Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Dolby ScreenTalk Subtitle Trials

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Posted by Darren Briggs (Member # 1071) on 05-01-2003, 01:03 PM:

Ive just this week had Dolby come and install there new digital subtitle unit at our cinema in York (U.K)SCREENTALK
It's a similar system to the dts CSS.
It read the DA20 data from the serial port, which has reel and block numbers pouring out from it.
The SceenTalk interface converts this to usable data and synchronizes subtitle and descriptive audio data from the dedicated PC with the film.
Subtitles are projected ontop of the 35mm image and a douser is used to blank off the video projector image when no subtitles are on screen
Desriptive audio is fed via infra-red to headphones.

There are a handfull of sites in the UK currently testing the system out and most major studios are supporting subtitling there product.
Worth checking out, as Laser etched prints of Harry Potter etc are few and far between. This system like dts CSS allows any print to be used.

Darren

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 05-03-2003, 10:24 AM:

Nice one, Darren... Not only might this be good news for Harry Potter, if the Dolby system works reliably it should also be good news for showing non-English language films too. Potentially all an arthouse distributor would need to supply is the subtitle data, thus avoiding the expense of laser-subtitled 35mm prints. Original release prints (i.e. unsubtitled) could be imported after their run in the country of origin (and ultrasonically cleaned if necessary) thus cutting out a lot of the cost of showing non-English films to a relatively small audience.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 05-03-2003, 10:54 AM:

Do they also have a rear mirror system like dts?

Posted by Darren Briggs (Member # 1071) on 05-05-2003, 11:00 AM:

Yes there is a serial output for a LED type panel if required.
You can also run advert slide shows from the system too.
All modes can be selected via automation too, making it a system that once set up, doesnt need to be touched. Which is a good thing if you have tight turn around etc.

Darren

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 05-06-2003, 09:40 AM:

If the information in the digital data stream is accurate enough to synchronise subtitles with the picture, would be possible to use the data to synchronise an alternative (like in another language) audio stream coming from a hard disk system?

Posted by Larry Shaw (Member # 388) on 05-06-2003, 05:59 PM:

Michael,

The system of a LED display on the rear wall with patron-area reflectors is a patented product named "Rear Window" http://ncam.wgbh.org/mopix/ . It can work with a number of data sources, of which DTS has been the most common in public cinemas. Although some DTS people make it sound as though they invented or own Rear Window, Dolby, SDDS and DTS were all approached to support Rear Window, DTS just acted first.

BL&S http://www.blsi.com makes the reflectors for the system.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 05-06-2003, 06:01 PM:

Indeed I didn`t know that. I thought dts had invented the system.