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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Dolby Clones (Page 5)

 
This topic comprises 6 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6   
Author Topic: Dolby Clones
Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

- posted 01-31-2008 11:31 AM      Profile for Steve Guttag   Email Steve Guttag   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I don't know of anyone that "liked" the sudden on/off nature of the StarScope surrounds BUT....it really announced to the patrons that the SURROUNDS ARE NOW ON! Thus killing the subtlety of the Dolby form of surround decoding...which garners, to this day, complaints of the "surrounds are not working."

A VOX system would have a similar turn-on effect...note, we do this with our customer's preshow material. They sell preshow stuff with and without sound. If there is no sound to the preshow segment, the normal intermission music plays via CD...if the client pays for a custom audio track to go with the picture, a VOX circuit cuts in their audio instantly and at the conclusion will revert back to the CD music.

Steve

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Ron Funderburg
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 814
From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA
Registered: Nov 2007

- posted 02-01-2008 01:21 PM      Profile for Ron Funderburg   Author's Homepage   Email Ron Funderburg   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
quote: Ron Funderburgyou have to remember that it was a good 7 or 8 years before Dolby actually came out with Digital sound.

Seven or eight, eh? How 'bout eighteen!

No not eighteen doesn't Dolby Digital predate DTS and the first DTS picture was Jurassic Park 1993. Batman Returns is the first feature film listed to use Dolby Digital so lets say 10 years before Dolby Digital!

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

- posted 02-01-2008 06:24 PM      Profile for Steve Guttag   Email Steve Guttag   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Ron,

I think the confusion here is when you heard about some new fangled digital on film format until Dolby did it with a different technology and what most people are reading...which is when Dolby Stereo first appears on film (analog) and when Dolby first appears on film digitally...hence the 18+ years depending on when you consider the analog form to represent Dolby's presence (mono, early stereo, current stereo...not taking into account the NR change).

Note, it would be CDS (ORC and Kodak) that gets the first in on-film digital audio for the masses credit, not Dolby (or Sony).

Steve

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

- posted 02-01-2008 09:20 PM      Profile for Michael Coate   Email Michael Coate   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Ron Funderburg
No not eighteen doesn't Dolby Digital predate DTS and the first DTS picture was Jurassic Park 1993. Batman Returns is the first feature film listed to use Dolby Digital so lets say 10 years before Dolby Digital!
Like Steve just commented, I based my claim of 18 years on 1974 being the year in which the first official Dolby film was released ("Callan") and 1992 being the year of Dolby's first official digital release ("Batman Returns"). But...I suspect I may have misinterpreted your "7 or 8 years before Dolby actually came out with Digital sound" comment.

Did you mean to say that Dolby (the company) came out with digital sound seven or eight years after going into business? Or did you mean that company x proposed a digital format seven or eight years before Dolby introduced their digital format?

Timeframe-wise, it sounds like (no pun intended) you're referring to ISCOVISION. But if your recollection of the timeframe of the convention is not correct, then it's possible you could be thinking of any of the following: HIGH DEFINITION FILM SYSTEM, COLORTEK, COMTRAK, KARASYNC, LC CONCEPT, VISTASONIC.

[ 02-02-2008, 12:56 AM: Message edited by: Michael Coate ]

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Cameron Glendinning
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 845
From: West Ryde, Sydney, NSW Australia
Registered: Dec 2005

- posted 02-02-2008 05:17 PM      Profile for Cameron Glendinning   Email Cameron Glendinning   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
I remember in 81 or 82 at a convention one of the Dolby Clone companies (not sure which) came out with the fake stereo!
Probably Ultra Stereo? Its the only processor that I have used that featured a comb filter style fake stereo. I dont remember Starlets, Starscopes or Smart having this feature.

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

- posted 02-02-2008 06:03 PM      Profile for Michael Coate   Email Michael Coate   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Yes, it could've been ULTRA STEREO...or something from KINTEK. But, Ron goes on to describe how the format in question would have removed the optical track and have it replaced with a larger image...implying that it could not have been ULTRA or KINTEK or any other "Dolby Clone" because those all worked within the established print standard. Which is why I suggested it may have been that ISCOVISION thing.

EDIT: Once again, I may be misinterpreting Funderburg's post. I now have to wonder if Ron's first sentence (where he mentions in '81 or '82 a fake stereo Dolby Clone being introduced) and his subsequent sentences (where he describes a format utilizing a larger aperture and a lack of an optical track) are unrelated. If they are in fact unrelated, then I think he should have begun a new paragraph!

Ron, can you P-L-E-A-S-E put forth a tiny bit of effort toward being a more effective communicator?

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 02-02-2008 06:24 PM      Profile for Gordon McLeod   Email Gordon McLeod   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
there was colortek as well as the National film board of canada proposal
as for synth eprad offered that as a starscope option in the early 80's as did smart and ultra

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Ron Funderburg
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 814
From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA
Registered: Nov 2007

- posted 02-02-2008 06:25 PM      Profile for Ron Funderburg   Author's Homepage   Email Ron Funderburg   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I meant to say (and thought I did) that the clone compnay was working on a Digital format 8 to 7 years before Dolby came out with there Digital format. The format imprinted the digital information on the frame of film that the sound was for and was infra-red so that it wouldn't show up on the screen. It didn't work or did work and the 1's and 0's were also visible in the picture or they just couldn't get it to work!

My point was that the idea for Digital was around and being experimented on 10 years prior to the first practical use of digital sound for theaters!

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

- posted 02-02-2008 06:46 PM      Profile for Michael Coate   Email Michael Coate   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Ron Funderburg
I meant to say (and thought I did)...
It's apparent you do not read your own postings.

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Ron Funderburg
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 814
From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA
Registered: Nov 2007

- posted 02-02-2008 07:04 PM      Profile for Ron Funderburg   Author's Homepage   Email Ron Funderburg   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
What is aparent to me is you didn't read the posting sir!

quote: Ron Funderburg
I remember in 81 or 82 at a convention one of the Dolby Clone companies (not sure which) came out with the fake stereo! They also were talking about a new digital system that would have the sound track embedded on the picture in an infra-red format! The sound of the frame would contained on the actual frame of film and read just before it got there. They wanted to make it where you lost the optical sound track and had more room for picture, which meant everyone would have to go their sound track if they had sound. I don't think it was Smart but it could have been.
As is stated in this it happened in 1981 or 82 and was not a post about Dolby it is a post about the company that made clones. Therefore when Dolby came in to being is not in my discussion.

quote:
you have to remember that it was a good 7 or 8 years before Dolby actually came out with Digital sound. I sort of thought that the light from the projector would make the infra-red 1 and 0's visible and you see them on the screen. It never ever came about so not sure what happened to best laid plan of mice and men!
Again it to me this is still about the company that was making clones and had a plan to put a digital format on the film! So it still isn't about Dolby and it is obvious to me that that it is in the time frame of company in 1981 or 82 and their efforts not Dolby except that their efforts predated Dolby's entry!

So what is apparent to me is you didn't read it you just made a response to what you thought I said. I may not write as clear as you like but the post is very obviously about the efforts of a non Dolby company to get a Digital format on the market and prior to Dolby's entry in the Digital field!

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

- posted 02-02-2008 07:07 PM      Profile for Michael Coate   Email Michael Coate   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
It is my own fault. I should have ignored your post since I had already determined you're a lousy communicator. Face it, you've posted here 147 times...and 147 of them have "effective communication" issues.

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Ron Funderburg
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 814
From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA
Registered: Nov 2007

- posted 02-02-2008 07:25 PM      Profile for Ron Funderburg   Author's Homepage   Email Ron Funderburg   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Well thank you for you oh so kind comment. I'm sure you no best!

I know that I am not very good at writing and often I do post to quickly with out proper review. On the other hand you simply didn't read the post and make any effort to see what was there.

In 1982 at a trade show one of the many company's engaged in cloning Dolby technology began to tout their upcoming digital format that they hopped would be the next big deal in theaters. It was a digital sound format supporting 5.1 channels of sound. It would imprinted on the picture portion of the film and the relevant sound for that frame would contained on that frame. It would placed on the picture via infra-red imprint and would be read by an infra-red reader about 10 frames ahead of the picture being placed on the screen held in memory until the proper time and then played in the auditorium.

Nothing every came from it but this company was on to the format of the future and had the idea 10 or 11 years prior to Dolby's release of Dolby Digital Sound. This is not to say they predate Dolby in the research only that they were talking about it before I heard, or read of anyone else doing the same research. For all I know they became Digital Theater Sound or Sony Dynamic Digital Sound or is it Sony Digital Dynamic Sound?

Sorry for any earlier post that caused such confusion on the reader.

May all have a pleasant night I have other pressing issues

Please note the other pressing issues are not in any way connected to the forum, Dolby Laboratories nor Digital Theater Sound commonly referred to as DTS.

I do have a theater to actually run!

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

- posted 02-02-2008 07:27 PM      Profile for Tim Reed   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Ron Funderburg
The format imprinted the digital information on the frame of film that the sound was for and was infra-red
It was fluorescent, not IR.

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Ron Funderburg
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 814
From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA
Registered: Nov 2007

- posted 02-02-2008 07:29 PM      Profile for Ron Funderburg   Author's Homepage   Email Ron Funderburg   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Well it was 26 years and 5 months ago or 27 years and 5 months ago sorry I don't remember every word!

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

- posted 02-02-2008 07:52 PM      Profile for Michael Coate   Email Michael Coate   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Ron Funderburg
I know that I am not very good at writing and often I do post to[o] quickly without proper review.
Then don't post.

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