It plays on Film4 quite regularly, wonder if it's the same master.
I agree the DTS-ES track was great. It would be interesting to see how the LD tracks compare
I have long had versions of Amazon from different locations, only in America there was 5.1 sound, the rest had stereo.
I think The Haunting is one of those movies that has roughly 6 different mixes:
Dolby Surround LRCS analog mix - made for theaters not equipped with DD 5.1 and was used in a 2.0 downfolded configuration on the VHS, US & JPN LDs (digital track), both the original 2000 US DVD and the 2001 DTS DVD, as well as some streaming prints.
Dolby Digital 5.1 - traditional 5.1 mix for Dolby Digital supported theaters and NOT EX ENCODED; Region 2 and 4 DVDs allegedly use this mix as well as HDTV masters and most streaming versions.
Dolby Digital 5.1 EX - EX coded with matrixed 6th channel for select theaters; featured on the US and JPN LDs (AC3 Analog Right via Dolby decoder) and the original 2000 US DVD.
DTS 5.1 theatrical - traditional 5.1 mix for DTS supported theaters and NOT ES ENCODED; Australian Umbrella BD probably uses this mix and would be the first to as no other home video release ever had it.
DTS-ES 6.1 Discrete - DTS competitor version to Dolby Digital EX; seen at few theaters set up for DTS-ES and is featured only on the 2001 US DTS DVD.
SDDS 8 channel mix - only ever seen theatrically at selected venues equipped with SDDS sound systems.
(This post was last modified: 2020-02-25, 07:52 AM by SpaceBlackKnight.)
The BD is out first week of March. Hopefully should receive it about two weeks after so will be checking out the audio mix on it immediately to see if it has the matrixed 6th channel
EX/ES tracks were designed to be backwards compatible with older systems, the theatrical formats were matrix encoded only (no discrete back surround channel). One 35mm print should have all the digital formats (AC-3, SDDS plus DTS timecode for the DTS CD-ROMs) plus the analog Lt-Rt track without the need for holding inventory for different formats going to differently equipped theatres.
I don't think any of the very first home EX/ES tracks had a flag for receivers to pick up, the mode had to be engaged manually. That being said I wouldn't be surprised if near-field remixing messed up the rear sound field if it wasn't specifically treated as an EX mix