Good Scene to test surrounds

Gladiator---Hell Unleashed

Gladiator Chpt. 7 I think (They take him out to give him a proper soldier's death - The blade gets stuck from frost - When he throws the sword to hit the guy on the horse you feel the sword go swooshing overhead - a little scary)

Any THX movie like Terminator, Toy Story with THX intro scene seems to really use the surrounds and pans across the room.

Gladiator is a must if you're 7.1. Arrows shoot from the front center to the rear center. Great rumbling bass in the battle scenes also.

the best that i have heard so far is the finding nemo dvd it has a system check for video and audio. do this first then see the thx robot with the cow mooing toy in his hand it really is fantastic,you will not be dissapointed.
regards harry

I like Dark City for surround sound testing as it has superior cohesiveness throughout the entire movie. The pressure of the surround - atmospherics will snap into focus if you nail it and form a pressure like envelopement around you. The scene in True Lies where the dwebe bolts from the table in the restaurant running up the left wall of your room will expose a gap in the left main and left rear speaker. Switch inputs and calibrate right side. Dragonslayer has some excellent swooshing rear pans as the dragon flies around you. Opening rain scene in Crimson Tide. Opening scene in Desperado where the clicking revolves around room. Opening scene in Outbreak , especially when rocket launches from your right shoulder. These are but a few.

First scene from Final Destination-II works every time. I hope you have a big sub-woofer! (Use the DTS soundtrack)

Diana Krull live in Paris is a great one for DTS surround too!

Eagles Hell freezes over track-1 DTS

Good luck

Hello Captain,

I've recently been partial to "XXX" with Vin Diesel. The opening scene where the guy shoots the bolt, off screen, into the wood door and repels down has shaken people out of there seat more then once. Also, when he steals the senators car, a lot of rear channel info in that scene as well.......John

The Matrix, lobby shooting scene. X-Men, rain storm at the concentration camp, you think you're going to get wet.

The Jackel
with Bruce Willis, Richard Gear, and Jack Black

Go to the scene where Bruce willis is testing out the gun.

This scene will certainly test the capabilitys of your surrounds for dynamics and clarity under fire.

Just be careful not to convince your neighbors that you are shooting the crap out of your house.

hahahhaa

Try the movie "Top Gun". There are scenes were the jets should move to the rear speakers. As I recall, the sound track has a few diagonal fly-overs.

I cannot imagine how you could 'test' it with a scene although that might let you know that the rear channels were working. A test disc with signals and music, like the Chesky DVD-A or Telarc SACD, would be better.