Safest thing to do with sterio source material

Anything and everything to do with DCP-o-matic.
funkytwig
Posts: 72
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2014 9:37 am

Safest thing to do with sterio source material

Post by funkytwig »

Is it best to simplely encode stereo or 5.1 (leaving the other channels blank)?

if the later is mapping L and R to center channels a good idea?

Regards,
Ben
funkytwig
Posts: 72
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2014 9:37 am

Re: Safest thing to do with sterio source material

Post by funkytwig »

I am fairly sure I did this a while ago and it worked but was wondering if it was considered bad practice. Cant remember who suggested it.
swanpool
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Dec 03, 2013 12:44 pm

Re: Safest thing to do with sterio source material

Post by swanpool »

I have only recently tried the 5.1 encoding of stereo files. For some files this works well but for others I would prefer to encode stereo and playback using a Prologic setting on the CP750.
Initially I was going to encode all stereo to 5.1 upmixer B, decoding to Discrete on the CP750. This was to overcome a problem we sometimes have with stereo encoded trailers having an discrete decoding setting for the CP750 and we loose voice output.
Now I am preferring to continue with a stereo decode of stereo files with the Prologic decode setting for playback.
Regards,
Peter
Carsten
Posts: 2804
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2014 9:11 pm
Location: Germany

Re: Safest thing to do with sterio source material

Post by Carsten »

There is an explanation of the various upmixers in the manual:

http://dcpomatic.com/manual/html/ch07.html

I played around with these from time to time. Some material sounds nice with one, but not so nice with another.

In general, I would suggest the following:

If the source/DCP contains mostly music (like background music accompanying slides, etc.), leave it in plain stereo. You MAY try the two 5.1 upmixers A or B , but only if you can test the result in a real cinema. Best is to create three DCPs with all three options at once, then play them at a cinema, and choose the one you like most. But DO listen through all three versions completely before you make your choice!

If the source material contains dialogue, music with dialogue, like films, ads, etc., use the Mid-Side decoder. This will try to place dialogue on the center and leave stereo music on L and R. This is also more predictable. I would prefer this also for short films, student films, etc., where they only created a stereo mix. Unfortunately, some students/amateurs will also record dialogue in stereo and keep it in stereo through the editing, this may not work well with the Mid-Side decoder.

Again, make two versions at once, two separate DCPs, or an OV and and VF, and try both at the cinema.

- Carsten