thank god you ended with 'I like THX standards, don't get me wrong' I didn't have you as a ludite at all

The whole issue is a minefield... you can only do your best and hope it all comes right. Someone will always complain!!

Anytime you guys are passing Stratford.... please do just that. I'd hate to have you all sitting in on a screening. I can imagin the queue at the office door at the end of the show...

For image, I would agree with those who say that the trailers should not be in a larger format than the feature. I have nothing against seeing the masking move IF it's a constant height theatre and the masking is going from 1.85 to Scope. This is a motion--like curtains parting--that people are familiar with and opening to a larger size for the feature is pleasant to see. Unfortunately with a turret there is alway a brief period with no picture which doesn't enhance the presentation--not as nice as simply changing over and opening the masking to the new picture size. The platter equivalent would be to run 1.85-within-Scope trailers with the masking in and then opening on the feature or feature presentation strip. That would mean any policies, commercials or other strips & snipes would also have to be this way. If the movie is flat then the trailers should be too.

So what are all of those theaters that don't have any form of digital sound (or don't have the proper digital player for the print they are showing) supposed to do? Since they cannot present the movie in the proper digital format, should they even show the movie? I mean, the general argument for playing trailers in digital is to present them with the best sound possible...so any theater that cannot present the feature is automatically crap and should just close their doors? After all, they wouldn't be presenting their feature in the best sound possible. What about non-THX theaters? I guess we should just close them as well.

Remember guys, they are just trailers. People come to see the movie. Trailers are an extra. To my knowledge there are only a handful of theaters in the D/FW area that have adjustable trailer/feature volume settings via the automation. Because of this the trailers are either WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too loud for the movie to be at a proper level or the trailers play fine and then I find myself leaning toward the screen trying to hear the movie. If someone runs the trailers in SR to aleviate even just a bit of this problem, then WAY TO GO!

I might also remind everyone that SR if aligned properly will sound very, very close to digital anyway. I will even further that in saying that I commonly find more good sounding SR houses than digital houses these days. Give me good SR over bad digital any day.

If the feature is playing in analog, it's *probably* better to play the trailers in analog too. The trailers shouldn't sound better than the feature. Same deal as not changing the masking on a common-width screen from flat to scope while the audience is watching. The rule of thumb for sound should be "show the feature in the best sound format you are equipped for and that the feature supports". If that's SR, fine. SR can sound pretty darned good, as Brad said. The 2 largest Regal houses here in Eugene both have excellent SR, and sometimes it's tough to tell with just a short listen whether something is playing in analog vs. in digital. And if you have SR and it doesn't sound good, get it fixed. If you're mono or A (or some Brand X clone of Dolby A) and can't afford digital, try to move up to SR, because it really can sound very good.

But the fact of the matter is that we are an independent up against the big boys. Yes, we have DTS, but not as many houses as I would like. In the meantime, we do well with SR and try to maintain those houses at peak performance. Are our customers happy? We look at the numbers with business up over 25% from this time last year.

According to the EDI's, our competitors can not match that.

So...we must be doing something right. My philosophy? Give the best presentation that you possibly can with the equipment at your disposal. Then better times will come, and we will be the first to put money back into our operation to upgrade wherever we can.

If trailers were simply about a movie then perhaps there would be some justification to not having them show up the feature, but since by and large trailers are samples of the movie being advertised assuming that the film will (or is, on another screen) be shown in digital stereo, why not let the audience have the full experience? The theatre is selling the presentation as well as the story, acting, etc.

If you follow the opposite theory then does that mean you would play trailers in mono if your feature is mono?

I guess I'm not understanding your viewpoint here either.

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" This is a business, after all. You've already sold them tonight's ticket. You do have to think about next week's."

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...and that's exactly why I don't like to make my customer's ears bleed with overly loud trailers played in digital. The customers remember it and start coming intentionally late or most often do not return at all. Whoops, there goes next week's business because they will no longer patronize your theater or because they didn't see next week's upcoming movie promotional trailer.

Remember, most people do not like to be assaulted with the sound system the second the show starts. Not blowing them away from the start of the trailers gives them time to settle in. Plus that helps to enforce the experience of the feature they are watching when it is played at the proper level. It's sort of like going to a theater where they splice all of the trailers butted up to one another with no green band or pause at all. It gives a panicked and rushed feeling to the trailer presentation.

I agree with you about people settling in although I would be more concerned about the transition from zowie trailer to subdued feature opening. I've spoken with the editor who claimed that all that black film Warner Bros. puts between printed-on trailers and the feature was done at his behest. The feature presentation snipe helps a bit with that although if one wants to be conscientious one could program the trailers in an arc that ends with a subdued one before quiet feature. The settling in phase is also partially covered by the policy if any.

Of course one presumes there is some thought given to which trailers play with which feature. The "Fast and the Furious" crowd is probably not going to mind being blown away by the trailers.

What if it's a silent film? What if it's black-and-white?

No...Please...Let's not even go there. Most movies today have a stereo mix and most are in color and most are 1.85 or 2.30-something ratio. So I'm wondering if we could please stay within the realm of what's likely -- in the interest of reigning-in all of the insane possibilities?

But that's just a suggestion. Maybe I should leave it to Mark (the topic starter) to decide how far is too far.

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I am a bit surprised that there are so many posts which say there is not a big difference between analogue and digital sound.

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As Brad pointed out earlier, great-sounding analog is possible. It depends on a solid A-Chain alignment. I'm inclined to add that the equipment and wiring contribute to how great it's going to sound, too.

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Personally, I think there is a huge difference.

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All it means is that you haven't heard really good SR yet. You're in the same boat as hundreds of thousands of people. The delicate nature of the A-Chain alignment created the market DTS players: They are a snap to install.

Something else: I often wonder if the majority of digital houses are even getting their A-Chain checked out anymore. This might be why there is such a vastly noticeable difference between whenever digital kicks in or out.

I will agree that digital-done-right "sounds better" than analog-done-right, but the difference in quality isn't as great as most have been led to believe.

~Manny (Rated R. Starts Friday in select cities.)

"There can be miracles, when you believe..."
from The Prince of Egypt

At that theater, it wasn't a problem if the trailers were in digital and the feature in analog or vice-versa, but at an older theater I worked at, there was a HUGE difference. (given the older theater did not have Dolby, but rather RGM systems.) In that case, it was distracting to hear some trailers in digital, some in analog, and the feature in either-or. Any time we had digital trailers with an analog feature, someone would always complain that the "surround sound/digital sound just stopped working."

Steve's suggestion about programming the trailers in an arc to end with the most subtle is great. This would also be good if the feature was in digital, but it was a subtle/quiet movie.

When we had a mix of analog/digital trailers (the older theater only had a DTS unit) I would try and program the analog ones at the beginning, just after the rolling stock. That way, the sound would "progress" into digital.

Brad -- I'm confused. If the movie is in mono (like a Woody Allen movie), how would the "wow factor" kick in with the surrounds, sub and digital when the feature presentation begins? If I came into an auditorium and the sound for the trailers was only coming out of the front speakers, I would become concerned and go ask if anything was wrong. To me, the "wow factor" would be an indication that they fixed the problem.

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