Movies you use as a test bed / to show off

mrbiron

I watch Oprah at reference levels........that crap will tax even the most hardcore of speakers!
I assume the looks on people's faces are of shear amazement of how good the system sounds and not at the fact that their ears of bleeding from Oprah.


Heat - The scene where they are running down the middle of the street guns-a-blazin!

Polkie2009

I finally watched Battlefield Los Angeles the other night and really enjoyed the audio mix on the BD. Storyline was good as a popcorn action movie, nice to see Hollywood show our military in a positive light for a change.

corrinthians

I just saw Cloverfield for the first time last week. That movie had several scenes that would be great for showing off.

Joe08867

U-571 is great. Depth Charges are awesome.
Transformers for the explosions.

Also like the LOTR trilogy for surround sound. When those Nazgul come flying past in Return of the King it freaks me out.
Saving Private Ryan is good for surround also. When they land on Normandy and the bullets are flying. That will scare the crap out of you.

rebuy

mrbiron wrote: »

I watch Oprah at reference levels........that crap will tax even the most hardcore of speakers!
I assume the looks on people's faces are of shear amazement of how good the system sounds and not at the fact that their ears of bleeding from Oprah.


Heat - The scene where they are running down the middle of the street guns-a-blazin!

LOL-Oprah at reference levels!!!

outlander

Gladiator, the scene with the Roman’s fighting the Germanic tribes.

O

camp21178

outlander wrote: »

Gladiator, the scene with the Roman’s fighting the Germanic tribes.

O

That is a truly eerie scene.

justlord

Two films not mentioned that I enjoyed:

Tron

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (all of the werewolves storming in on the castle)

danz1906

kuntasensei wrote: »

The train wreck sequence in Super 8. Ungodly bass, near-perfect surround sound, and detail to spare. One of the most impressive audio mixes I've heard in some time, and not just for the sheer volume of it.

Also, if you have 7.1 surround, Transformers: Dark Of The Moon is a showpiece not just for the loud bombast but for how impressive the between-channel pans and placement of sounds across the surround are.

Agreed..........Great sound!

larry777

A few scenes in 10000 BC will knock your socks off !!!

vwfred69

super 8 was super bass heavy at times, but great when the train wrecked.

michael1947

Absolute best so far is the new movie Inception. I use 3 subs and I think I need to install seat belts on the couch as this bad boy's LFE's will move the furniture.

Syndil

I recently got Super 8 from Netflix and I was surprised at how bad the audio mix was on it. I had actually started tweaking my speakers trying to figure out if something had broken before coming to my senses and testing a different source. The balance between sound effects and dialog seemed very wrong to me. I do only get DVDs from Netflix, however. Makes me want to compare the Blu-Ray mix.

markmarc

The Right Stuff- Horse riding scene. John Glenn's spaceflight.
Valkryie- Opening scene with the airplane raid.

kuntasensei

Syndil wrote: »

I recently got Super 8 from Netflix and I was surprised at how bad the audio mix was on it. I had actually started tweaking my speakers trying to figure out if something had broken before coming to my senses and testing a different source. The balance between sound effects and dialog seemed very wrong to me. I do only get DVDs from Netflix, however. Makes me want to compare the Blu-Ray mix.

Yeah, that surprises me. Super 8 on Blu-ray has one of the most balanced mixes I've heard, and some great dynamics. Of course, it was supervised by Ben Burtt... so you can expect excellence. I didn't hear any issues with dialogue and neither did anyone who watched it when I screened it in my home theater.

kuntasensei

frdranger wrote: »

Any particular scene in Transformers DOFTM which would best demonstrate this? Thanks!

Jeez, pretty much any combat sequence in that flick will do! They did a lot of across-the-rear pans!

Belcon

In Attack of the Clones, the asteroid field chase scene with seismic charges is always a favorite of mine.

timalan

This is off the grid of normal test movies, but I LOVE "Into The Wild" -- the music on that creates an unbelievable sense of atmosphere and is completely immersive. The Alaska scenes are also other worldly on a large screen... first time I watched it was on an old 480p projector running huge on a wall (but with a solid speaker setup), and the size of the landscape was overshadowed by the depth of the sound ... it just totally pulls you in and awakens the desire to be outside in lonely, farflung, breathtaking places.

It won't tax your bass as much as it will just showcase the total immersion of your soundfield and of your entire home theater experience.

Mon40CSMM10

Why is it that loud noise is considered a sign of a good system? Any fool can make noise and have a system that makes noise.

Because the goal is home theater. As much of the theater experience as possible. But it's not noise, it's the sound. Bass you can hear, bass you can feel. Dialog with presence, clear high frequencies as well. Surrounds adding to the movie effect. No crackling, no drivers bottoming out, just pure clean poweful sound.

Same goes for music--not just for radio listening or CD listening or iPod listening, etc. but for the music present as part of the movie soundtrack. Low bass that is clean and heard, maybe also even felt. Midrange has a presence, high frequencies up to the limit the speaker can reproduce (which at 20,000 Hz may not be heard, but the fact the speaker can handle about 20,000 Hz means even the highest Hz will be clean.

Now of course, if one is in an apartment or a condo, listening anywhere even close to reference might be an issue.

But in a separate home--as long as the receiver can handle it--sure, turn it up loud until it's too much for the ears, then drop the volume down a bit so as not to cause hearing damage. Having paid enough money for a home theater surround sound system, why not let it show off loud in addition to how it performs at moderate to low volumes.

specd_out

My demo is two part.

My first display is audio. First thing I do is pop in my Inception CD soundtrack and go to the Mombasa track. I play that song and have then note the volume level on the receiver. Most people are impressed.

Next I pop in the Inception Special features Blu-ray and go to the DTS-HD 5.1 encoded soundtrack. Then I lower the volume. and play the Mombasa track, and slowly bring the volume up. Now there mouths are on the floor.

People cant believe the depth and clarity of DTS-HD. Both my dad and uncle who are long time 2ch audiophile's where absolutely floored at the difference.

For Visual and the "theater" experience I will play Tron, Inception, and Dark Knight.

specd_out

Mon40CSMM10 wrote: »

Because the goal is home theater. As much of the theater experience as possible. But it's not noise, it's the sound. Bass you can hear, bass you can feel. Dialog with presence, clear high frequencies as well. Surrounds adding to the movie effect. No crackling, no drivers bottoming out, just pure clean poweful sound.

Same goes for music--not just for radio listening or CD listening or iPod listening, etc. but for the music present as part of the movie soundtrack. Low bass that is clean and heard, maybe also even felt. Midrange has a presence, high frequencies up to the limit the speaker can reproduce (which at 20,000 Hz may not be heard, but the fact the speaker can handle about 20,000 Hz means even the highest Hz will be clean.

Now of course, if one is in an apartment or a condo, listening anywhere even close to reference might be an issue.

But in a separate home--as long as the receiver can handle it--sure, turn it up loud until it's too much for the ears, then drop the volume down a bit so as not to cause hearing damage. Having paid enough money for a home theater surround sound system, why not let it show off loud in addition to how it performs at moderate to low volumes.

Oh how man times I have tried to explain this to my wife.

I love the feeling of being immersed in what I am listening to. In order to achieve that it has to be loud