my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Dolby Clones (Page 2)

This topic comprises 6 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6

Author Topic: Dolby Clones Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-10-2006 10:15 AM                     Kintek also made the KT800 serries of processors and the infamous front surround system with the digimate amp  |  IP: Logged System Notices Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi Posts: 215 Registered: Apr 2004 posted 01-05-2008 07:09 PM                 It has been 635 days since the last post.  |  IP: Logged Michael Coate Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1904 From: Los Angeles, California Registered: Feb 2001 posted 01-05-2008 07:09 PM                     Thanks, Steve for the lengthy and informative post. You provided a lot of the "how," "where" and "why," but I'm still seeking the "when"! To my frustration, a recent attempt to obtain installation records for these early Eprad Starscopes has failed. The reply: "Our records were lost in a company move." Should I believe it? Or are people just so uninterested in the past that they are too lazy to look for this stuff? Or do certain folks not want history preserved or accurately accounted for? quote: Gordon McLeod Eprad got there foot in the door with A Star is Born since Dolby could not supply enough CP50s for the SVA rollout Really? I recall reading a trade piece that claimed there was only a single optical SVA presentation in the U.S. of "A Star Is Born" (in the Portland area, at the WESTGATE). All other stereo presentations of the film presumably would have been magnetic. Is it possible this Eprad rollout happened later (1977? 78?) for a different feature(s)?  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-05-2008 09:12 PM                     Eprad has had several changes of ownership and locations since Al's days so I doubt many records exist it is amazing they actually can find drawings for many of there old products Up here there was a mix of mag and optical sva prints for star is born  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-05-2008 11:39 PM                     Michael, The older Starscope manual in the manual's section refers to StarWars so one would think it was post 1977. I know a later Eprad manual I have refers to Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind and the "mother ship"...etc. Looking at the older manual, some of the schematics (like the "stereo" board) date back to 1975 but it seems like rest of the boards are dated in the 1977/1978 region. It is tough to go by people's memory...I know I've messed up a few times with remembering an exact year or specific format that played. Normally, I use what film I was playing as a reference to a year or season. About all one can do sometimes is look at the printed literature out there to get accurate information...I doubt that the drawings or copyright dates would be deliberately post/pre-dated unless they were trying to falsify patent applications.  |  IP: Logged Michael Coate Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1904 From: Los Angeles, California Registered: Feb 2001 posted 01-14-2008 01:33 AM                     I looked over the manual you mentioned, Steve, and noticed a 1978 date on one of the pages, so Eprad certainly was in existence by then. Coincidentally, I recently located some trade press referencing a "bulletin" dated June 15, 1978 that Dolby Labs, Inc. sent to exhibitors informing them they "could not advertise a Dolby-processed print if their sound equipment was not made by Dolby." Apparently, Eprad (and others) flipped out over the notice and kicked off years of bad blood. Anyway, one of the reasons I'm bringing this up is because while doing some research, I've noted 103 promoted Dolby Stereo presentations of "Star Wars" during its original release, 102 of the venues of which could be cross-checked with Dolby's installation records. I'm trying to determine if the lone engagement not identified in Dolby's records may have been one of the early Eprad units, or if it was merely a record-keeping oversight. (The booking and theater in question, if anyone is curious, was the PATTERSON TWIN in Baltimore.)  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 01-14-2008 02:55 AM                       FWIW, Eprad was in existence in the 60s, making drive-in equipment. They had one of the best in-car speakers available. I hear the Margaret Herrick library has every issue of BOXOFFICE. You could just find when the first Starscope ads hit and go from there.  |  IP: Logged Michael Coate Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1904 From: Los Angeles, California Registered: Feb 2001 posted 01-14-2008 03:18 AM                     Excellent suggestion, Tim. Except I've already done just that...and didn't see anything in Boxoffice (or any other trades from the era) to help me answer my question. A related question regarding "Tommy" (1975) and "Quintaphonic Sound"... What was required (sound processing-wise) of a theater to play "Tommy" in said format? A Dolby CP-100? A CP-100 + an add-on of some sort? A Sansui something-rather? Other? And were these devices returned to their owners upon the termination of the "Tommy" engagement?  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-14-2008 07:39 AM                     FWIW: When I was at DTS last summer they showed me an Indian Clone of the DTS 6. In its steel chassis it weighed in at three times the weight of a real 6D. Inside it had a permanent floppy drive to serve as a boot loader. The front panel looked identical... the audio board was a real DTS replacement part. Everything else inside was Indian manufactured.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-14-2008 08:54 AM                     There is an excellent article in a SMPTE journal on quintaphonic by John Mosley It use the LCR mag tracks with DBX nr and a sansui qs matrix on L and R to give a P and Q channel It was if memory serves a 3 unit high card cage  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 01-14-2008 11:08 AM                     quote: Michael Coate What was required (sound processing-wise) of a theater to play "Tommy" in said format. The Fox Wilshire Theatre engagement had a Dolby CP-100, Dolby MPU-1 and the unit Gordon mentioned above, for playback of the film. A friend of mine has the the Fox Wilshire's Quintaphonic unit plus a 35mm mag print in Los Angeles.  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 01-14-2008 11:08 AM                       quote: Michael Coate Excellent suggestion, Tim. Except I've already done just that. Wow, Eprad used to run ads (I remember 1/4 page display ads for the Starlet processor in particular). At the very least, there should've been mentions under "new products" or Show-A-Rama trade show reports.  |  IP: Logged Michael Coate Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1904 From: Los Angeles, California Registered: Feb 2001 posted 01-14-2008 11:23 AM                     Tim...I'll take another peek next time I'm at the Herrick Library.  |  IP: Logged Dick Prather Master Film Handler Posts: 259 From: Portland, OR, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 01-15-2008 06:00 PM                     The oldest Eprad processor I used was called "STAR" not "STARSCOPE". Probably sometime in 1977. It did have Cat 22's for NR. The EQ cards were Eprad 1 octive but had 1/3 octive boards with empty holes for the added components. Both NR and EQ slots were the same as Dolby and cards would interchange. Matrix card was too close to Dolby's so they sued Eprad. It sounded just like a CP-50 when set up properly. Later matrix cards were much different and they used their own NR cards but were still a seperate card. Early manuals told theatre owners not to use Dolby Stereo in advertising. Later versions with the combined NR cards wern't very good. Dick  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 01-15-2008 07:52 PM                        Dick is right. I was there (Eprad) for a dealer meeting when they were designing that unit. A very young engineer was working behind a cardboard office on a "secret" project: the Star. They had a CP-50 manual, but not a unit. I offered to loan them one! It was just OK; remember though this was in the era before the 150 dolby card, so even the cp-50 was just OK. Louis  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 6 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.