My perception, from the edges of, but not within, the film industry is that one will find some DVD’s largely maintaining original theatrical mix characteristics while at other times a DVD-specific re-mix was done with home theater as the goal. What is done with regard to audio for DVD is a production choice, made for a mix of artistic, budgetary and philosophic reasons. There are no DVD release audio police to make sure there is consistency. One person may think, “I’ll change the emphasis to help the home listener.” Another person will think, “I don’t know in what type of environment this audio will be played. I’ll leave it up to the user to address his or her system/environment needs.” And, regardless of whether a certain type of frequency emphasis is or is not included in the audio of a DVD release, it is only one of many variables in the way the audio mastering turns out. In another post there was even a mild bit of ranting over people with authority in a production who are not fully talented in audio making decisions that adversely affect the audio mastering outcome.

In any case, a THX-certified receiver I was using prior to the 950 had a compensation for ‘theater emphasis’ that could be turned on or off per the user’s preference. The 950 has a ‘theater compensation’ option for much the same reason. See page 34 of the 950 user’s manual. I haven’t noticed any specific labeling on any DVD’s to help me know in advance whether the DVD’s audio still contained ‘theater emphasis’ or not. Maybe I just don’t have the energy to ‘fight’ the system and hope for some standard labeling that will let me know, but it basically comes down to this: if I play a DVD and certain things should too brash, I’ll try engaging the compensation to see if I think the playback sounds more realistic or not.

Regardless of what techniques may or may not be used in forming a surround mix, I, for one, have had the experience of finding some mixes so convincingly realistic that it is unsettling – I think I’m hearing things that might be happening in reality instead of sound from my HT. My applause and appreciation for the sound engineers on such a release. At the other end of the spectrum, I’ve also heard mixes that were merely causing ‘sound to come from that box over there.’ The time and talent available or allowed in certain productions makes a huge difference both in using technology to enhance the listeners experience, and/or in the skill of overcoming the limitations of the technology.

As listeners, we can only do so much. Do what you can, within reason, or at least not too far outside of reason, then hopefully you can relax a bit and enjoy!