Dolby Pro Logic was really remarkable. Back in the LaserDisc days, so many of those PCM Stereo/Pro Logic tracks were mixed and mastered so damn well. Sometimes they honestly sound like 5.1 even though they are not. Some of my favourite soundmixes for some movies are still the Pro Logic tracks on their LaserDisc editions. I remember being wowed by Pro Logic II because it could create fake 5.1 from 2.0 information. My receiver has Pro Logic II on it but when I watch LaserDiscs, I just use good old Pro Logic. I do it like that because I like to listen to the PCM Stereo/Pro Logic mixes exactly as they are mixed and mastered.
Yeah, I still love good ol' Pro Logic too. I'm kicking myself for not picking up a dusty old Proceed P-A-V (one of the processors I showed in this video) that I randomly tripped across at an antique auction house/thrift store in Salem, MA last year. My logical side talked me out of it, but I remember drooling over that thing in old Home Theater magazines. I'd love to get that and an old Atlantic Technology speaker setup and live it up like it was 1994. Haha
I love to have fun with old school audio video equipment too. Old school receivers and speakers often get donated to the local Salvation Army Thrift Store in my area. How many years did you use a Pro Logic system for before you bought your first Rotel 5.1 receiver?
@@Riddler95 I think it was just about 5 years. Before that I would cheat and run two sets of stereo speakers in the front and back using a JVC receiver with A/B speaker outs that you could drive simultaneously, but they were just playing the same L/R signal.
That sounds clever. I don't think that I have heard of that concept before. Culturedog, this is kind of random, but is it true that you can use a regular yellow RCA Video Cable as a Digital Coaxial Audio Cable?
Great video, but you forgot to mention Ultrastereo. The clone of Dolby Surround that was used because it was cheaper due to licensing issues. I know a few films used it(The Player, The Last Seduction and Hoop Dreams). I think a few laserdiscs have it on their label information, on the jacket; basically I think those discs with it on, play okay on a Dolby Prologic receiver and amplifier.
Thanks man! UltraStereo and DTS Stereo make an appearance around 5:30 or so. They'll be back a bit in the final episode too. And yup, thankfully the Prologic receivers treated them the same as any other matrixed surround track and would play them back fine. I remember noticing the logo for the first time in the 90s and was thinking "what the heck is this all about?" Haha
P. S. - Yeah, only starting to know about Ultrastereo from the Home Cinema magazines mentioning it in the 1990s. I started to notice it on the end credits of some films.
If anyone doubts the power of laserdisc PCM dolby surround audio, just watch any Disney movie and compare it to the 4k bluray audio mix. The 4k bluray mixes sound so anemic, but no power or oomph or good solid bass. Just watched The Lion King of laserdisc and it sounded just like it did in the theater. When I watched the 4k bluray "dolby atmos" mix, I was wondering if something was wrong with my receiver settings. The laserdisc blows it away audio-wise.
My friend recently picked up a bunch of Audio equipment and in the lot he has a Sansui surround unit from the 1986 that's crazy how people wanted all the channels back then.
That's awesome! I'm trying to remember when I first heard proper surround sound. Usually it would just be someone running dual-stereo speaker sets with the same L/R signal going to the front and back of the room. I was guilty of doing that for a while too, but it was pretty fun sounding at times. I remember hearing Top Gun and Crossroads on my uncle's multi-speaker system, but I don't know if it was official Pro-Logic gear.
Thanks man! Yeah, I love listening to LDs through headphones too. I still do that with the LD-S1 in my bedroom sometimes late at night while my wife is sleeping.
This was nice treat to watched today after work. This series is shaping up nicely. I think a lot of us are learning a thing or two from you. My first experience with pro logic dates back quite a few years ago. I had just started to really get into movies. Sadly I didnt have much money for fancy stuff. I was at a thrift store one day and I saw a Technics receiver with 5 speakers, and a Technics CD player that housed 100 CDs. I bought it all and took it home with me. And I watched a TON of VHS wired to that sucker on a 20 inch Fisher CRT. Movies like Alien, Twister, the animated Lord of the Rings, Spawn. Just lots of movies I found for dirt cheap in the wild, many of which I still have. It sounded pretty decent actually. Dolby dipped in to a lot of stuff way back when. There were a handful of games that used Dolby Surround on the Super Nintendo which was kinda cool. Sometimes games can have a mix of two different sound outputs. Yakuza and Metal Gear Solid 2 on the PS2 for example, use a full Dolby Digital surround for the cut scenes, but then it drops down to pro logic 2 for the actual game play. I really found a lot of that interesting. I had a 3DO when I had that Technics receiver and played a ton of games that all sounded great. Super Street Fighter and a few others had some great use of the surround sound. Great video Sam. I can't wait for the next one!
Thanks man! Those old Technics receivers were fantastic beasts! My buddy had one (and the ridiculously huge speakers to match) and we cranked that to ridiculous levels on the regular. We had a Technics receiver in the house growing up too, but sadly it was stereo only. I wish I had been able to con my parents into getting Pro-Logic gear when it dropped, but alas... haha
@@Culturedog way back in the 90s, when my parents were still together, I had the life. My mom was a nurse and my dad had a tow truck. We had an RPTV and a pro logic receiver. Never LDs sadly but the sound was awesome. We had the biggest TV on the block. And Star Wars was awesome. I remember coming home one night in the middle of winter. It was dark, and my oldman had Halloween on. And as soon as I walked through the door, the scene with the bedroom and the headstone of Judith Meyers overtop of the girl on the bed, that music. It filled the room. It was one of the first times I was ever scared by a movie. Good times lol
Very curious how the LD surround mix translates through PLIIz & the new updated "dolby surround" Dolby has recently packed all of its formats into one package now calling it simply "dolby audio". So whether your rocking an old PL receiver, an AC3 Pre/Proc, or new Atmos rig, it will all work exactly as intended. Ive confirmed even the latest TV broadcasts work flawlessly with vintage dolby decoders. Kewl shit if you ask me : D
The evolution of Dolby's matrix surround technology is definitely cool! I haven't listened to LDs on anything beyond PLIIx 7.1, but even that is pretty capable and sounds great with the old Dolby Surround tracks.
I'm somewhat inconsistent on it - I have a beefy center channel, so sometimes I'll keep ProLogic on to direct everything into that speaker. But other times I like the larger room sound from switching over to 2 channel mode so my left and right mains do all the work. I leave it up to my current mood and what feels best for the source material.
One thing I've wondered about. I've been hesitant to spread it around as fact since I'm not 100% certain, but isn't the dolby surround encoding pretty much the same as the one that was used for Quadraphonic records in the 70s? So if you play a Quadraphonic record through your amp and set it to pro logic, you can actually get the proper four channels out of it.
It's a different matrix than the old Sansui decoders used, so Pro Logic would only pull a bandwidth-limited mono surround out of the signal and send that to the two surround speakers. And of course a center channel too, but you can always turn that off. Pro Logic II, however, has stereo surrounds and would be a better fit for Quad recordings, especially with the center channel turned off. The PLII Music mode would seem to be the natural option, but I've actually heard people had better luck with the Cinema mode. Some people have also had good results with DTS Neo:6 Cinema. In any case, it won't be an exact extraction, but the results might be decent enough.
Would you say HD tvs are not quite as loud as CRT analogue tvs? I notice the old ones seem to have more base to them and you didn't have to turn them up as loud when watching cable. If you're playing blu ray through the tv speakers it sounds more like the older analogue tvs except much better with louder HD sound, it seems blu ray is the only way to get the best out of your tv speakers...… DVD or cable doesn't cut it. I wonder what stereo mix the cable companies use? A lot of times it doesn't sound very good but sometimes it can sound great.
Yeah, more attention was definitely paid to sound quality on the old CRT sets - probably because they assume everyone now has a soundbar already at the very least. The sound on HDTVs seems more of an afterthought now.
Yup, I've been working on redoing and updating my whole LD collection series, but splitting it up by genre this time. Still have to bust out my horror DVD and Blu-Ray collections at some point too.
Dolby Pro Logic was really remarkable. Back in the LaserDisc days, so many of those PCM Stereo/Pro Logic tracks were mixed and mastered so damn well. Sometimes they honestly sound like 5.1 even though they are not. Some of my favourite soundmixes for some movies are still the Pro Logic tracks on their LaserDisc editions.
I remember being wowed by Pro Logic II because it could create fake 5.1 from 2.0 information.
My receiver has Pro Logic II on it but when I watch LaserDiscs, I just use good old Pro Logic. I do it like that because I like to listen to the PCM Stereo/Pro Logic mixes exactly as they are mixed and mastered.
Yeah, I still love good ol' Pro Logic too. I'm kicking myself for not picking up a dusty old Proceed P-A-V (one of the processors I showed in this video) that I randomly tripped across at an antique auction house/thrift store in Salem, MA last year.
My logical side talked me out of it, but I remember drooling over that thing in old Home Theater magazines. I'd love to get that and an old Atlantic Technology speaker setup and live it up like it was 1994. Haha
I love to have fun with old school audio video equipment too. Old school receivers and speakers often get donated to the local Salvation Army Thrift Store in my area.
How many years did you use a Pro Logic system for before you bought your first Rotel 5.1 receiver?
@@Riddler95 I think it was just about 5 years. Before that I would cheat and run two sets of stereo speakers in the front and back using a JVC receiver with A/B speaker outs that you could drive simultaneously, but they were just playing the same L/R signal.
That sounds clever. I don't think that I have heard of that concept before.
Culturedog, this is kind of random, but is it true that you can use a regular yellow RCA Video Cable as a Digital Coaxial Audio Cable?
@@Riddler95 i do. And i dont see a problem
Pro Logic II does create TRUE Stereo surround, the .1 is summed from all channels
Great video, but you forgot to mention Ultrastereo. The clone of Dolby Surround that was used because it was cheaper due to licensing issues. I know a few films used it(The Player, The Last Seduction and Hoop Dreams). I think a few laserdiscs have it on their label information, on the jacket; basically I think those discs with it on, play okay on a Dolby Prologic receiver and amplifier.
Thanks man! UltraStereo and DTS Stereo make an appearance around 5:30 or so. They'll be back a bit in the final episode too.
And yup, thankfully the Prologic receivers treated them the same as any other matrixed surround track and would play them back fine.
I remember noticing the logo for the first time in the 90s and was thinking "what the heck is this all about?" Haha
Whoops. Missed your mention of Ultrastereo. My mistake.
P. S. - Yeah, only starting to know about Ultrastereo from the Home Cinema magazines mentioning it in the 1990s. I started to notice it on the end credits of some films.
If anyone doubts the power of laserdisc PCM dolby surround audio, just watch any Disney movie and compare it to the 4k bluray audio mix. The 4k bluray mixes sound so anemic, but no power or oomph or good solid bass. Just watched The Lion King of laserdisc and it sounded just like it did in the theater. When I watched the 4k bluray "dolby atmos" mix, I was wondering if something was wrong with my receiver settings. The laserdisc blows it away audio-wise.
Yeah, those LD PCM tracks are a force to be reckoned with for sure! Really gives that classic "you are there in the theater" feel!
My friend recently picked up a bunch of Audio equipment and in the lot he has a Sansui surround unit from the 1986 that's crazy how people wanted all the channels back then.
That's awesome! I'm trying to remember when I first heard proper surround sound. Usually it would just be someone running dual-stereo speaker sets with the same L/R signal going to the front and back of the room. I was guilty of doing that for a while too, but it was pretty fun sounding at times. I remember hearing Top Gun and Crossroads on my uncle's multi-speaker system, but I don't know if it was official Pro-Logic gear.
Awesome work, Sam! My LD player has a headphone jack, and I often enjoy hooking up a nice set of modern headphones and rocking it.
Thanks man! Yeah, I love listening to LDs through headphones too. I still do that with the LD-S1 in my bedroom sometimes late at night while my wife is sleeping.
There’s even some TH-cam content that sounds good in Dolby Pro Logic II when encoded properly
Excellent video series! I'm amazed at how much you remember about those days! :) Keep up the great work! :) Sam from the Machiwoomiapoo channel. :)
Thanks buddy! I figure I better make as many of these videos as I can before I start forgetting all this stuff! Haha
This was nice treat to watched today after work. This series is shaping up nicely. I think a lot of us are learning a thing or two from you. My first experience with pro logic dates back quite a few years ago. I had just started to really get into movies. Sadly I didnt have much money for fancy stuff. I was at a thrift store one day and I saw a Technics receiver with 5 speakers, and a Technics CD player that housed 100 CDs. I bought it all and took it home with me. And I watched a TON of VHS wired to that sucker on a 20 inch Fisher CRT. Movies like Alien, Twister, the animated Lord of the Rings, Spawn. Just lots of movies I found for dirt cheap in the wild, many of which I still have. It sounded pretty decent actually. Dolby dipped in to a lot of stuff way back when. There were a handful of games that used Dolby Surround on the Super Nintendo which was kinda cool. Sometimes games can have a mix of two different sound outputs. Yakuza and Metal Gear Solid 2 on the PS2 for example, use a full Dolby Digital surround for the cut scenes, but then it drops down to pro logic 2 for the actual game play. I really found a lot of that interesting. I had a 3DO when I had that Technics receiver and played a ton of games that all sounded great. Super Street Fighter and a few others had some great use of the surround sound. Great video Sam. I can't wait for the next one!
Thanks man! Those old Technics receivers were fantastic beasts! My buddy had one (and the ridiculously huge speakers to match) and we cranked that to ridiculous levels on the regular.
We had a Technics receiver in the house growing up too, but sadly it was stereo only. I wish I had been able to con my parents into getting Pro-Logic gear when it dropped, but alas... haha
@@Culturedog way back in the 90s, when my parents were still together, I had the life. My mom was a nurse and my dad had a tow truck. We had an RPTV and a pro logic receiver. Never LDs sadly but the sound was awesome. We had the biggest TV on the block. And Star Wars was awesome. I remember coming home one night in the middle of winter. It was dark, and my oldman had Halloween on. And as soon as I walked through the door, the scene with the bedroom and the headstone of Judith Meyers overtop of the girl on the bed, that music. It filled the room. It was one of the first times I was ever scared by a movie. Good times lol
Very curious how the LD surround mix translates through PLIIz & the new updated "dolby surround"
Dolby has recently packed all of its formats into one package now calling it simply "dolby audio". So whether your rocking an old PL receiver, an AC3 Pre/Proc, or new Atmos rig, it will all work exactly as intended. Ive confirmed even the latest TV broadcasts work flawlessly with vintage dolby decoders. Kewl shit if you ask me : D
The evolution of Dolby's matrix surround technology is definitely cool! I haven't listened to LDs on anything beyond PLIIx 7.1, but even that is pretty capable and sounds great with the old Dolby Surround tracks.
Imported the Yamaha APD-1 from Japan recently, don’t need anything else anymore
The surround channel was bandwidth 100hz to 7khz
Question, Sam - if you are watching a movie in mono, what setting do you switch the receiver to? Just 2 channel?
I'm somewhat inconsistent on it - I have a beefy center channel, so sometimes I'll keep ProLogic on to direct everything into that speaker. But other times I like the larger room sound from switching over to 2 channel mode so my left and right mains do all the work. I leave it up to my current mood and what feels best for the source material.
One thing I've wondered about. I've been hesitant to spread it around as fact since I'm not 100% certain, but isn't the dolby surround encoding pretty much the same as the one that was used for Quadraphonic records in the 70s? So if you play a Quadraphonic record through your amp and set it to pro logic, you can actually get the proper four channels out of it.
It's a different matrix than the old Sansui decoders used, so Pro Logic would only pull a bandwidth-limited mono surround out of the signal and send that to the two surround speakers. And of course a center channel too, but you can always turn that off.
Pro Logic II, however, has stereo surrounds and would be a better fit for Quad recordings, especially with the center channel turned off. The PLII Music mode would seem to be the natural option, but I've actually heard people had better luck with the Cinema mode. Some people have also had good results with DTS Neo:6 Cinema.
In any case, it won't be an exact extraction, but the results might be decent enough.
VHS had Pro Logic too
VHS also had a good amount of Widescreen releases too
Star Wars 1 on LaserDisc had some of that
Yeah, that's got some killer center surround action!
Would you say HD tvs are not quite as loud as CRT analogue tvs? I notice the old ones seem to have more base to them and you didn't have to turn them up as loud when watching cable. If you're playing blu ray through the tv speakers it sounds more like the older analogue tvs except much better with louder HD sound, it seems blu ray is the only way to get the best out of your tv speakers...… DVD or cable doesn't cut it. I wonder what stereo mix the cable companies use? A lot of times it doesn't sound very good but sometimes it can sound great.
Yeah, more attention was definitely paid to sound quality on the old CRT sets - probably because they assume everyone now has a soundbar already at the very least. The sound on HDTVs seems more of an afterthought now.
i love dolby surround on games i used a xa3051 altec lansing conected to a wii console
Hey man any chance you will do a horror laserdisc collection vid??
Yup, I've been working on redoing and updating my whole LD collection series, but splitting it up by genre this time. Still have to bust out my horror DVD and Blu-Ray collections at some point too.
Culturedog Awesome man!
👍
"Metric Butt-Tons" is a legitimate measurement. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.