Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: AVATAR 35mm DTS

This is topic AVATAR 35mm DTS in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Per Hauberg (Member # 529) on 12-17-2009, 05:20 AM:

If any of You guys are still as hopelessly oldfashionned as me, going to run AVATAR in 35mm, I would like to ask if You've run Your test and if it works. None of my three dts heads are able to track the time-code at all.

Greetings from very snowy Denmark

Per

Posted by Michael Hossen (Member # 4274) on 12-17-2009, 05:27 AM:

Hi Per,

I played it last night and all of today with DTS and it played flawlessly. No problems whatsoever.

Cheers
Michael

Posted by Mike B. Smith (Member # 2829) on 12-17-2009, 12:09 PM:

Won't track the time code? Does this mean the green LED is not coming on at the reader head? Did the last DTS print work ok with the TC head and player? Is there TC on all of your reels? Many things to check, always start with looking to see if good timecode is being received at the head, normally indicated by the green LED coming on. This will simply indicate Timecode is present on the film and the head is reading it, If you don't have a green LED could be problems with the print, TC head, or possible TC cable. If a solid green LED is on at the head and the player is indicating it's receiving good TC this opens up a list of other things to check at the player end.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 12-17-2009, 12:56 PM:

quote: Per Hauberg
None of my three dts heads are able to track the time-code at all.

?...have you tried to adjust the drum alignment screw, which is under the cover, a bit..? Been many times that I've had to do this adjustment on prints that won't track correctly..

..or, your drums have been out of alignment and this movie is letting you know about it ...

..and if this doesn't work, you could have weak LED's within the readers..that needs to be turned up..

Some areas to peek at.

good luck-Monte

Posted by Per Hauberg (Member # 529) on 12-17-2009, 04:20 PM:

Thanks, all three

Yes, the TC is present on all reels, and No, -the green led is not on at any time - on three different projectors.
Yes, -other DTS prints are running the same day without trouble.
No, -I did not peel off the sticker (yet - since 1994). Factory adjusted, You know [Razz]

Posted by Bruce Hansen (Member # 281) on 12-17-2009, 07:32 PM:

Look closely at the time code on the film. Is there anything interfering with it? I have seen prints where the picture is printed too far over, and the frame lines are encroaching into the time code.

Posted by Michael Voiland (Member # 5386) on 12-17-2009, 08:20 PM:

FYI our dts player is on the fritz and has been for months.
we need new drives but i know my drive b sort of works
the attached played in dts flawlessly after the attached played it was noting I turned the dts unit off so this might just be limited to a few prints.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-17-2009, 08:52 PM:

Check the TC area of the film for damage. We had a print once where a previous cinema had run the print "off" one of the sprockets, and the sprocket teeth had made very tiny dents in the film directly on top of the timecode. Results were similar to the situation here -- no DTS playback, and no LED light. I assume the little dents made it impossible for the TC to focus in the reader.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 12-18-2009, 05:06 AM:

quote: Per Hauberg
No, -I did not peel off the sticker (yet - since 1994). Factory adjusted, You know

..sometimes, you gotta break the rules to work to your advantage at times ... [Big Grin]

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 12-18-2009, 06:11 AM:

Per,

Do you have any other theatres you could check with to see if it's just a common print problem in your country? Seems very strange that all three projectors are not reading even the presence of time code.

Is it the whole print or just reel 1?

Posted by Michael Voiland (Member # 5386) on 12-19-2009, 04:16 AM:

I work tomorrow night I will fire up the old dts6 with disk a in drive b... someday i need to put more 9 dollar drives in our dts unit. From their I can tell you if its just reel 1 or all the reels. I am betting the length of the film they dropped reel 1 because the dts disks cary the sparks and thx trailers and other things on them cutting the usable playback time to 70 minutes or so. Its 2 disk and a 160 minute movie. Reel 1 was short by the way.

Posted by Julio Roberto (Member # 4976) on 12-19-2009, 08:23 AM:

FWIW, 1 print tracked the DTS fine here in Spain.

Posted by Magnus Almqvist (Member # 4338) on 01-05-2010, 06:21 PM:

At least two copies here in Stockholm, Sweden; have a bad timecode on reel 1. It plays for about 3-4 minutes, and then drops out. And the led keeps on flashing until reel 2, then everything is alright for the rest of the movie. [Smile]

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 01-05-2010, 06:42 PM:

Welcome to you, Magnus! [thumbsup]

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 01-05-2010, 09:04 PM:

You guys that are having trouble running DTS must have a Dolby SRD print. Or maybe a Dolby A print. Or possibly an SDDS print. Or maybe an SDDS-8 print. You might even have a CDS print. Or a mag/op print. Maybe it's mono. Perhaps it's silent - or has a variable density track. You might even have an Ultra Stereo print.

I'm just guessing, of course.

I heard the director wanted a different version of the movie for every possible scenario.

Posted by Henning Anderson (Member # 725) on 01-06-2010, 12:18 PM:

Hi Per,
I'm running Avatar in DTS and haven't observed anything unusual.
We checked it in DTS before the opening, and no problems to report.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 01-06-2010, 02:04 PM:

Per has left the building...

Posted by Henning Anderson (Member # 725) on 01-06-2010, 02:17 PM:

Per never leaves the building [Smile]

And my bad for not checking the date of the original post. It slipped through the cracks...

Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 01-07-2010, 08:50 AM:

Good one, Mark! [thumbsup]

Posted by Magnus Almqvist (Member # 4338) on 01-07-2010, 05:49 PM:

Thank you John. Time to say something, after two years lurking around [Roll Eyes]

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 01-07-2010, 06:43 PM:

Ahhhh...so that was YOU! [Wink]

Posted by Magnus Almqvist (Member # 4338) on 01-14-2010, 05:17 AM:

Sorry 'bout that, won't happen again