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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Author
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Topic: 'The Duchess' - no DTS discs in circulation!
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 10-23-2008 11:17 AM
Given that the studios seemed to have relented, at least a bit, about sending their product over the internet for non-theatrical content which at times, is playing similtanious with the second run houses (See the "Swank encourages..." thread in the Straight 2 Video forum), it doesn't seem like a huge leap (at least not for rational thinking people) for the studio suits to OK the same for legitimate theatres with known licenses to get just the soundtrack -- password and key protected -- via the internet. It's not brain surgery, boys and girls; what's the damn deal with these people?! ![[Mad]](mad.gif)
DTS might not be the direct reason this service is not available -- they will immediately give you that knee-jerk explanation that it's the studios' fault, but that is getting pretty lame. They need to harrang the studio suites on a daily basis -- I mean, threaten and harrass them....do prank calls....send envelopes with talcum powder in them -- anything to make these guys sit up and pay attention. After all, it's DTS's life-blood; they should be more proactive about the problem.
The way to do it would be to make a big deal about it at ShowEast & West, put some of their advertising money into getting news articles published, maybe even an SMPTE white paper hearlding an enhanced security system for sending soundtracks over the internet instead of shipping out discs, even if its some simple key encoding, make it sound like it's new and solves the problem.
If they can generate a big industry hullabaloo about it, it will put the ball right at the feet of the studio execs. After all, wasn't that the freakin wetdream of the studios in the first place, to send their ENTIRE features over satelite and internet from day one? Don't they still reguard this shipping hard-drives to theatres as a primitive stop-gap?
The studios really need to get off the pot, as they say, and DTS needs to do more to give them a good shove rather than to sit back like wusses and just say it's the studios' fault.
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John Hawkinson
Film God
Posts: 2273
From: Cambridge, MA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 10-24-2008 03:44 PM
Guys, the problem isn't technical, it's political. There are plenty of technical solutions to the problem.
It is easy to beat up DTS about this, but regardless of whether you think they're trying hard enough or not, I would ask that we all be polite to them. They're one of the few major vendors who participates regularly on Film-Tech (thank you Sam, and others, also!), and we want them to stay and feel welcome, not angered.
It sounds like if the studios permit the XD20 to exchange soundtracks within a theatre, then that is a small baby step, and maybe after that we can hope for more.
--jhawk
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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 10-27-2008 09:02 AM
quote:
On the other hand though, DTS or DD is meant for the simple projectionist. Imagine having to explain to thousands of projectionists how to go online and download a soundtrack on DTS format, burn it on a CD and put it in the DTS player with the hope it will play!
If the DTS box (whether it's an XD10 or XD20 with a firmware upgrade or a completely new system) could phone home and retrieve the soundtrack itself, there wouldn't be any operator knowledge necessary. For those with older units that would need to download and burn an ISO instead, they should either hire the talent that knows how to do such a thing or upgrade to the latest and greatest DTS equipment that would (theoretically) go get it for them.
The technology exists, and all that's missing is the will of the people involved. The will of the DTS people to recognize the problem and to push the studios into allowing it, if that's actually the problem. If DTS doesn't have the clout with the studios to make it happen, then Darwinism takes hold and they go the way that all species that fail to adapt go.
Of course, the studios could be pressured from the movie theaters as well. What if NATO and/or Box Office magazine were to do a good survey of movie theaters to find out what the scope of the DTS problem really is? (This crosses threads with those that ask what NATO's usefulness is, and if Box Office magazine is still relevant or just an ad junkie)
If such results were published out in the open, no matter what the results, I think it would be an interesting thing to see. Is the problem widespread? Is it chronic or does it happen occasionally to the point where it's really not a big deal? Does it happen more to second-run theaters than first-run? Are there certain distributors that have a greater instance of missing/damaged discs?
All great questions that could be answered by the right survey.
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