This is topic SDDS Anacronyms in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 05-30-1999, 03:21 AM:
How about these gems: SOUND DROPPED out DURING SHOW
SOUND DROPPED to DEAD SILENCE
SONY DEFINATELY DOES SUCK
Anybody got more???
Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 05-30-1999, 03:22 AM:
The favorite around here: STILL DON'T DO SHIT !!!!
Posted by Brad Miller on 05-30-1999, 03:22 AM:
The original is perhaps still the best: Shitty Dynamic Digital Sound
...but I think I will start using some of the newer ones here, for a change.
People ask me why it is that I have every possible sound format in my
screening room except for SDDS. (mono, Dolby A, Dolby SR, 35mm mag,
70mm mag, DTS, SRD...and even CDS digital) Hmmm, do I really need to
answer that?
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 05-30-1999, 03:23 AM:
Heh...I think that Brad's screening room would benefit more from the
installation of a Vitaphone system than an SDDS processor. *grin*
Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 05-30-1999, 03:23 AM:
Can you imagine if Warner Bros released "The Jazz Singer" in SDDS instead
of Vitaphone on October 6, 1927? The sound would keep dropping out,
clicking from the "high quality" main track to the low quality back up track,
etc etc etc... Imagine if that was everybody's first impression with movie
sound...We would still be showing silent films today!!
Posted by Brad Miller on 05-30-1999, 03:24 AM:
Hmmm, good idea! Think I'll run out and set that up. I'll bet there would be
less pops and ticks in the phonograph record than the amount of times the
SDDS would drop in and out of the secondary fallback (lower quality) digital
track or to analog. haha
Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 05-30-1999, 03:24 AM:
This is stretching it, but how about this:
SHOULD'VE got DOLBY DIGITAL, STUPID!
Posted by Scott Ribbens (Member # 180) on 11-30-1999, 09:43 PM:
Thought that I would bring up an old topic too.Some Dumb Digital System
Stacato Digital Dropout System
Someone's Decision Definitely Sucks
Stupid Defective Digital System
Sony's Definitely Done SOMETHING
Posted by Chris Erwin (Member # 176) on 11-30-1999, 10:41 PM:
Here's a few more...Suffer Does Da Sound
Simply Don't Do Soundtracks
Sony Did Do Sorry
--Chris
Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-01-1999, 03:18 PM:
My GM loves SDDS. She tries to make us play all the prints that go into the big houses in SDDS. We just play them in DTS anyway.I told her that 007-19 wasn't supposed to play in SDDS but she scheduled it into an SDDS house anyway. When the soundtrack started dropping out there were about 9,000,000 calls for bad sound. I just shut the processor off so even if they threaded the reader it wouldn't play in digital. SOMEBODY kept turning it back on.
She keeps putting Sleepy Hollow and Double Jeopardy in SDDS houses too. They aren't even SDDS prints! I think she does it becasue she knows they're DTS prints and doesn't want them to play in DTS. (Jazz Singerphobia, I think!)
She just frustrates me when she does that!
Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 12-01-1999, 09:14 PM:
My GM loves SDDS too... Luckly we don't have any... 
Oh well, I emailed him this thread just for fun...
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-02-1999, 03:55 AM:
Ran a trade screening yesterday and the DTS discs weren't ready so I ran it in SDDS. The pre-screening went fine, no dropouts. I even ran a QC on the print and it was an "excellent" track throughout. During the actual screening for the studio people and bookers, the damn thing started it's random spazzing fit! Of all the times!!! I went to SR and hooked the laptop up to QC the track again. When I ran the QC again, it reported the same perfect track as there was before...but alas, it was srill dropping out! That's just great...SDDS made us look bad.What a piece of junk!
So I power down and decide to leave it off for about 5 minutes...waiting for a quiet dialogue scene. One comes about 10 minutes later so I repower up and viola...no dropouts for the remainder of the film.
If I was to run that exact same print for a regular engagement, I'd be willing to bet it would run flawlessly for a good month, spazz out during a random show (as it always does), and run fine for another month.
What a piece of junk! I mean really...what a piece of JUNK!!! Somebody please take these damn things to the dumpster!!! DTS and SRD has never and I do mean NEVER given me problems...plus they're cheaper, they sound better and there are more prints with those tracks. It's no wonder Lucasfilm, Fox and the TAP representative demanded Phantom Menace NOT be run in SDDS for the trade screening. At least someone there knows what's going on.
Who's making these purchasing decisions???
Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 12-02-1999, 10:23 AM:
It is obvious to me that whoever does make these decisions have excatally no clue what they are buying. They look at the nice fancy little pamplets and then go with which one looks prettier..
Posted by Ky Boyd (Member # 23) on 12-02-1999, 05:07 PM:
Actually, there's a little more to it from that. I learned from someone in the industry that part of the attraction to SDDS for the chains is economic. Here's how it works:
For theatres equipped with SDDS, Sony allows a higher house allowance, which works out to better film rental terms. Don't know if Sony is still doing it this way, but as of about a year ago, that's what I was told. FWIW
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 12-03-1999, 10:09 AM:
I think the love affair is over as even SOny theatres are starting to pull out SDDS units
Brad Ithought you said you had all the formats I didn't see
perspecta sound (there is a card for it for a CP200
Quintaphonic
Sensurround
Colorteck
Vitaphone (sorry you have the modern one DTS
Posted by Megan Penmann (Member # 233) on 12-05-1999, 09:14 PM:
I was told that there's an array of LED's that read the signal and on Sony's older models, these LED's would burn out. When the LED's are replaced it sounds good. And apparently Sony sent out a technical memorandum on it, but no one really picked up on it.
Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 12-05-1999, 09:21 PM:
Even with new LED's the sound still craps out. The Sony SDDS processor will spazz out in the middle of a show.
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-05-1999, 10:10 PM:
Yup, Ken's obviously "been there, done that" with SDDS. It may sound good when it doesn't spazz, but I guarantee you if you put a DTS or an SRD system in that auditorium, you wouldn't be praising SDDS in comparison. 
If Sony pictures is actually giving a break on film rental by having these units installed, then I say ALL other studios should give breaks on SRD and DTS systems! Still, something about that just doesn't seem legal.
Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-08-1999, 10:47 PM:
I was just reading the Maintainence Manual for the SDDS. Did anybody notice what it said on page 1-1?Do not install in areas where it will be exposed to "strong lights", vibration, heat sources, "electricity noise" or static electricity. (I paraphrase)
If you read between the lines a little bit, Sony is telling you that their product souldn't be installed in any projection booth in the world!
Posted by Robb Johnston (Member # 239) on 12-18-1999, 01:02 AM:
Back in April, I replaced the LED's on all my SDDS DFP 2000 readers and the dropping out has dropped to almost nothing. The few remaining times have been on used prints defiled by shoe polish which obliterated the soundtrack and prints built by one of my operators who until recently insisted on a short cut in the film path from the MUT to the platter which caused some damage.
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 12-18-1999, 11:35 AM:
Sony Cinema products is no more
SDDS is now being handled as any other sony product and they are dropping all but afew dealers that are willing to carry other Sony products
Posted by Scott Ribbens (Member # 180) on 12-18-1999, 01:16 PM:
Gordon, why doesn't that suprise me?
Posted by Stefan Scholz (Member # 147) on 12-18-1999, 02:10 PM:
To Randy: Do not install SDDS in projection boxes! You're right...
Before today, I did not know why you all were against SDDS,. My setup, a very early unit called "Anna" always worked reliable.
But having to say, even though the theatre runs conmmercially, the environment is different. It is operated by a professional film sound specialist, and everything kept in specs. With regular checkup of LED output before shows etc. I was called to a local theatre, as they had no sound on SDDS, and they insisted on showing Bond (first week over here) in SDDS.
Primarily, they said, the unit has lost it's brain... due to a dead battery. Therefore they needed the specialist to redo the EQ and THX recert, as they didn't have the disk with the file, and the original installer meanwhile had bought a new laptop computer.
Having performed the EQ and leveling, not easy with the JBL 3 way, as the bass section lives on modulation distortion, we tested Bond. Simply horrible, lots of dropout, poor harsh sound, ghastly!
So testing LEDS was on schedule, both sides bad, replaceds 1000 hrs ago. Still not functioning for the warranted 10k hrs, even though no more Hewlett-Packard. Readjusting film trace until a perfect pickup was obtained. After all and 4 hrs of work the unit was back to sound, and the sound was really oK. As I am not working there, nobody will take care of the unit, and it will be out of specs quite soon.
I have understood my lesson.
But honestly, with DA 20 and lots of bad segments in series, the unit reverts to 2 sec or so of silence, and does not switch back to SR analog. I had many problems with this effort and the badly printed Phantom Menace prints this summer. Meanwhile Dolby offers new firmware... which was to late for me.
Let's stay with 6tk Mag. I prefer that
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 12-18-1999, 03:39 PM:
Long live Mag
Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 12-18-1999, 03:42 PM:
>>"Sony Cinema products is no more
SDDS is now being handled as any other sony product and they are
dropping all but afew dealers that are willing to carry other Sony
products"<<Is tht so? Where did you hear it?
I must admit my last encounter with a 3000 was a rather pleasent one as far as digital is concerned. It simply wouldn't drop out, gag or otherwise do the traditional SDDS glitches. It tuned up rather well too. I'm not too crazy about it's optical (excuse me PEC) a-chain but then again, I'm not too crazy about anybody's optical a-chain except Dolby's of yesteryear.
Steve
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-18-1999, 05:02 PM:
YAH! Gordon gets the "Best News of the Century Award" from me! Hopefully this is a sign of a path following the tradition of CDS.Gordon, got any specifics you can tell us?
Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 12-18-1999, 09:00 PM:
>>"Gordon, got any specifics you can tell us?"<<Definately want specifics on this one.
Steve
------------------
"Old projectionists never die, they just changeover!"
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 12-18-1999, 09:41 PM:
What's wrong with CDS? Surely it was a better product than SDDS...at least it supported 70mm. And I know of at least one dealer who has a complete CDS system in storage (I've seen it).
Posted by George Roher (Member # 91) on 12-18-1999, 11:53 PM:
Ding dong the witch is dead! Good riddance to SDDS! Now if we could only get similar good news about Technicolor... Good things happen in threes don't they?
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 12-19-1999, 12:05 PM:
A rep from Sony'w profesional division came in and just told that a lot dealers would be axed in the conversion and we could either sign up for the complete sony line or drop out
Taylor and company they said were gone
Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-19-1999, 07:58 PM:
Oh man, this is great! Let's hope that everybody drops Sony. I think some corporations like UA will stick with Sony, though. UA doesn't really understand quality. They just see the bottom line (like most companies, I guess). But it sure is fun in the meantime to think of a world without SDDS releases! Good thing that DTS and Dolby own themselves and are doing just fine.
Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 12-19-1999, 09:56 PM:
I always thought that SDDS might not 'make' it, not because of quality, but because it is the most expensive. There's no big advantage of SDDS over the other digital process.Maybe we can go back to using the film edge for that bar-code system; the one that sets the picture and sound format.