Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Dolby's new sound system

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

»	Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE » Operations » Digital Cinema Forum » Dolby's new sound system (Page 6)

This topic comprises 38 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ... 36 37 38

Author

Topic: Dolby's new sound system

Antti Nayha
Master Film Handler

Posts: 268
From: Helsinki, Finland
Registered: Oct 2008

posted 04-30-2012 09:13 AM

quote: Joe Redifer
What is the channel configuration of Barco's 11.1?

It’s all in the Auro 3D thread.

| IP: Logged

Chris Slycord
Film God

Posts: 2986
From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 04-30-2012 12:23 PM

quote: Joe Redifer
Plus, the name "Barco" sounds like a waste disposal company.

Given how fickle the industry can be with these electronics stuff, in a few years they may be one. [Smile]

| IP: Logged

Victor Liorentas
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 800
From: london ontario canada
Registered: May 2009

posted 04-30-2012 12:54 PM

| IP: Logged

Carsten Kurz
Film God

Posts: 4340
From: Cologne, NRW, Germany
Registered: Aug 2009

posted 04-30-2012 07:37 PM

quote: Joe Redifer

They made some really crappy projectors last I used them. Just awful. Any home television set made after 1985 that could tune in a stable picture and was decently adjusted was far better and I say that without exaggeration. I can't imagine the same people doing anything decent with sound. It's like Dolby making 3D or servers or something, or maybe Mitsubishi making electronics or perhaps Ford being a cell phone carrier. Does not compute. If their sound is anything like their projectors were, then it's going to be very blurry/muffled and sound very, very cheap. Plus, the name "Barco" sounds like a waste disposal company.

Go and wash your mouth, Joe. You compare a 1985 TV set with a DCI certified cinema projector 'without exaggeration'? What do you want us to think of you?

http://www.barco.com/en/References?page=1&country=&market=8e195941-aa52-4578-aa57-bf4f45b5c9ad&product=&start=&end= &vidonly=False

Barco is the worlds largest supplier of display technologies for security, transport, aviation and aerospace control rooms. Without exaggeration.
And that is just one of their markets. Certainly the one where you can cheat like hell with lousy technology.

- Carsten

| IP: Logged

Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 04-30-2012 10:40 PM

Where in my post did I say DCI certified projector? I've never worked with digital cinema. Ever. Never plan to, either. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.

quote: Antti Nayha
It’s all in the Auro 3D thread.

And in that thread I found this:

quote: Daniel Schulz
The Barco Auro 3D system is almost-but-not-quite discrete.

Barco Auro 3D sound = FAIL. Could have seen that coming by Barco.

| IP: Logged

Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 05-01-2012 01:47 AM

OK, so now we have essentially pulled the sound away from the screen and back into the auditorium. All those myriad of sounds coming from behind the audience, on top of them, around them -- but if the sounds are in theatre, what images are they related to on the screen? How many fly-overs can their be in the movie, and once the sound is behind us, the image is no longer on the screen so the majority of those well-placed, pin-pointed sounds are in a dimension that is apart from it's visual compliment.

Seems that until they can also make the same progress in the visual display and upgrade it so it ALSO surrounds the viewer, all these sounds will be disembodied, hanging in mid-air. Seems there will be a limit to how much you can pull the sound off the screen and into the theatre without it becoming more distracting than effective. Seem is would have to be used very judiciously or spinning those sounds around could easily become uber-cliche, like the jet fly over from the screen to the back of the theatre as if somehow there is always a landing field behind the last rows of the balcony. Even when the action and sound remain on the screen (the car speeding from right to left and the sound panning with it) it can become a cliche.

Problem is, once you have the capability, will Sound Designers fall prey to over-using it...will theatre owners demand that you HEAR sounds all over the room, above your head and below your belly-button since they'd paid all that money for the system, just like they kvetch that they "can't hear anything coming our of the surrounds." Some of them want the surrounds to sound louder that the screen channels.

Lots of potential here to distract from what is going on on the screen if all this audio movement is floating around the auditorium.

| IP: Logged

Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 05-01-2012 11:44 AM

I look forward to the early days of this when the sound designers go nuts with mickey mouse tricks. Should be laughable.

I imagine the sonic equivelant of "coming at ya" 3D effects. I imagine an actor looking into the screen and yelling "look out behind you" as some noise causes the whole audience to turn its heads. Fun-o-rama.

When they come out for home consumption, where most people won't have the sound setup, the viewers will get nothing but annoying noise.

| IP: Logged

Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 05-01-2012 03:24 PM

Probably the best thing to do on this will be to wait a few years. That way the price will come down, sound mixers will be over the initial "look what we can do!" stage, and (if necessary) Dolby will be into the "next generation" processor that can work with anybody's equipment.

| IP: Logged

Carsten Kurz
Film God

Posts: 4340
From: Cologne, NRW, Germany
Registered: Aug 2009

posted 05-01-2012 04:58 PM

For quite a while, the kids will not get a chance to play with a system like this anyway. And from what I hear of todays top-selling movies, even of the movies I don't like, I think these guys who do get access to Atmos mixing have a fairly good understanding of how to do it right.

- Carsten

| IP: Logged

Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 05-01-2012 06:25 PM

I dunno, many if not most movies these days aren't mixed very well. They all seem to want to be overly aggressive with the subwoofer and the surrounds. Any object with massive girth sets off the sub just by being on the screen and doing nothing. The subwoofer doesn't need to be on all of the time.

| IP: Logged

Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 05-01-2012 08:51 PM

Man, isn't that the truth. In trailers especially these days, they don't want to let anything happen without a huge BOOOM sound accompanying it. A girl gets a letter...the camera zooms in, BOOOOM! A horse runs through a field and jumps over a fence...BOOOOM! Time was these kinds of "stings" were reserved for horror movies...not any more.

| IP: Logged

Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 05-01-2012 11:24 PM

The boom & whoosh crap in movie trailers has gone beyond the mere level of cliché and is now just laughably absurd. 20 years from now we'll look back at some of those trailers and groan with embarrassment they ever existed.

One genre where boom/whoosh stuff and overbearing music is nearly as bad as movie trailers: reality TV shows. Honestly, I just cannot tolerate most reality TV shows. The contrived drama and end of the world music are bad enough. The pacing is the worst thing. Shit, they could get all those story points done in 20 minutes. But hey! Let's stretch it out over 2 hours! No! Better yet, let's do 2 nights worth of 2 hour broadcasts! I think the average C-SPAN broadcast has a faster pace than reality TV. They'll squeeze in 3 commercial breaks before finally showing viewers what color panties the whore du jour is wearing for the bachelor. But hey, it's in Dolby Digital 5.1!

| IP: Logged

Carsten Kurz
Film God

Posts: 4340
From: Cologne, NRW, Germany
Registered: Aug 2009

posted 05-02-2012 04:30 PM

Well you need something to get the crowd silent and attentive before the main feature starts.

But honestly, are the main features of these trailers any different? What do you expect from a 'Battleship' trailer other than Booom?

- Carsten

| IP: Logged

Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 05-02-2012 06:02 PM

If the audience is worth two shits they'll shut up when the movie begins. I always played trailer volume very low. The dialog was understandable, of course, but if the movie played at 7.0, the trailers played at around 4.0 to 4.2.

And people say that Transformers 2 and 3 had awesome-as-hell sound mixes. No they certainly did not! They were both very fatiguing. There was just too much shit going on and nothing stood out. They might sound OK if you watch just 1 minute of it and nothing more, but as a movie the mix was way too aggressive. It's the way most movies are and this will probably only get worst with Dolby Atom.

| IP: Logged

Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 05-02-2012 06:04 PM

No, that BOOOOM sound is pretty much exclusive to trailers, I think. Or at least, in a movie there's probably only one or two unless it's a horror movie.

Conclusion: Trailers cutters only have a 1.2 second attention span, and/or they think they need to blow your head off every few seconds to keep you from getting distracted by your cell phone.

| IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 38 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ... 36 37 38

Printer-friendly view of this topic

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.