In a large multiplex where one side is all SRD and the other side is all DTS, we would never run a "double" on the DTS side just because it is one more possibility of something to forget. I'd rather run any doubles in SRD just so there is no chance that somewhere during that week long set that a particular showing wouldn't get played in digital because the projectionist forgot to change the discs or was distracted. It's the only real downfall of the system as it is currently.
Some of the high end software and computer packages used in the broadcasting industry still puke! For the price that is paid for these units and software (up to 10 grand or so, maybe even higher), you would think it would play a lousy stereo SND or WAV format without any trouble 100% of the time. But, they don't. It is my understanding that the real "Bottleneck" of an IDE system is the drive itself, whether it be the hard drive or CDROM drive. I would presume this is the reason why DTS uses SCSI CDROM's to eliminate the bottleneck. Like I mentioned, I am no expert on these matters. It is just my humble opinion, which is based on what I have seen in some of the broadcasting on-air computers as well as the home entertainment industry. In today's technology, I think the present system that DTS uses for their time code format is probably the most reliable way to go. Educate me Karen. Educate me, Brad. I am all ears...
The important thing here is that it shouldn't really change the operator's daily routine, and the disks for the movie being shown "should" still be in the machine. The purpose of having the hard disk is threefold: first, to ensure that the film will play in DTS even if it is (for example) doubled up with another DTS feature and the operator neglects to change the disks; second, to help to increase the lifespan of the CD-ROM drives by reducing the wear and tear on their mechanical components (by playing the sound from the hard disk whenever possible, rather than from the CDs); and, third, to allow for situations where the disks may not be available (for example, interlocking one print in multiple DTS-equipped auditoria or for theatres that may get two prints of one title, but only have one set of disks).
I agree that SCSI is far preferable to IDE, and it's probably not worth moving to IDE for the CD drives. SCSI drives are generally of higher quality, anyway, and can be more easily interchanged than different makes/models of IDE drives. The real bottleneck, though, is the speed at which the CD-ROM drive is capable of reading the data off the disks, and even the cheapeast hard disk has a far higher throughput rate than the fastest CD-ROM drive in general use.
In theory, the software change should be pretty simple, and, even with a good markup for DTS, shouldn't add more than, say, $500 to the cost of the unit.
I agree that complexity tends to decrease reliability, which is why I would not advocate making substantial changes to the existing DTS system. If the new component (the hard disk) fails, then it would just work as it always has. The other nice thing about DTS is that, unlike the radio automation systems, there is always a backup (the optical track on the print) except for 70mm and 16mm, which are usually set up with two DTS units, anyway, so failure of the DTS unit wouldn't be catastrophic.
Imagine being able to load a "Feature Presentation" snipe one time and have it play back on your unit every single time. The same could go for trailers that don't make it to the trailer disc. This could seriously diminish "sound on film" argument commonly made against the format.
What does everyone think?
The application that comes to mind is having one disc for each feature instead of two, and using no compression at all.
Not that the current DTS system is lacking - not at all! It sounds incredible, but uncompressed could sound even better...what do you think?
DTS, under normal circumstances, will not even play unless the serial number of the print (I assume that is embedded in the time code) and the serial number of the disc match. Unless both of the 'A' discs had some of the same trailers, which would probably cause something funny to occur...
Aaron
It would be cool to see some of these ideas implemented and to know that they could have originated here on Film-Tech.
quote:
It would save $$$ if dts could just send out one copy of the "trailer disc" every week and just have everyone load it to their hard drive as well.
With all the studios now inserting trailers from every OTHER studio in with their prints, I think it's about time that DTS just do away with trailer disks and just put all the current trailers on every movie disk set. Might cost a little more but it would surely be cheaper than pressing the trailer disks, and it would be a solution for those of us with 2-drive DTS units.
"DTS, under normal circumstances, will not even play unless the serial number of the print (I assume that is embedded in the time code) and the serial number of the disc match. Unless both of the 'A' discs had some of the same trailers, which would probably cause something funny to occur."
Hmmmm. I am not so sure of that. We have had bad disks in the past, and a replacement disk worked just fine.
And, it would be very interesting to see how an IDE hard drive would react when sorting out the codes for a specific movie and play the correct track. Personally, I think go over like a cast iron tennis ball.
) And all of a sudden the main player started to play the big machine gun sequence of the matrix. I am convinced that the Indian film had been made using cloned serial numbers (they were CDR disks)
All you have to do is change the discs and cycle the power. That's pretty simple. You won't see any more CD-ROM drives added to units. You may, however, see a hard drive in the not too distant future.
Karen at DTS
If anything needs immediate attention, send me an email or call us!
On adding more drives:
The number of drives does not matter. As the software is designed today, a player will recognize only ONE feature serial number at a time (it's a little different for trailers). Each feature film has a unique serial number. That's why, after changing feature discs, you must cycle power. Get rid of the old number and load the new. This design is simple and works best for the majority of our customers.
Karen at DTS
khultgren@dtsonline.com www.dtsonline.com
I wasn't being "nasty".... I was JOKING, as evidenced by the
Sorry if I offended.
Seriously, I'd never heard about power-cycling the unit between features, which is good to know about and might explain some of the "issues" I have had with DTS in the past which only seemed to be fixable with a power cycle.
I've never run more than two (maybe three?) DTS features in one day in a single house. In non-DTS theatres, I've done up to five different films in a day in one theatre (festivals, etc.)...
The good thing about this, is that you're not bound to be compatible with todays DTS soundformat. New players and new discs to the theatres that have the new players is all that's required.
Oh well... it sounds easy anyway...
/Mathias
Karen at DTS
Just so everyone knows, the codes for the "smileys" are on the "faq" link at the top of each forum page. They are used to help convey emotion, since plain text doesn't have much. Here's a couple of examples:
"Dts is the BEST system ever. "
"Dts is the BEST system ever. 
"
Obviously the first is intended to be serious and the second one is to express sarcasm. The one below shows anger.
"The film depot sent me a broken dts disc! 
"
Hope that helps. I really need to sit down and do a full update on the site here as to how the smileys can help express emotion to ensure threads are not accidentally read in the wrong tone. I'll try and get that done soon.