Miramax: Hero BD release without lossless original audio track!

Posted on August 30, 2009 at 12:47 by Ulrik.Tweet this

Well, good job Miramax! After several tries, a studio finally manages to release a Blu-ray Disc release of Zhang Yimou's Hero where the picture quality doesn't remind me of a mediocre DVD release just to neglect another important factor of the HD medium.

Audio: This is a flaw - the DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 4200 kbps is wonderfully dynamic and strong - but it is only for the English DUB! The original Mandarin Chinese audio is relegated to a 640 kbps at 5.1. So, they give the DUB a lossless HD and the film's original audio isn't even rate DTS.

According to the review on DVD Beaver, Miramax only included a lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio track for the dreadful English dub while the original Mandarin audio (as well as the French and Spanish dub) only got a lossy Dolby Digital track running at 640 kbps! Just for comparison, the over five year old Korean Ultimate Edition DVD release includes a full rate DTS track running at 1509 kbps!
Of course, many buyers of Blu-ray Discs rather look for the improved picture quality possible on the medium to show off their new shiny HDTV set than the ability to enjoy lossless audio tracks, but when Miramax is asking for a premium price for this release (44.99US$ MSRP, currently 29.99US$ at Amazon.com), they should also offer premium quality! For me (and I hope I'm not the only one) this means to include the original audio in the best quality possible!
[via AVS Forum]

Tags: hero, usa, china, miramax, zhang yimou