Re: 4% speedup/ HD DVDs of UFO?

Marc wrote:

>On the upcoming Space:1999 DVDs, they will give you a choice between
>listening to the original mono or listening to a surround sound
>version. <snip> In Japan, the UFO DVDs have a 5.1 surround
>soundtrack. It sounds awful (in my opinion).


I'm guessing this is because it's not faithful to the original mono?
<g> I'd be interested to hear what opinions are of the S:1999
surround sound. If it *is* a genuine improvement, then maybe there's
a chance for UFO to be given the same treatment in any future HD
release.



>That's a lot of questions! You should spread them out to conserve
>your energy! :-)

I've got a lot of questions yet to ask, but I'll try to avoid asking
too many at once.<vbg> Many thanks Marc, for answering them all for
me.

BTW, I'm going to have to buy the A&E set. That'll be my third DVD
set of UFO.....

Sarah

> I'm guessing this is because it's not faithful to the original mono?

Whatever processing they did to the Japanese UFO DVDs to make
them "surround sound", it makes the whole thing sound like it
was recorded in a tunnel.

It seems like in almost every video I have where someone has
decided to make a surround sound version of something that
was originally in mono, it sounds worse. The only exception
I can think of offhand is the Rocky Horror Picture Show, but
in this case I think they had access to all the original
multi-track recordings, and they probably spent a lot
of money on it. With UFO, it's not clear that the original
elements still exist, or if anyone's willing to spend
the money to make a good surround sound mix.

But I will indeed be interested in hearing the upcoming
Space:1999 surround sound mixes...

Marc

I work in a recording studio, doing music for television commercials, and
often sound design. The UFO surround recordings were terrible, overdone on
every level, and way too much reverb and effect plug-ins.
It can be done right, but it takes a loooonnnggg time, and budget constraints
probably made things go quickly and with less concern for the end result.
These projects aren't done by people who love the shows...they are just a
"job" to them. They are on tight deadlines with heavy schedule issues!


KK


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KK wrote:

>It can be done right, but it takes a loooonnnggg time, and budget
>constraints probably made things go quickly and with less concern
>for the end result. These projects aren't done by people who love
>the shows...they are just a "job" to them. They are on tight
>deadlines with heavy schedule issues!


Do you really think it could be done well? If so, what we need is
for a "well-off" UFO fan to get the rights and produce a terrific
sounding 5.1 or THX soundtrack with Hi Def pictures. I'd rather have
the chance to see/hear this than any "UFO 2" remake, which would
probably cost more. Or perhaps a kind of compromise – a "remake"
that uses *a lot* of flashbacks – a kind of "temporal
whatchamathingy" storyline!

Sorry, it's late here :-)

Sarah

> These projects aren't done by people who love the shows...they are just a
> "job" to them. They are on tight deadlines with heavy schedule issues!

Fortunately for all of us, the digital restoration (video/mono sound) of
UFO *was* done by a team of folks at BBC Resources who *are* fans, so
we all got lucky there. They still had deadlines to meet, but they also
spent extra effort that would not have been done by folks who weren't
fans.

Marc