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This topic comprises 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
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Author
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Topic: Smart MOD IIB: Good or not good?
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Randy Stankey
Film God
Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 10-21-2010 11:37 AM
The room is sacrosanct. It is like a temple. Changing anything inside the room to affect the sound is not going to happen.
I have suggested sound treatments and other people have suggested baffles and other ideas to help the sound. Each and every time the suggestions are met with cold stares.
I do expect the CP-650 to make an improvement in the sound but I do not expect a magical transformation. I believe I understand the limitations of the room and the system I have to work with. However, there are other reasons to get the CP-650.
1) Redundancy between Dolby Digital and analog. Currently, we have only analog. Owing to the quality of the prints we get, sound quality suffers. We get scratched prints with noise in the soundtrack from the damage. I know that it is not 100% but having Dolby Digital gives us a backup.
2) We also receive the Met Opera HD programs via satellite. The Smart processor doesn't have the inputs necessary to play back the sound correctly. Currently, I have rigged up a solution that works but does not provide optimal sound. We could buy a sound decoder and connect it to the Smart processor or we could buy a CP-650 which can decode the sound from the Met Opera without need of any external equipment.
Personally, I prefer the all-in-one solution.
3) Our Smart processor might still have some life left in it but the product is at the end of its life cycle. Nobody supports it anymore. If it needs to be repaired, we will have to find somebody to do it. It will probably take a long time and we will probably have to remove the entire processor and ship it out to be repaired. That will likely take one to two weeks, at minimum. With a CP-650, we can get repair parts and, if we need service, there is a larger pool of people we can call for help.
4) Future proofing: Today, we present movies and Met Opera. We also present video via DVD/Blu-Ray. I do not know what things we will be called upon to do in the future. I can keep patching things into the Smart processor with gaffer's tape and coat hangers, as I have been, or I can get a Dolby processor that will be able to handle almost anything I can throw at it in the next 5 - 10 years and, likely, beyond.
Finally, I'm probably not going to be working there very much longer. Whether you believe a Smart MOD-IIB is a workable processor or not, you have to admit that a CP-650 can provide more seamless operation, longer into the future than a Smart can. The Dolby can tolerate more variation in the A-chain. It is easier to tune the B-chain on a Dolby. One set up properly, the Dolby processor works virtually automatically. Dolby Digital sound gives redundancy.
Bottom line: Replacing the processor makes sense for many reasons.
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Randy Stankey
Film God
Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 02-03-2011 11:37 AM
Update: Just finished installing a CP-650 and Dolby Digital.
Everything works well. Sounds good. Ran my first show in Dolby Digital last night, unannounced.
It was the first show in recent memory (if not ever) where the whole audience sat quietly and payed attention to the movie. Previously, there has always been a little unseen restlessness in the audience. That disappeared last night. I attribute this to the fact that, for the first time, the audience was able to HEAR the dialogue.
I am very happy with the results, so far.
The A-chain is done as well as can be. I have done the B-chain according to spec but I still have to tweak the EQ for the room. We will be having somebody come to help get the tuning just right.
In the mean time, that will give me some time to reread the manual and study up so that I can get all of the final alignments perfect.
Here's one question...
Do you think we should advertise the fact that we are the only theater in town that has Dolby Digital?
I think we could get some mileage out of it.
1) The Cinemark theater in town (my former employer) does not have Dolby Digital, nor do they have any Dolby equipment at all. All they have is DTS and SDDS running through USL processors.
2) According to Dolby's website, the closest theater that has Dolby Digital is in Lakewood, NY. A 50 mile or 1 hour drive from Erie. The only other theater in town, besides us and Tinseltown, is the Tom Ridge Center. They have a CP-650 but they don't use it a lot. They run most of their movies in 5/70. I didn't get a good look at their Kinoton projector. I don't know if they have D.D. for reading 35mm prints or not.
3) I think that the sound has been so bad in this theater for so long that many people have stopped coming to movies here. I think that putting out some ads or press releases that tell about the improvements we have made might get a few of those customers back.
Down side: We don't have surround. Only L/C/R/Sub. However, I'm certainly trying to push for surround.
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Randy Stankey
Film God
Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 02-03-2011 02:25 PM
I see what you are saying.
I think it is important to let customers know that we have improved the sound in our theater. It has been so bad, for so long, that I think we have lost business. Maybe it's not the prime reason but I think it has been contributory.
As such, I think it's important to get the word out. A little advertising buzz couldn't hurt. Right?
There are no other main stream theaters in town besides us and Tinseltown. (Cinemark.) The only other one is at the Tom Ridge Center. They play environmental & documentary movies in 5/70. They have a CP-650 but they don't use it for film very often, if at all. They mostly use it for video.
There was another theater in town but they have shut down. They had CP-55s or CP-65s and DA-20 for Dolby Digital. It is unclear whether it will reopen.
There is a movie theater in Meadville, PA which is 30 miles south of us. I don't know if they have Dolby Digital but they are not close enough to Erie.
The only movie theater I know of, according to Dolby's website, that has Dolby Digital, is in Lakewood, NY which is 50 miles to the east.
Even though, as you say, we probably shouldn't trumpet the fact that we are the ONLY Dolby Digital house in town that doesn't prevent use from telling people by word of mouth. Does it?
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Randy Stankey
Film God
Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 02-03-2011 09:42 PM
Cameron, that is my one reservation. We do not have surround.
I want to get it but, considering the difficulty I had getting this far, it's going to take time. However, this could be the stepping stone.
Sam & Louis, don't they say, "No publicity is bad publicity?" ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Even though I used to work at Cinemark, I am not particularly beholden to them.
While we have always been fairly conscientious about avoiding movies that play there, they have never returned the favor. They have booked movies that they knew we were going to play. (We publish our schedule weeks in advance.) They show Met Opera broadcasts, full-well knowing that we show it too. They have no problem doing whatever they think they'll make a buck from.
The distance between us is 4.5 miles by road or 3.8 miles as the crow flies. Driving time between us is about 10 to 15 minutes when weather is good and traffic is clear. During bad weather or when traffic is bad, a half hour is not out of the question.
I used to say that the only thing that Tinseltown has that we don't is digital sound. As of last night, we have closed that gap. Now, the only thing that we need is surround sound and we will have surpassed them.
Now, this is completely hypothetical thinking on my part...
What if we advertise that we have digital sound and that brings back some business but Cinemark fires back that we don't have surround. Don't you think it would be smart to install surrounds?
The only thing we need to do is hang speakers, run the wire and hook up the amps. Right?
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Randy Stankey
Film God
Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 02-05-2011 09:59 PM
Didn't think they had it. When a theater has Dolby they usually put it on their website or ads, somewhere, even if it's only a blurb. I wasn't about to drive the 60 miles, round trip just to find out and I guess I am too damn lazy to call. Do you think their cashiers would even know?
I'm going to tell my boss that I think we should put out the standard, "For your convenience, we have, at the last minute and at great expense..." type of press release. We'll just quietly keep the "only place in town" part to verbal comments to customers and insiders.
If business picks up that'll give me more ammunition to complete the sound baffle behind the screen and get surrounds installed.
But, y'know, even without surrounds and baffles, the sound in that room isn't terribly bad. It's a big improvement over what it used to be!
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