Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 6/8/2005, 1:53 PM
Most systems will correctly down mix this. This is part of what the flags in AC3 systems do, is tell the receiver/CD player/DVD player how to downmix.
there is a LOT of great info on the Dolby site regarding how to set up mixes that may be playe don both stereo and mono systems.
There is also Jeffrey Fisher's excellent book "Instant Surround"
B.Verlik wrote on 6/8/2005, 3:15 PM
All of the professional music DVD's I have do offer a choice of weather you want Stereo or 5.1. In fact, all the DVD's that have 5.1 audio, that are regular professional releases, give a regular stereo track, that comes on automatically and you have to choose 5.1, if you want to hear it that way.
ottowr wrote on 6/8/2005, 7:23 PM
>"All of the professional music DVD's I have do offer a choice of weather you want Stereo or 5.1. In fact, all the DVD's that have 5.1 audio, that are regular professional releases, give a regular stereo track, that comes on automatically and you have to choose 5.1, if you want to hear it that way."

I have many, many movie releases that only have a 5.1 soundtrack. They downmix fine in my dvd player.
Jessariah67 wrote on 6/8/2005, 7:32 PM
Thanks all. I've noticed less and less "choice" - most DVDs I see now just have 5.1. Just wanted to be sure...
B_JM wrote on 6/9/2005, 7:15 AM
in actual fact - dvds are supposed to have a min. of a stereo ac3 or pcm track always ..

the 5.1 (dts or ac3) is optional ....

but true - some disks skip the 2channel OR do not make it available (it might still be on the disk in fact)

reidc wrote on 6/9/2005, 9:34 AM
Professsionally speaking, a separate stereo mix as a separate stream is ALWAYS preferable to letting a 5.1 decoder do a downmix. I do both for all my mixes, but it's expensive. 2 mixes, 2 sets of QC, space on the DVD, etc.
Spot|DSE wrote on 6/9/2005, 9:52 AM
Agreed, but in the video world, it's becoming less and less common to find stereo mixes on the DVD itself. And likely will continue to do so. In the music world, it's very important to have both, but few music CDs (if any) are done with AC3, they're predominantly done with DTS.
I may have misunderstood, I assumed Kevin is doing audio for video based on past posts.
But yes, if you have room, a stereo mix that the user can choose is infinitely preferable.