When timecode is lost, the unit "freewheels" for 4 seconds or so through the rest of the file, emptying it's buffer of timecode info. It will not jump to another trailer or to another reel unless that timecode is in the buffer. It will not be in the buffer until it is read off the film by the DTS reader.

The DTS reader will not read timecode from a projector running offspeed by more than 5%. A CD-ROM is not like a record, it won't slow down, it simply stops playing.

Yes, the DTS players can work properly also when speed is more or less 5% of 24 fps. But can the player adjust its playing speed to compensate little variations? Once I tried to move with my hands the print before entering the timecode readers and the sound after few seconds changed its speed. So I thought that, in the speed range, DTS players are able to make little corrections.

About splicing analog trailers to DTS trailer, I never tried (in Italy, unfortunately, we don't have DTS encoded trailers...) but I think that if a trailer is well done it will have an "end of trailer" tag at the end of the trailer so that you'll have your player drop out of digital at the exact point where the trailer finish.
Many times I saw my player dropping to analog at the end of the show also if the projector was still runnning at the end of credits with timecode still present on the print.
Finally, if a trailer before the film is in the same file of the reel 1, cutting the trailer and adding a DD or SR trailer will cause the player to go forward with the first 4/5 seconds of reel 1. There aren't problems if after that trailer you splice a DTS encoded trailer (like a THX trailer). Karen can correct me if I'm wrong.

What also is weird is that the UA Blade Runner 2 (Odyssey) has DTS timecode (at least the first ones did, not sure if they still do) but there was never any DTS audio for them on any disc ever made! Sounds like DTS has the Mann thing and the UA thing backwards!

As far as getting film that has timecode and no discs - like policy trailers - it could have been that they were going to make the trailer in DTS and put down timecode when the print was struck. Then, for whatever reason, the client backed out and no discs were made. We don't randomly print timecode on film for the fun of it. We only do it if someone approaches us to do their film/trailer in DTS.

Antonio, yes, DTS will compensate for speed fuctuactions with 5% of 24fps. More or less than that, DTS will not be able to read the timecode and revert to analog or never start.

I am not sure what you mean about a trailer being part of reel one. If you mean it is part of reel one of the feature, I've never seen that and we never arrange it in that way. Each and every trailer has it's own serial number and is assinged reel 14. The feature is always a different serial number and starts with reel one.

What could be happening is that some of the timecoded film for the trailer was left on when attaching the feature.

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Thanks for your reply.
As I wrote we don't have DTS trailers in Italy (do you know why?). I saw sometimes some dts encoded trailer shipped with the movie, at the head of reel 1. I thought that that kind of trailers were recorded in the same file of reel 1.

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Take a close look at this. First thing is the fact that the Universal logo's audio starts on the final frames of the attached trailer's fade out. (That is hard to see in this picture, but it goes about 3 frames past the lab joint.) Next, there is a nice audio blip dead center of this picture, which means the film must be cut one frame before the titles finish fading out. Adding more problems, the dts timecode for the feature starts at the end of the trailer, meaning that if your automation is not configured to force pulse the processor back into analog or into a mute at that point, the first bits of the Universal logo will play while the 4 second dts buffer runs out. As if that isn't enough, even just looking at the analog track here reveals that the first bit crescendo of the Universal logo is completely cut off! That's right, it just cuts right in about 1/4 second too late. When listening to this splice in dts, the player couldn't get up to speed in time (with the new 32x Teac drives too), so the first fraction of a second had the Universal logo cut on from the analog track, followed a split second later by the switch into digital. These sort of errors simply can not be remedied by the projectionists. This is a lab defect.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE AT THE LAB??? I would just love to be that guy who walks calmly into a lab, finds the guy responsible for this continuing nonsense and gives him a good slap in the face followed by my yelling "WAKE UP!" in his face.

Brad, if that is the cut negative that was supplied to the lab, the fault likely lies upstream of the lab.

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