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Author Topic: A green DP 70! Dieter Depypere Master Film Handler Posts: 343 From: Deutsch-Wagram, Lower Austria, Austria Registered: May 2005 posted 06-24-2005 09:43 AM                     I surfed a little bit on that site and I found a green Philips FP6. Doens't look nice too.  |  IP: Logged System Notices Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi Posts: 215 Registered: Apr 2004 posted 08-17-2008 03:13 PM                 It has been 1150 days since the last post.  |  IP: Logged Ben Wales Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 602 From: Southampton. England Registered: Jul 99 posted 08-17-2008 03:13 PM                     quote: Darren Briggs The panastereo did sound good, especaially on optical SR tracks. Mag was a little bright and harsh. An old Topic now, but I agree with this as I have heard in two places with the Pannastereo 70 the same problem with the above. Is the Pannastereo 70 still in production or only "Made to Order" as the web site states?  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 08-18-2008 04:11 PM                     As of my last communication with Norm, Panastereo is out of production but seeking a suitable company to continue the product. As for Panastereo 70mm...yes it would sound bright and harsh on conventional tracks. This was due to the misconception that since there were no specified "academy filter" on magnetic tracks as there was on optical mono, that no such filter was needed. After much discussion with Ray, and also documenting what an existing theatre sounded/measured of the era sounded like we came to the conclusion, as Dolby had on the CP200, that some sort of filter was indeed needed as theatres of the day were not "flat" as they would be if modern EQ was applied. That is, the Academy filter was based on what happens if you EQ a theatre and play a film that was mixed in a non-EQed theatre. It will have the pre-emphasis of the film (caused by the natural roll off of an old mixing theatre) and then the EQ of the cinema processor in a modern theatre. By applying a Low-pass filter (on that actually approximates the "X-curve" to an old 70mm print and then playing the resulting filtered print on a modern B-Chain with EQ, you actually get a VERY clean sounding and quite natural theatre I had the fortunate circumstance of having two identical theatres, back-to-back and at one point of my Pana 70 installation of having an existing '50s-'60s sound system and the a Pana system playing against each other. Ray came up with a modification that allowed me to use the "slit loss" control as a variable LPF with a turnover frequency of about 2KHz. We then played the 70mm prints and listened to them back to back until the "spitiness" was eliminated. I measure the rolloff and it was pretty darn close the "X-curve" roll off. The remaining preamps had the same rolloff applied and then serious A/B evalutations were done. The net result was the Panastereo had a much cleaner sound with superior intelligibility than the existing system and now none of the spitiness (and really not too much hiss either). The facility was none other than the Patriot Theatres in Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, VA. As a side note, we also found that the Le and Re channels on the back of the CSP4600 were being summed and required a motherboard modification (Traces being cut)...the problem stemmed from the thought that the dual full-octave EQ card used on surrounds might be used for Le/Re (which it never was)...it takes seconds to fix. Steve  |  IP: Logged Ed Mauger Film Handler Posts: 11 From: London, London, UK Registered: May 2008 posted 08-20-2008 10:26 AM                     quote: Peter Hall "The best projection possible" - I thought the site was using Spanish speakers and had not installed Dolby because the technician concerned "doesnt really like Dolby" - is it really best to decode the film in a manner other than it was encoded ? Really Peter, you're not STILL banging on about the "cheap Spanish loudspeakers", Possum? The ones at the Rex are from WSS (now Luis Wassmann) - THX approved and sound great! As for the Panastereo choice, I agree with Mark Gulbrandsen that this still is the best sounding processor available. The SR decoding is so good that you really cannot hear the difference between Dolby SRD and analogue, so why waste money installing SRD? The DTS unit was purchased as a "combo" with the CSP1200 processor, so didn't cost very much. All in all, there's been absolutely no problems in the 3 years the Rex has been open, and the customer is very happy. Have a look at the website bookings, and you'll see that the cinema is sold out most evenings, so we must have done something right! As for other points, I must admit that the colour of the DP70s there is a bit disgusting! They were re-painted in gold when they were installed at the Metro Cinema, Ashton-Under-Lyne, so we decided to keep them that colour, and paint the tower to match. The Peerless lamphouse conversions are better than usually, but the light on the screen could do with improvement. The lighting in the proscenium arch and the ceiling dome follows the original 1930s installation, with 110 x 40w bulbs concealed at the top of the proscenium and 90 x 40w bulbs lighting the dome. Not very green, but they look lovely. We did not install any nitrate facilities, as the BFI didn't seem very interested in anything at the time. When re-developing, the developers removed both of the original external staircase exits, and bricked up one of the exits completely, so this is now impossible. Still, both NFT1 and NFT2 can show nitrate films I agree that the Panastereo 70mm processors can sound a bit "toppy" at times. But, the old format 40 mag tracks seem to lose some of their treble content over time, so playing one of these old tracks without a roll-off seems to compensate well. When we installed our 1st one at the NFT, we installed a complete relay switching system, to compare the sound with the CP200. Once you got used to the Panastereo sound, switching to the CP200 sounded like someone had installed a bank of pillows in front of the loudspeakers - it was so muffled. quote: Steve Guttag As a side note, we also found that the Le and Re channels on the back of the CSP4600 were being summed and required a motherboard modification (Traces being cut) I wasn't aware of this mod - perhaps it has already been done in the factory by Smart on our processors? On the last batch of units I discovered that the Le and Re signals were inverted with respect to the L,C and R, so cancellation was taking place when using the Le/Re mix-down facility. The mod for this involved soldering a LF353 chip and some resistors onto the Control/logic card, and certainly didn't take only a few seconds!  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 08-20-2008 08:34 PM                     Comparing the CP200 to the Panastereo when the Pana is playing the conventional format 40 incorrectly will naturally have one saying that the CP200 sounds dull. It is the same (silly) statement that was used back in the days of cassette tapes when people would encode with Dolby-B and play back with Dolby off so it would be more trebbly. Never mind that the frequency reponse was wrong as a result...people will always gravitate to the more treble sound. Kinda like "blueish" light versus "orangeish) light when comparing images...the blue one seems brighter...never mind that the flesh tones are shot to heck. As for the mix-down function...yes the control board DOES need an opamp added to get the phase correct. The mod I was referring to was if you HAVE Le/Re and are playing tracks 2 and 4 through them without a mix-down. Note too, the CSP4600 doesn't really decode format 42/43 correctly with respect to Le/Re...Le/Re is supposed to play everything from 250Hz down to 100Hz if a subwoofer is present such that the bass may be panned a bit. If no subwoofer is present, the Le/Re should have the ability to play everything from 250Hz on down, with suitable downward expansion. Now the CSP4600 does do well in most other respects...especially when you consider that it is an "add-on" box to pre-existing processor(s). For honest to god 70mm playback where the full range of existing and new 70mm prints are to be played...I'll take the CP200 over the Panstereo...the CP200 treats the signal properly and sends it out of the right channels. The Panastereo would only win in the noise department and the ability to automate. Its too bad the CSP1400 and CSP4800 never made it to production...I think they would have fixed and improved on several of the issues. I know that both were designed quite a ways. Steve  |  IP: Logged Rob Younger Film Handler Posts: 6 From: Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England Registered: Jun 2003 posted 08-21-2008 12:31 PM                     Just to add my two-penneth to the 'Spanish Speakers' comments, we installed the same ones in the new Picturehouse 3-screen cinema in Norwich last year, with Dolby CP650's & QSC amps. They were a delight to EQ & sound fantastic! THX approval on certain models, price is excellent, Luis is a pleasure to deal with, so what's the problem? I have since fitted them in our cinema in Barnsley, Yorkshire & am planning to install them in sevetral more Picturehouse sites as we upgrade the existing sound systems & remove several 'unbadged' units from these sites! Regarding the use of non-Dolby processors, maybe the old proverb "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" is applicable here??  |  IP: Logged Richard Fowler Film God Posts: 2392 From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA Registered: Jun 2001 posted 08-21-2008 02:21 PM                     Regarding Spanish speaker companies...There is Wassman and Kelonik. Many of the source components for Wassman is Beyma....Beyma is in some of your "home grown" models from Krix.  |  IP: Logged

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