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June 17, 2003

Surround Market Dynamics

I was very lucky this birthday - we had a little inrush of cash just before it and so the other half very kindly bought me a surround sound system. Nothing too exotic, but it does the job.

So obviously I was looking for some really good DVDs to showcase this, and I realised that most of the big explosion and SFX DVDs are ones I wouldn't actually want to own. I'd rent them, sure, but I'm not about to part with 3-4 times the rental costs to watch it again and again. And the films I would want to watch again and again are either old enough to be in mono or are extremely subtle in their use of surround.

I own the matrix (the 'brothers in arms' of the DVD world) which I've watched once, starwars phantom menace - similarly. About the only thing that works is the DVD of BBC's "The Planets" and a couple of rock concerts.

Our first full-length film to be watched was a hired 'Die Another Day'. It was fab - but I've seen it now.

Does anyone have recommendations for things I really *must* own to play on this system? And why?

Posted by Tom Dolan at June 17, 2003 01:51 PM

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Comments

Well, I was after suggestions. I've just found out I'm actually being sent a copy of 'Die Hard With A Vengeance' from Simon Th, which is far above the call of duty.

Simon, you also said one of the Pixars was really good too. Toy Story 2 wasn't it?

Posted by: Tom at June 18, 2003 12:52 PM

music dvds really rock the room. you get the sound of the audience behind you and the band in front (unless you're not facing the right way) like a real gig.

Posted by: tim and biscuits at June 19, 2003 07:43 PM

Some music stuff is *really* over the top with surround, in the same way that the early stereo albums sounded faintly ridiculous. But I've found that both Peter Gabriel's "Secret World Live" and Underworld's "Everything Everything" just added that extra sparkle to make you feel like you were really there.

Posted by: Tom at June 20, 2003 04:48 PM

Koyaanisquatsi has been rereleased in 5:1...

Posted by: Kim at July 31, 2003 12:49 PM

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