Good DVD for center channel testing?

[corey]

I'm looking for suggestions for DVD's with scenes with good dialogue for center channel speaker testing. Perhaps with a bunch of people walking around & talking, so that voices move between L R & C speakers.

Any thoughts?

 

[j_garcia]

I don't understand? Pretty much ANY DVD with a decent recording will do this.

 

[GregBe]

If you are looking for voice matching between your L/C/R, the Pixar movies have a ton of voices that pan across the front three. The Toy Story movies come to mind, but I think all of their films do this quite a bit.

If you are looking for straight dialogue out of the center channel, try X2. The opening scene has Patrick Stewart's voice isolated. With the deep extension of his voice, you can see how the bass sounds out of your center speaker. If it sounds too chesty or too thin, keep looking.

 

[corey]

I don't understand? Pretty much ANY DVD with a decent recording will do this.

Maybe I watch too many action/adventure movies. I'm trying to think of scenes with people just sitting or walking around talking. Something that will highlight differences between a very small, poor proforming center & something more substantial.

I've got both Toy Story's. I'll give them a try.

 

[j_garcia]

OK, that makes more sense. How about Eagles: Hell Freezes Over DTS? Lots of center channel activity blended with the mains. Maybe something that splits the difference like Pulp Fiction - fairly dialogue intensive, but will still fill the need for a little adrenaline Crash.

 

[MACCA350]

This might be what your after. 'The Incredibles' the scene where Mr Incredible is in his bosses office, as the boss is pacing left and right, his voice follows him on screen through and between all 3 front speakers, great soundtrack

cheers

 

[Dolby CP-200]

corey

Centre channel is not just used for dialogue but DME as well dialogue music and effects are just as paramount in the central position in discrete Dolby digital six-track form.

With the film Traffic that I recently listened to a two nights ago had exceptional good dialogue but then again Traffic is no really an effects type of film its deigned more for clarity of the dialogue.

The Sound of Music uses dialogue to be spread over the three-screen in home which was originally intended for the 70mm Todd-AO five-screen where Julie Andrews voice would be heard at the beginning during “the hills are alive with the sound of music” panning from left to left-centre to centre.

You can duplicate the same effect with five-screen in the home its very easy and it sounds fantastic.

Things, to listen out for is dialogue that is between left and centre channel or centre and right channel. All you’ll need is two matching Dolby pro-logic decodes and two matching amplifiers and loudspeakers a little re-plugging and listen to your old favourites.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Always
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
West Side Story
Alien
2001: A Space Odyssey first edition DVD or laserdisc (not the reissue DVD)
Terminator 2 Judgement Day
The Abyss
South Pacific
The King and I
Casper
Willow
My Fair Lady
Lawrence of Arabia
Hook
Jurassic Park
The Sound of Music

There that list should entertain you for a week or two.

 

[Dolby CP-200]

Hmm one more I forgot Titanic

 

[ParadigmDawg]

'The Incredibles' has become my favorite movie for "showing off" my system. I play it where the dialog is fairly quite so everyone is just kicked back and thinking "this guy paid ...what... for this system" and then the action kicks in and it blows you away. You can see the grins come on everyone's face and then they just start laughing. So far after this audition all I have heard is wow...

 

[j_garcia]

Animals and small children run when I put on The Incredibles...

 

[ParadigmDawg]

My neighbor knocked on the door to make sure everything was ok and our houses arent that close together.

What fun!

 

[GlocksRock]

'The Incredibles' has become my favorite movie for "showing off" my system. I play it where the dialog is fairly quite so everyone is just kicked back and thinking "this guy paid ...what... for this system" and then the action kicks in and it blows you away. You can see the grins come on everyone's face and then they just start laughing. So far after this audition all I have heard is wow...

What chapter on the movie is this?

I've been using the opening chapter from Toy Story II to demo my system, so if I can find something better, or a little different I'd love to give it a try.

 

[Nuglets]

'The Incredibles' has become my favorite movie for "showing off" my system. I play it where the dialog is fairly quite so everyone is just kicked back and thinking "this guy paid ...what... for this system" and then the action kicks in and it blows you away. You can see the grins come on everyone's face and then they just start laughing. So far after this audition all I have heard is wow...

I think it would be more impressive if the dialog is where it should be as well as everything else so they are blown away by everything the system has to offer, clear accurate dialog as well as awesome special effects.

If you like it that people are not impressed by the dialog and question you when you tell them how much you paid, I'd be happy to trade you for my CC-170. They will definitely say "this guy paid what for this system" when they hear the horribly muddy dialog coming from that sucker.

 

[Nick250]

OK, that makes more sense. How about Eagles: Hell Freezes Over DTS? Lots of center channel activity blended with the mains. Maybe something that splits the difference like Pulp Fiction - fairly dialogue intensive, but will still fill the need for a little adrenaline Crash.

Excellent suggestion. HFO is very good bench mark DVD. I use it all the time for when I get a new piece of equipment or have moved stuff around etc.

Nick

 

[Nick250]

What chapter on the movie is this?

I've been using the opening chapter from Toy Story II to demo my system, so if I can find something better, or a little different I'd love to give it a try.

U-571, opening scene is my show off DVD.

Nick

 

[billnchristy]

House of Flying daggers.

If you cant hear the nature, subtile noises and breaths then take it back and get a better one.

The bean scene as well.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I think you missed the point.

I think it would be more impressive if the dialog is where it should be as well as everything else so they are blown away by everything the system has to offer, clear accurate dialog as well as awesome special effects.

If you like it that people are not impressed by the dialog and question you when you tell them how much you paid, I'd be happy to trade you for my CC-170. They will definitely say "this guy paid what for this system" when they hear the horribly muddy dialog coming from that sucker.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

The Incredibles" Typical Pixar Studios animation perfection. Adults, kids, anyone can watch this DVD and have a great time. Some well done, heart-stopping bass. Recording levels uneven during previews and movie intro. Sound is right on feature however.

"Building comes down", Scene 6 (0:22:59)*
"Syndrome", Scene 13 (0:52:01)*
"Ouch", Scene 15 (0:58:15)*
"Sticky balled", Scene 16 (01:02:30)*

What chapter on the movie is this?

I've been using the opening chapter from Toy Story II to demo my system, so if I can find something better, or a little different I'd love to give it a try.

 

[j_garcia]

House of Flying daggers.

The bean scene as well.

The scene is Echo Game. This is an excellent disc to use overall for sound, but make sure you watch it in Chinese on the SD DVD, because the English dub is poorly done, the sound seems quite muffled compared to the Chinese track. I picked this up on BluRay last week and it looks spectacular. Unfortunately, I don't have an HDMI receiver yet so I can't listen to the lossless audio track....