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Topic: AMC Sued Over Non Functional ALD Devices

Jack Ondracek
Film God

Posts: 2348
From: Port Orchard, WA, USA
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 02-28-2016 01:09 PM

Out at our drive-in, we're having more customers ask if they can use the FM radios in their smartphones in lieu of their car radios or some other portable.

We've discouraged these attempts, as I'm pretty sure the radios don't work in real time and, given the variety of devices out there, we couldn't possibly synch with them all.

I wonder if it would be the same with Randy's "in-house wifi" idea. The concept is intriguing, but the hearing impaired would still notice any delays caused by the encoding/decoding process. Could you delay what goes through the projector long enough to account for that and still be within whatever buffer the main sound processor would allow for?

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Harold Hallikainen
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 906
From: Denver, CO, USA
Registered: Aug 2009

posted 02-28-2016 01:24 PM

I see no problem with them using the FM radio in their phone though I suspect they are no where near as sensitive as a car radio with an outside antenna. The phone FM receivers are indeed FM receivers. I don't THINK (but do not know) that there is much digital processing introducing latency. Since the previous comment was about drive in theaters, note that the DOJ NPRM on closed captioning and audio description proposes exempting drive in theaters due to a lack of suitable technology and the small number of theaters making the development of such technology expensive (but, there may be a way to adapt a wider use technology).

I wonder about the use of FM transmitters by drive in theaters. It seems that to get the required coverage the radiated field would exceed FCC limits for unlicensed transmitters. Have any theaters been visited by the FCC?

Harold

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Jack Ondracek
Film God

Posts: 2348
From: Port Orchard, WA, USA
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 02-28-2016 06:09 PM

quote: Harold Hallikainen
I wonder about the use of FM transmitters by drive in theaters. It seems that to get the required coverage the radiated field would exceed FCC limits for unlicensed transmitters. Have any theaters been visited by the FCC?

That's a topic that's generally not discussed... any more than percentages, private collections, etc, etc.

If your background is what I think it is, a simple application of the part 15 reference to unlicensed FM will give you the answer you're looking for.

As for whether the FCC has singled out drive-ins for special attention, not that I've ever heard... even as far back as when any wireless application was mostly AM. Everyone I know is pretty careful about this and isn't interested in being the "first".

There was one case where an owner was running a Comet antenna (3+ gain) on top of a phone pole with something like 75 watts going into it. During the day, he was playing oldies and running schedule info for his theatre. As he told me, he was covering most of his community and saw nothing wrong with providing a little extra entertainment. He got a polite inquiry from a regional engineer, after a complaint from somebody, and after asking around a bit, turned it off fairly quickly.

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