Now, we are running INTERNATIONAL VERSION discs as they've changed a song in the credits or something...I don't know why, but that's why we aren't using the normal DOMESTIC VERSION discs.

I threw a disc in the PC and found that there was no reel 4 on disc B nor was it on disc A for that matter. I called UIP and informed the print controller who said 'thank God!' to which I replied 'Huh??' She then added that she had been getting complaints that the 'DTS didn't work on AP2' but that was all she was being told. I asked her if by chance there were any DOMESTIC VERSIONS in the country and she sent them straight out. I found reel four on them and got Michael Barry (proud owner of a new CDrom burner ) and asked him to make a composite disc of INTERNATIONAL and include the reel four file. He did this today and dropped them back in tonight before the 9.30 show (full house 840 people) and it ran without a hitch.

So with many thanks to Michael, The Randwick Ritz Cinema is now the only cinema in all of Australia running the entire print in DTS. I think we should put that in the newspaper ads.

Maybe DTS will re-issue the discs and this time include reel four...I asked the print controller if she would like a copy of the corrected disc so she could rectify it for other locations, but for some reason she seemed quite disinterested.

Never thought about the impact of Photoguard on the SRD track... that's a major downfall.

You'd think the film makers would have more concern about their product.
 

All it would take is for dts to get the ok from the studios and to mail me one disc of every release that comes out. As time went by, I could also offer temporary downloads upon request for people who got in a repertory print and no discs. I do get broken or scratched discs from time to time and with recent events like the "Shallow Hal" and new B disc for "Monsters Inc", it could save a lot of people from a bad show.

I've got the storage and bandwidth to make it work, but I don't think the studios realize the number of people who could use such a service. How many other people have had a defective or missing disc in whatever capacity over the last year?

I found out the hard way Brad, and disabled the disk "Auto-Detect"
program on my computer. And even though I reinstalled the Sound Blaster disk that came with my Dell Pentium 3 with Windows 98, that
function doesn't work, though the disk drive does.
Curiosity kills more than the cat.
 

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I like your idea, but I think that it will not have success because:

1. Theaters must have a fast internet connection (xdsl or faster)
2. Theaters should have someone able to use a computer
3. Theaters should be very careful with "film done right". I think that few theaters would spend time to download and burn a copy of DTS files of the new film...

Bye
Antonio

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Greg Mueller
Amateur Astronomer, Machinist, Filmnut
http://www.muellersatomics.com/
 

Antonio, with the ever-increasing availability of DSL and such connections, more and more people are quickly getting broadband internet connections. I am not suggesting that this replace actually sending out dts discs. I am only recommending it be an emergency alternative for theaters who do not recieve their discs, or received damaged/defective discs. Odds are that someone working at the theater will have a broadband internet connection and a cd burner for the occasional save. It would by no means be a weekly thing for theaters.
 

I think that it could be a good idea just for few people, perhaps for us "film-techers" that want to "make film better".

With a 640kbit ADSL we can get 80kbyte/s with best condition.
A two set DTS disk are 1300MB at maximum.
Let's have that you can download at 80KB/s.
You will spend 4,62 hours to download all files.
Let's say (suppose that you work in a multiplex) that you need two different movie: 9,24 hours.

I don't say that it is impossibile, just that it is unlikely that a theater owner decide to download DTS files from internet. At least the theatre managers that I know...

However, if you decide to put DTS disks image on the internet, pls do not forget the Italian version...

Bye
Antonio

 

As Snow White may have said: "Someday my (digital) prints will come".

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

The data pipeline is definitely an issue but could easily be taken care of by the distributors. I'm not sure how much it costs for Airborne Express to ship two or three 40 lb. film cans for each film. I would assume about $150 a piece--give or take. Forty gigabytes of data can be sent either with a hard disk or over a secure network for less than $150. A hard drive, for example, would have an initial cost and then would run about $20 to ship with Airborne. A network data stream via the internet or other medium would cost even less. Only about 98% of the fiber optic cable installed in the past ten or so years is actually in use and bandwidth is in abundance. If it is a cost issue, then I believe transmitting the data is the way to go.

 

As for data storage: the cheapest way to ship 40-gig files would be on a single DLT tape. These tapes cost about $70 apiece (less in quantity, of course) and weigh a couple of pounds. Sending a DLT tape overnight via Fedex should be well under $100. There's no way that data networks can come anywhere near that range for price per gigabyte. Also, having multiple DLT drives in the theatre would provide redundancy, whereas it is highly unlikely that a theatre would have multiple T3 lines to the distributor (which would have to be point-to-point lines...not Internet connections...for reliability and security reasons).

Shipping hard disks would be a bad idea from a reliability point of view. If DLTs couldn't be used, DVD-R disks would be a reasonable second choice. The manufacturing cost of a DVD-R would be far less than a DLT, although it would take a dozen or so DVD-Rs to carry the same quantity of information.
 

We always have spare discs on-hand. So, if you need replacement discs, first call the film distribuator and if they don't have any, let me know and I'll do my best to get them for you.

Karen at DTS
khultgren@dtsonline.com
 

What would be the current cost of a "secure network" connection to a theatre complex? Assume three or four movies will be downloaded each week. Probably safe to assume a data rate that approaches real time (e.g., 2 hours per movie) to be practical. What percentage of theatres would have access to T3 service?

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Estimating real-time data transfer would require a constant throughput of around 6MB/sec. This is much lower than what is provided by T3 connectivity (which runs roughly 45 MB/sec through 672 channels). Since this could be done at roughly any time of day, I would venture to say that it could be done using a full 1.544 MB/sec T1 line. Therefore each film would be piped in about 8 hours. There are several providers of these lines in Florida and the prices vary from $1000-$2000 per month--which is less than $150/print for three to four prints a week for four weeks. The cost of bandwidth, though, is declining because of the greater demand for high-speed connectivity... so in the coming years it will be cheaper. There are a lot of up-front costs to factor in as well. While this may not be the most ideal way to transmit the data, I believe it does have future possibilities.
 

That's what I said too. But TODAY, most theatres would view that kind of broadband service as too expensive, and many do not have access to it. Without a dedicated point-to-point network and "bullet-proof" encryption, security is also a major issue. Cinema-quality data falling into the wrong hands is a nightmare of many.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion
 

Any idea how the international discs could have gone out without reel 4 being on them? Has anyone in Australia from the distributor been in touch to ask?

On the last question...I'm betting no.