprising explosions and creaks/moans. Check out the sound review they gave of this DVD on dvdangle.com; read what that guy said about it. When you get to the webpage, go in their search engine (pull down "Title" to search for the movie) and type in Terminator 3. Read the review and tell me what you think.

All I know is that MY system was rocking, and as I stated, I was shocked that this was a Dolby Digital mix, not DTS. It sure sounded that aggressive, if not more. And with regard to my Episode II DVD comment, I dont know if you experience this in your system with this film, but there are parts of Episode II -- while an awesome sounding DD EX mix -- that seem low and flat; like John Williams' score somehow dissapears into a vacuum in certain parts and all you hear are the ships whizzing by, but they're not too loud. Terminator 3's sound is constantly loud, and to me, makes the Episode II seem tame, except perhaps for some lightsaber scenes that buzz and whip around the soundfield quite nicely.

[ray5aes]

John,
I posted on T-3 a few days ago (beolw thread) and I couldn't argee with you more. I love this DVD as it rocks hands down. I will say it once more it is my best film of this year.
I plan on watching it again this weekend without the wife & kids so I can really crank it up.
Ray

[kelsci]

John; in answer to your query on which reviewers were notsa so hotsa on T-3 audio track, although I did not check back to re-read reviews, I believe that it was the HOMETHEATHER FORUM and WIDESCREEN REVIEW.COM that did not "bellow" out the fire over the soundtrack. I will take a look at DVD angle and see what they have to say. Remember that I am not doubting what you heard at all. When I heard the trailer in the theater, that sounded pretty fantastic for a trailer. As for CLONES, I would say you are getting a certain feeling about the way the sountrack was handled. That would not be unusual for some to pick up "flaws" others might not pick up or it does not affect them in the way they affected you. Perfectly OK. Although I do not have a sixth channel, the EX sound reproduces itself quite well on CLONES phantomly with many directional cues such as the clone ships passing in one scene from the center channel to just slightly above my left ear. My brother calls this film "insane" actually meaning the soundtrack to him is rather great. I think its "insane" myself.

[kelsci]

John, they were extremely impressed with this soundtrack particulaly the way the sound effects fell into place around the sound field. I generally call this a "meticulous" surround sound recording. I am looking forward to viewing and listening to this film. I am wondering if perhaps something was not being told by Warner's here, since the other sites I mentioned should have had the same experience. Perhaps a boo-boo was made by Warners on some early pressings. It was my understanding this film was supposed to have an enhanced home theater sound track and your comments and DVD angle seem to indicate that is what is on this disc. It is too bad 5.1 did not exist at the time T-2 was made. I have heard T-2s remastered 5.1 surround track as well as its original Dolby Surround track. Sometimes in certain parts of that movie the remastered soundtrack shined and vice versa for the Dolby Surround digital and FM analogue tracks on the laserdisc.

[John Beresford]

John; in answer to your query on which reviewers were notsa so hotsa on T-3 audio track, although I did not check back to re-read reviews, I believe that it was the HOMETHEATHER FORUM and WIDESCREEN REVIEW.COM that did not "bellow" out the fire over the soundtrack. I will take a look at DVD angle and see what they have to say. Remember that I am not doubting what you heard at all. When I heard the trailer in the theater, that sounded pretty fantastic for a trailer. As for CLONES, I would say you are getting a certain feeling about the way the sountrack was handled. That would not be unusual for some to pick up "flaws" others might not pick up or it does not affect them in the way they affected you. Perfectly OK. Although I do not have a sixth channel, the EX sound reproduces itself quite well on CLONES phantomly with many directional cues such as the clone ships passing in one scene from the center channel to just slightly above my left ear. My brother calls this film "insane" actually meaning the soundtrack to him is rather great. I think its "insane" myself.

Wow Kel,

Im always on those sites and Im surprised that they didn't lavish their comments on this disc; rather surprising. Do yourself a favor and go rent T3 when you get a chance, and run it in 5.1 Dolby Digital (which is the only English choice on the disc anyway).

With regard to Attack of the Clones, I wouldnt necessarily interpret the Williams' score "dropouts" as "flaws" per se; well, maybe they are -- I think thats just a Star Wars thing, how the music gets low as the ships rush by.

And I have to tell you, I do not have that sixth channel either in my system, and I run the Attack of the Clones DVD's DD EX soundtrack in standard 5.1 also. I dont know what to make of the "ghost" or "phantom" back center surround image in this film; are you really impressed with it? Are folks like us with just the 5.1 setup getting a "good enough" experience with this DD EX soundtrack? Is the ghost/phantom back surround signal drawing us into the film as well as those who have that sixth back channel? I always wondered about this. Where are those "EX" extended signals going when we watch films without that sixth channel, like in "Episode II"?

[John Beresford]

John,
I posted on T-3 a few days ago (beolw thread) and I couldn't argee with you more. I love this DVD as it rocks hands down. I will say it once more it is my best film of this year.
I plan on watching it again this weekend without the wife & kids so I can really crank it up.
Ray

Ray,

Yes I noticed you posted on this topic; I apologize for stealing some thunder from you---I hadnt noticed your post until after I posted my findings about this wonderful DVD.

And yes, the only way to watch this DVD is cranked up; while I do not have a wife or kids, I did have a friend over my studio apartment the night we viewed it, and I needed to keep the volume under "50" on my receiver because of the hour; I can only imagine what kind of sound would be produced over "50" with this film...

It truly was a great action film. While it doesnt take awards away from REAL pieces of cinema, this DVD -- judged as a DVD alone -- can take home awards for sound hands down. I thought "Attack of the Clones," "U-571" and "Daredevil" sounded great until I heard this.