There are other problems with those two THX auditoriums, but I'm not going to bore you with the details. That task is hereby left to the THX division instead, in case they ever actually do visit...

Then there is the case of a THX single-screen here in town. The auditorium's got a balcony (which effectively destroys any chance for good sound) and less than adequate seating unless you're six feet, and it's a miracle that it ever got THX certified. That theatre pretty much destroyed whatever faith i had for the THX division.

As for TAP, I've never heard ANY comments from TAP re theatres here, good or bad. Now, that could very well be a management problem but the fact remains. I haven't heard of one single evaluation of a theatre here, even though the TAP program is supposed to be world-wide (or perhaps I'm wrong about this, Ted?).

It goes something like...

"Dooo Dooo Dooo..." (sound effects of the Six Milion Dollar Man, zooming in with his bionic eye.)

Then this computer screen appears in their vision... (Like when Robocop homes in on the criminal.)

Then a monotone voice says, "UNACCEPTABLE".

Yeah, TAP took away my whip and told me not to punch out anyone in the theatre during an evaluation. I understand why the lawyers don't want to have direct contact between TAP evaluators and theatre personnel (if handled wrong, constructive criticism can escalate to destructive argument), but IMHO, fixing minor problems "on the spot" would be very helpful and usually appreciated by the theatre.

I'm sure Ted would welcome evaluations of films in the 1-800-PHONE-THX program by Film-Tech participants. See their website at http://www.thx.com/theatres/tap_800.html and enter your words of damnation or praise for other theatre's presentation quality. Remember to give the details.

I still encourage anyone who sees a problem at another theatre to immediately bring it to the attention of someone capable of fixing it. Sometimes getting to talk to THAT person is difficult, but the effort will be appreciated and worth it.

I also encourage theatres to "cultivate" a cadre of technically competent "movie buffs" to do subjective evaluations in exchange for free admission, using a form like the SMPTE Theatre Quality Evaluation Program or TAP.

------------------
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

Obviously, that's not TAP's fault.

Ari N.: Please e-mail me directly details of anything, AND EVERYTHING, that is wrong with the two THX screens you are referring to in your previous post. Please give me details and I will get it to the right person. I have to admit, reading what you said, "that the THX sub-woofers leaked into the two adjacent auditoriums," well, we don't have specs for neighboring auditoriums... and besides, why would anyone be seeing a movie in a non-THX room anyhow? Yes, I'm trying to be funny, kind of...

And TAP in Europe, rare. We do work out there occationally, and hopefully more in the future, but most of our focus is on the American, domestic market. When talking Quality Assurance internationally, you have to consider rejuvinated prints, many different labs, small print orders per region, and other variables that we don't face domestically... but hopefully, in the next few years, TAP will be just as popular (or unpopular) internationally as we are here in the States.

Brad M.: The Studios know from previous years' TAP Reports that after a few weekends, many prints are badly damaged... Hence, they don't send us out there to tell them the obvious. We attend the first show, or a show in the first day, to have the time to help fix any problems as soon as possible, so that the first weekend audiences get their money's worth.

And seriously, if you do have specific THX complaints, e-mail them to me directly and I'll try and take care of it.

And when I said we received two positive PHONE THX calls... we may have gotten more, but we focus on the problem calls, the ones we can do something about. If we have time to write down or pass along a compliment, great. Yet most of the time, people call up with complaints, of titles we're working on, as it reads in the "end credit."

Best to all,

Ted Costas
Manager, THX Theatre Alignment Program

Surely you agree that screening the first show of a brand new print is telling the studios the obvious fact that the prints are 99% of the time going to be fine. A month into the run would be FAR more helpful in my opinion. At least that way, the studios would know what theaters to send their junked screener prints to, since they will destroy whatever is sent to them anyway.

THX is a wonderful thing and I definitely support what TAP is trying to do. However, (opinion coming) sending out identical packets of information for TAP releases and checking only the very first performance of a print really doesn't do too much the way I see it. I can absolutely guarantee you those packets are not even opened in over half of the theaters nowadays because the projectionists know it will be an exact carbon copy of the last TAP alignment report they got. Half of the time those don't even show up until the Monday after the opening date anyway. Also, only the super biggie important theaters are ever checked. When is the last time the Village Twin in Whatever, USA was checked? If the studios really cared, they would let TAP be "the force" with power...meaning the power to pull a print from exhibition at that theater if something is found to be wrong. Alternatively, if theater level print damage is found, perhaps TAP could force the theater (with studio backing) to purchase a brand new print for the low, low price of $3000. Actions like those would make a difference. Sending out the same packets of instructions won't do anything. Has anyone else noticed that flyer that speaks of the "7 deadly projection sins" (or whatever it is called) completely fails to ever mention cleaning the projector?

Of course, all the THX-certified theatres here were built to be THX-certified in the first place. Those which were built to THX standards by Cinemark and then were allowed to become non-THX theatres definitely dropped in quality after they dropped their certification.

I think Ted is right; the only way rid ourselves of bad theaters is to let the patron "vote" with their dollars.

But as I said, that information needs to be made public, so the public can decide for themselves. As long as it remains within the "closed" confines of distribution and exhibition, (I feel) TAP effectiveness is drastically reduced and perhaps circumvented. For example, it is easy to imagine an owner (with a poor TAP rating) bribing a distributor to "look the other way" and still get product- or a distributor blackmailing the owner.

From the public's point of view, TAP is a black hole of information going in, but very little comming out. If we all *really* want to clean up the industry, bad theaters need to be exposed publicly.

Sending instructions for aligning A-Chains to who ever happens to open the mail at the theatre can't be good. It would be easy for a non-qualified person to "get lost" in the instructions and really FUBAR a sound system.

Been there, seen that!

What about a network of people who could visit theatres in a given area and inform owners if they needed to consult a technician? This way, there is no tinkering going on on the part of (although well meaning) non qualified "adjusters".

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