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Topic: The CAP code

Dwayne Caldwell
Master Film Handler

Posts: 323
From: Rockwall, TX, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 05-03-2000 07:26 PM

I don't know. Contacting the MPAA directly for a demonstration sounds like an awful big bear trap. I wouldn't want anyone to think I'm a pirate. Personally, I can wait for any release on video. Are you sure contacting the MPAA directly is safe, John? As Joe said above, it sounds a bit suspicious.

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The man with the magic hands.

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Charles Lubner
Film Handler

Posts: 78
From: Milwaukee, WI USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 05-04-2000 01:03 AM

Why don't we just drop this whole CAP code argument before John Pytlak gets pissed off and leaves the forum? I recall a similar thread about HPS-4000...tempers flared and John F. Allen hasn't been heard from since. If John P. can't/won't give us info because legally the MPAA owns all information about the CAP code, let's leave him alone. He has contributed plenty to this forum and we shouldn't continue to badger him.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 05-04-2000 01:44 AM

Charles,

No one is forcing John to respond. He is however the only person on the forum (other than a couple of guys from Fotokem) who claim to have any knowledge of the CAP code whatsoever. John has been around the forum long enough to know no one is really mad at him, but that just saying "hey, believe this" without any sort of proof at all is kinda ridiculous. We're all just having fun and in the process, each of us is trying to convince ourselves with possible senarios that "could" be feasible and everyone is also trying to find flaws in each other's senarios as well. Whether anyone gets it correct or not really doesn't matter, because the MPAA would be foolish to actually explain it or confirm if anyone actually DID figure it out. A demo however would prove not only it's existence but it's power. If John didn't have a great sense of humor, he would've left a long time ago. Remember the classic thread titled "Kodak Projection Training"? (You can find it through a search.) The CAP code thread is not harming anyone.

John F. Allen's thread is a completely different story. He was greatly insulting many well respected engineers indirectly and was posting completely false information on a Dallas installation. He is always welcome back, but not if he is going to continue to insult other engineers and post about the Dallas system which I have first hand knowledge was nothing more than incorrect information on his part. (If someone wants to talk about JFA, please start a new thread, not here.)

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Dwayne Caldwell
Master Film Handler

Posts: 323
From: Rockwall, TX, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 05-04-2000 02:20 AM

Just thought I'd further push this thread to the hundred post mark. I agree with Brad. No one here is trying to "break" John into giving us the answer nor are we trying to piss him off. I'm not sure if I speak for Carl though, but I've read the John F. Allen thread and it seemed like everyone wanted a shot at that man. I'm sorry I missed my chance. And I'm sure that no one misses Johnny boy where as saying that we're trying to oust John out by frustrating him is just ridiculous. Personally, I'd like to see this topic surpass the HPS 4000 in posts. Let the thread go on!

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The man with the magic hands.

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Carl Welles
Film Handler

Posts: 82
From: Cali
Registered: Jun 99

posted 05-07-2000 06:23 AM

I was breaking down a print tonight and noticed some printed numbers on the sprockets every so often. What's the point of that? Surely THAT isn't the CAP code. That wouldn't show on the screen. Anyone else ever notice this?

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Jeffry L. Johnson
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 809
From: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 05-07-2000 01:50 PM

Have you checked the frame adjacent to those numbers by the sprockets?

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 05-07-2000 01:58 PM

If I'm interpreting the previous post correctly, the numbers along the edge of the film (which usually appear along with the words "EASTMAN SAFETY FILM" or something like that) just specify the type of filmstock (usually something like 5386 for acetate-base EXR color print stock or 2386 for ESTAR-base color print stock and now some number that I can't remember for ESTAR-base Vision color print stock), the year of its manufacture (until recently, Eastman prints had a series of shapes to encode the date; now they just use the actual year), and other such information. This latent edge coding goes back to the silent era and is also present on films for still cameras. The date code can be interesting for helping to identify an old print.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 05-07-2000 05:18 PM

Perhaps the CAP code is real. I'm not going to get into whether it exists or not anymore, simply because I know the answer. But is it effective in every case in which it is used?

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Jason R. Weinsteiger
Film Handler

Posts: 34
From: Kutztown, PA, USA
Registered: May 2000

posted 05-07-2000 10:28 PM

Boy, you guys sure are curious...

i don't believe that the CAP code exists, but i don't care much either

jasoN

(don't worry, your secret's safe with me

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"That's what life is - a series of down endings. All Jedi had was a bunch of muppets." -Dante Hicks

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Dwayne Caldwell
Master Film Handler

Posts: 323
From: Rockwall, TX, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 05-08-2000 07:35 AM

Hey. Didn't Chris Rhode say he was going to contact the MPAA to put an end to this posting once and for all? Has anyone heard from the man? Could it be he got to smell the sweet smell of splicing cement because of his inquiring mind? Guess I'll have to make other MISSING article pretty soon.

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The man with the magic hands.

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 05-08-2000 05:07 PM

Let's get it over 100 posts!

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Better Projection Pays!

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 05-09-2000 09:43 AM

Giving the benefit of the doubt and assuming the CAP code really is real AND effective...I wonder how it affects dye transfer prints. Can these prints be coded just as easily as regular prints? Is it more expensive to do so? Would it show up as easily to the pirate squad at the MPAA?

I have a feeling the answer is "yes", but am wondering how this would affect them. Being an incredibly huge fan of dye transfer prints, I'd hate for something like the CAP code prevent widespread release of dye transfer prints.

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 05-11-2000 06:00 AM

Brad:

The equipment used for putting CAP Code on prints could be adapted to work with the current Technicolor dye transfer process. Since Technicolor considers the details of their process proprietary, I don't know if they have done so, or whether CAP Code was used on any dye transfer prints.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 05-11-2000 02:41 PM

I certainly HOPE they can put CAP coding on dye transfer prints. I got screwed last year and didn't get a "Toy Story 2" in dye transfer and am hoping there will be more prints like this made this year. Perhaps Dinosaur? BV seems to be the only studio endorsing it, but now they've gotten lost in the digital craze.

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 05-13-2000 04:53 PM

Mr Vee will probably get me but here is how cap code works
It is a matrix of dots printed in a controlled pattern slightlightly less density than the rest of the scene.
It varies per lab in fashion and repeates every several feet on selected reels and it can be a fixed number code or in some lab cases a matrix of dots that must be summed to create the code over a number of frames
It is done with a small block on the printer head that flashes the matrix of dots at a highenough burst as not to smere as the film is in continous motion
funny there is a funny smell in the air

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