Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: DTS Trial-Run (Development and Testing)

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Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 02-13-2004, 03:33 PM:

I'm told that "Jurassic Park" was not the very first movie in DTS. Rumor has it there was (at least) one major release for testing DTS prior to the JP rollout.

Can anyone name the movie?

Posted by Travis Hubrig (Member # 1745) on 02-13-2004, 03:40 PM:

It was the trailer for JP...

No, I don't know. Although I heard something similar.

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 02-13-2004, 04:41 PM:

I wonder if it was one of the three pre-JP movies whose clips are in the DTS 'Buzz & Bill Show' test/demo film:

Backdraft (1991)

Far And Away (1992)

Born On The Fouth Of July (1989)

I always wondered why these three titles were picked for use in the film, unless it was just a Universal/DTS thing (all three are UI releases, and UI was a major investor in the early development of DTS), or is there a Ron Howard (directed Backdraft and F&A)/Tom Cruise (starred in F&A and 'Born') connection here? [Wink]

-Aaron

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 02-13-2004, 05:26 PM:

And...while we're on the topic of test-runs...anyone had a chance to run NEWSIES or STAR TREK 6 in recent years?

(a) Supposedly, these titles carried SRD data for field testing. Any truth to this?
(b) If so, has anyone had a chance to actually playback the data? Is it a "real" soundtrack or just data?

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 02-13-2004, 05:29 PM:

I think that was just a few prints made with the SRD track. I would've certainly remembered seeing that on my prints and I remember running both of them.

We need someone from Dolby to confirm this, but it was my understanding that the tracks were just silent data and the purpose of the test was to check on track wear issues in the field.

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 02-13-2004, 05:54 PM:

How 'bout Dr. Giggles?

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 02-13-2004, 05:56 PM:

would it maybe have been Dragon The bruce lee story that was the one used for testing.

quote:
I always wondered why these three titles were picked for use in the film, unless it was just a Universal/DTS thing (all three are UI releases, and UI was a major investor in the early development of DTS), or is there a Ron Howard (directed Backdraft and F&A)/Tom Cruise (starred in F&A and 'Born') connection here?

maybe it was because they had stereo surround mag prints that they used for the 6 channel sound mix on the disc and of course for some of the reasons stated.

Posted by Mike Carro (Member # 232) on 02-13-2004, 06:05 PM:

I heard that Dragon was released in DTS but couldn't find it in any publications.

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 02-13-2004, 06:06 PM:

I did a Google search on this and found a reference here:

www.soccerchix.org/online_sportsbook_08-04-2003.html

Now, do NOT go to that page...the quote is NOT there. It only appears on the cached version in the Google archives.

How this article got onto www.soccerchix.org, I have NO idea.

In this article, titled "Dolby Still Dominates Sound but DTS Has Some Backers" (cached version) it quotes Brian Caldwell, director of marketing for Agoura Hills, Calif.-based DTS' consumer and pro division as saying,

quote:
The only DTS theatrical release prior to Jurassic had been Dr. Giggles, a horror movie from Universal that was essentially used as a test to convince Spielberg and the studio executives of the format's value...

I really can't explain why this article is on this site or why it was edited. One of the stranger sources I've ever seen.

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 02-15-2004, 03:00 PM:

Because "dominates" and "backers" are sports terms and it matched some automated search criteria for sports-related articles, and then was removed when someone realized it was not sports-related?

--jhawk

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-15-2004, 05:07 PM:

Can anyone confirm the "Dr. Giggles" DTS test print thing? Concerning "Dragon," Universal had some prints for that with Dolby Digital audio on them. I think Universal only had a couple other Dolby Digital releases pre-JP, such as "Matinee."

Does anyone have anymore specifics about the "Star Trek VI" and "Newsies" DD test screenings? I've seen blurbs written about them in "Widescreen Review," but I don't think anyone has mentioned where the screenings where held. Possibly the El Capitan theater? I wouldn't expect there to be anymore than 1 or 2 test prints for each of these films, and I wonder if they still exist. Of note, it was not until the release of "Lighting Jack" in the mid 1990s that SR*D tracks were featured on an entire inventory of prints.

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 02-15-2004, 05:54 PM:

jhawk --

I don't think your are correct here. The article is still there, but the only thing missing is the reference to Dr. Giggles.

Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 02-15-2004, 07:39 PM:

We have a Reel of Backdraft (1991) up in our booth that has Stereo and DTS....God knows where the disk is...

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 02-15-2004, 08:03 PM:

Why don't you run that reel of Backdraft and report back just exactly what is on that reel. I'll bet just about anything it's just a setup reel.

Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 02-15-2004, 08:30 PM:

Brad,

I ran it way back when I was learning/testing out how to interlock our projectors....it was a scene with fire [Big Grin]

sorry, bad joke...am I correct in assuming that one of the DTS setup disks we have play with the reel?

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 02-15-2004, 09:05 PM:

I did some searching around about the subject and the inventor Terry Beard. I found a PDF file that I did not copy from or link to so just do a search using Terry Beard and you will come across it. In that PDF there was a referance to two unnamed films of smaller scaled productions that were used for testing. One was for testing timecode application to the film and the effects on the analog track and the other was done to convince Steven Spielberg that the system worked. With the second experiment the system used a hard drive for the information. Prior to that they were using DAT tape but that was not feasable because it could not jump far enough for large film cuts. No names for the films were given and no mention of more than Two films used for the tests.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 02-15-2004, 10:27 PM:

There are quite a few people with the same name who don`t have anything to do with DTS. Pleae make it a little easier for us by providing the link or at least tell us what search engine you use.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-15-2004, 11:15 PM:

Phil, Correct me if I'm wrong.....
But a very similar form of DTS was in use by Iwerks for large format presentations. This was also read off of CD-ROMS as well but was refrenced to a time code generator controled by a tach generator rather than read off the film. I believe this use predates Jurassic Park by at least two years.

I also did the saerch for Terry Beard and there are many of them.

Mark @ CLACO

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 02-15-2004, 11:34 PM:

dtstech whitpapers pdf file

Sorry about that guys. I did so many different search variations that I wasn't sure wich one it was. I made a link to what I was talking about. If you put DTS or Digital theater systems before Terry Brown you will find more things.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-16-2004, 05:49 PM:

Didn't Strong and Ballantine have a sound on disc prototype system? I remember seeing a blurb about that one back in the early 1990s (in Millimeter Magazine) when all the different digital sound formats were fixing to debut. That one referred to it using 12" laserdiscs for the audio. Wierd.

The LC Digital and IMAX/Sonics system (using 3 red book LPCM CD discs) both preceeded DTS by a year or two.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 02-16-2004, 06:00 PM:

There was a similar system in France (was that LC Digital?), and Kinoton also proposed a sound system with external storage media and timecode. I think DTS had to buy the French company out in order to get started in Europe.

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 02-16-2004, 06:24 PM:

LC was bought out by DTS, they had units in the field and had encoded some features around the time of the Jurassic Park release. Karasync, a system which read the analog soundtrack to slave their digital unit, appeared and promptly disappeared.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 02-16-2004, 06:58 PM:

The Strong system was DLS (Digital Laser Sound).

Dolby used Pacific Theatres Northridge Cinemas in Northridge, California as a Test theatre for SRD for "Star Trek VI". And they used Pacific's El Capitian also to test "Newsies" in SRD.

Back in 1993, The Universal Studios Sound Department head made up side view drawing of a Century JJ with all the different Digital sound system readers mounted on the head. I have the drawing up in my booth.

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 02-16-2004, 09:57 PM:

Dean: You may have been using the 'Buzz & Bill Show' (DTS test/demo reel) for interlock training: it features a scene from Backdraft with lots of fire in it...

The Buzz & Bill Show disc is required to play it in DTS, of course.

-Aaron

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 02-17-2004, 01:43 AM:

quote:
Karasync, a system which read the analog soundtrack to slave their digital unit, appeared and promptly disappeared.

How did that work?

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 02-17-2004, 08:50 AM:

The unit would read the waveform on the analog track and would match the digital file to playback. There where many discussions at technical seminars during the period but no actual demostrations to witness. They did not have the financial power of Dolby or DTS to hang on.