Verify 5.1 on Stereo system?

[goliathmaroof]

Hello,

I'm working at a film festival where we receive a lot of mp4/H264 files with 5.1 sound.

The files will be screened in cinemas with Dolby Digital Cinema Sound Processors, but also in other locations with only stereo systems. Also the playback system will be different in each location, some will have PCs, some Laptops.

We are verifying every file before the festival so it doesn't have any drop frames, stuttering or audio errors.

The problem is : can I verify on my home system (laptop with no sound card, VLC player, stereo system ) the video files with 5.1 and then play them in the locations without something going wrong then? Or should i keep converting the 5.1 into Stereo, as we did last editions and everything worked fine.

 

[ssddx]

if you converted to stereo, you would only be left with stereo sound.... and it would only play out as stereo if you used that file on 5.1 systems.

a 5.1 movie should play in 2.0 properly without being converted without loss of audio. it should be downconverted on the fly by the video player you use. as an example - you can watch a movie on a 5.1 system (say, a dvd player on a home theater) and on your laptop with your laptop speakers only and still hear everything in the movie just fine. 5.1 sounds better for sure, but since audio is downconverted it doesnt much matter.

right clicking on the file, viewing properties, details tab should show if it was recorded in stereo or 5.1, likewise you may be able to see the channels listed in your video editing software. however, you would not be able to do a physical "does sound actually play in 5.1" test since you neither have 5.1 speakers nor a soundcard to do this. if you had a home theater system on your television which was 5.1, it had hdmi input and your laptop had hdmi output then you would be able to use that to test.

 

[goliathmaroof]

Problem is we receive a lot of independent films and we encountered a lot of audio errors (repetitive buzzing like they badly converted audio from 44khz to 48khz, sometimes they write the film to bluray without verifying it after from start to end and when we test it - it has drop frames or audio missing in some parts).

My fear is that I won't be able to find those subtle errors on my stereo system and when i play the movie in 5.1 cinema theatre with the 5.1 track i might find the LFE channel or other has problems.