Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Digital sound failing off and on for "The Longest Yard"

This is topic Digital sound failing off and on for "The Longest Yard" in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=007256

Posted by Olivia Coleman (Member # 3193) on 06-11-2005, 09:28 PM:

I was wondering if anybody else might be having sound issues with their prints of "The Longest Yard"? We had 3 prints originally in SR.D houses all around. Now we have two prints, one in DTS and the other in SR.D. The current houses previously had scratched prints of same film. Replaced one the other was broken down Thursday. So with unscratched prints we are still having the issue of digital drop out and come back. I was wondering if this may just be an equipment problem or an actual soundtrack problem.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 06-11-2005, 11:10 PM:

It could be either or both. The need for more specific info would help here. What is your error rate if its failing on SRD, or is it failing on DTS? Do these digital systems work fine with other films or do they exhibit the same fallback problems? Are the same reels giving similar problems in both the prints? Do the previews playback ok in digital?

Mark

Posted by Olivia Coleman (Member # 3193) on 06-12-2005, 02:32 AM:

It's actually failing on both DTS and SRD. I just spoke with another manager and they had the issue thorought the night. I work in the AM so I will be there to witness the issue first hand. (I can't think very well nor type for that matter, had some wine tonight...)

I do know that we had no problems with other films in those particular houses. So I was thinking it maybe the prints themselves. (It is possible the previous house one of the prints was in that no one caught it due to size. The current houses are small so the sound is more noticable...) I will see in the morning.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 06-12-2005, 09:12 AM:

Also, when was the last time boththe DTS and SRD readers were checked and adjusted? Both these have adjustments that can be critical to proper operation. Even though I suspect your print is bad it may not hurt to have these readers checked if you have not had a technician in for a lont time (1 or mor years).

Mark

P.S. watch and see how well the previews play back today.

Posted by Olivia Coleman (Member # 3193) on 06-12-2005, 10:18 AM:

I know the SRD readers LED was recently changed. So it has a new reader. The DTS hasn't been changed, but we had a print of Madagascar in that house that played fine in DTS.

I think I will run tones at those two houses to see if that may help. I will watch for what the trailers run in.

Thank you, Mark for your suggestions.

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 06-12-2005, 12:31 PM:

It is very unusual for an entire print to be effected by dropouts in both srd and dts and it be print related, as far as lab defects go, since all reels are printed at different times. SRD problems through out print ususally indicated bad wear on the SRD track or way out of alighnment video settings or led voltage. DTS is generally reader related more so LED voltage or age. Our Longest Yard print ran fine in both SRD and DTS. The only problem I had with the print was an underdeveloped reel (Very Dark) and I had that one replaced.

Posted by Olivia Coleman (Member # 3193) on 06-13-2005, 12:49 AM:

Well my shift went well. (At least no customer complained about the sound...) I arrived this morning to find the Dolby reader turned off per instructions from a higher qualified projectionist then the one that closed last night. I did minor troubleshooting for both units and was still at a loss until the projectionist, who instructed the other to shut the unit off, arrived. He informed and showed me that the light output for the Dolby unit was not where it should be and would continuously fail. (Though not all the time did it drop out of digital.) For that house, the entire trailer pack and first half of the movie would play in SR only. It finally would pick up the digital but occasionally drop back to SR... (Said projectionist opens tomorrow, so hopefully he will be able to adjust the light output.)

Now the DTS house is the one that really confuses me. Like I said previously, we had a different film in there Thursday that ran fine in DTS. So for it not to play properly with this film is beyond me at this point. (We had another print of the same film having the same issue...) That is why I was wondering if it might be something with the DTS code. It changes houses again for Wednesday. I will keep my eyes and ears open to see if the problem follows.

Thank both Mark and Darryl for your advice. (I'm not extremely new but newer. Though I am one of the most anal projectionists there!) [Big Grin]

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 06-13-2005, 09:47 AM:

Olivia,
I've seen other films, one in particuluar last winter that had severe drop outs in it. Everyone in this area that was playing it in DTS had this problem so it had to be the entire batch of prints. The studio also would not replace it citing that the next print will just have the same problem.

Keep in mind that there is also an adjustment inside the time code reader head for preamp gain. This is there to allow the gain to be adjusted to compensate for the led fade that happens. If this adjustment is not checked on a regular basis and the DC voltage gets too low then some films may read just fine and some may not.

At any rate this is just one reason why its imnportant to have the highest quality Analog backup available. A really good analog system is sometimes hard to tell apart from any of the digital playbeck systems.

Mark