Dog Day Afternoon

I rented 'Dog Day Afternoon' from Blockbuster on DVD. The weirdest thing happened: only the center speaker came "alive" on the 1050. I tried to go with coax, 2 different opticals, and I even tried switching sides to non-letterbox. Has anyone ever seen this happen?
Fletch

If Amazon.com's info page is correct, that's a Dolby 2.0 Mono soundtrack -- so it's actually a Dolby 1.0 soundtrack. I would expect it to collapse entirely to the center channel. If you switch to stereo mode you can get the soundtrack from the mains only, which may or may not sound better.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Thanks for the research. I'm a little surprised that they would put a movie in mono on a DVD. I was a little frightened when only the center lit up, but I feel better now.
Fletch

No sweat. It occurred to me because I've run into it before, too. It's somewhat common on older movies that were originally produced in mono because it's easier to use a Dolby 2.0 Mono track than to try to get someone to go back and create a 5.1 mix for it.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

That happens to me fairly often with VHS tapes, too. Also, some of the higher channels on my cable system come through only in mono. The collapsing into the center channel thing seems annoying at first, but if you think about it, it's what really makes the most sense.

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

You've got to get off of cable! Digital TV is the way to go. The minute I switched over to the optical input for regular TV viewing, there was a ton more sound out of my rears. If there is one thing I can't complain about DirecTV is that their sound is very, very good. I think they are up to about 20 channels of 5.1. Also, a lot of the regular shows and movies on ABC are now in 5.1. I get a warm-fuzzy when the rear center channel lights up on regular TV!
Fletch

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Fletch:
[B]You've got to get off of cable! Digital TV is the way to go.
--------------------------------------------- has directv and dish network merged yet? does it matter witch you buy if they are going to be one company?

Here's a link to DirecTV's site about the merger:
http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/aboutus/Merger.jsp

It's not a done deal yet. I am in favor of it because they have so much redundant programming (nearly 100%!) when it goes through there will be plenty more HD and 5.1 I think. BTW - DirecTV doesn't send 5.1 on locals, I get it off the air.
Fletch

Yeah, but after the merger, will we be left with a monopoly that can charge what it wants?

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

This thread may be veering a little off topic, but... I don't see it as being a monopoly. There will always be cable to turn to. It would be REALLY easy (in terms of simplicity, not emotions) to get a cable install at my house. If their prices went up too much, I'd probably switch. Right now DirecTV is cheaper than Digital Cable in my area. Even if DirecTV's prices went up 10-20%, I don't think I would get that upset as long as they took advantage of their increased capacity by giving me more HD and 5.1 broadcasts.
Fletch

My brother-in law and I have basically the same channel line-up except Im digital cable and he is Directv. He pays $30 less a month, all his channels are digital(not half like my cable). My advantage is local channels wthout an outside antenna. With the deals satellite is offering right now I would be a fool not to switch.

I'd switch... if my apartment faced South. :-(

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

Yep, I love my DirecTV for exactly those reasons. All of my programming is digital. No need to switch between analog and digital inputs based on what channel I'm watching. And for the money, we get a lot more programming than we would with digital cable. Plus, here in Seattle, my locals are available via my satellite feed as well.