This is topic does your theatre meet industry "standards"? in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 06-25-2010, 03:20 PM:
 
Subject says it. Specifically, see the TAP guidelines. Ignore the parts that do not apply to picture and sound quality (e.g. restrooms, concession stand, etc.). Does your theatre conform to these guidelines?

Or, for those who service or work in multiple theatres, what per centage of auditoria meet these specifications?

As for me, personally, I have worked in a few venues that come very close to these specs, but I don't think that any would actually satisfy the entire list. I wonder if there is any commercial theatre (open to the public, not a screening room, not a nonprofit), anywhere, that actually is fully "correct."
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 06-25-2010, 03:33 PM:
 
I think that a lot of venues got offended by the TAPS since it came out in 1983 for the release of "SW:EP-VI" and figured it was just George Lucas wanting venues to conform to this list for this Star Wars release.

I know that our parent company out of California, when this TAPS came out, wasn't too crazy on this TAPS thing, thus quite ignored it since they've been basically doing what was on the TAPS list anyway long before anybody even heard of Lucas or even knew who he was.

-Monte
 

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Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 06-25-2010, 08:37 PM:
 
I have asked Mr. Lucas to personnaly inspect our toilets, am awaiting his reply
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 06-26-2010, 01:33 AM:
 
Amazingly I think we meet most of the specifications most of the time. Our auditoriums were designed during the theater mall boom of the late 70's, so there isn't a whole lot that can be done about room acoustics and sound leakage (auditorium doors open up directly into an auditorium behind it with no barrier walls, etc). The film presentations definitely match except in instances where the shape of the screen isn't the correct aspect ratio due to a combination of improper lens sizes and improperly filed plates. Also, 5 of our auditoriums do not have subwoofers. The managers don't run the film cleaners, unfortunately, so there is some dirt accumulation. Sometimes they manage to scratch a film, badly. Those are things that are out of my control. But generally I'd say our films are cleaner than most if not all theaters in the Denver metro area, bar none. I also seem to be the only person in the state who doesn't rely on zebra tape (which either covers part of the image or part of the Dolby Digital track).
 

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Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 06-26-2010, 09:40 AM:
 
The topic should be change to "TAP standards". I think the current "industry" standards are much much lower

And it appears almost all of the TAP standards are SMPTE, so why bother with two sets?
 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 06-26-2010, 10:19 AM:
 
I don't see anything unreasonable in the TAP standards. I just picked that list because it incorporates SMPTE standards for picture with Dolby (etc.) standards for sound.

I'm just curious about how many venues actually meet these standards in real life. It always seems that picture, sound, or both get compromised, especially in older venues or multi-purpose venues.
 

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Posted by Edward Havens (Member # 4715) on 06-26-2010, 12:46 PM:
 
I was a TAPper back in the late 1990s, so I can say with more than a fair degree of certainty that the theatre I started at yesterday not only meets but exceeds TAP standards, with the sole exception that we do not have an outdoor marquee.
 

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Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 06-26-2010, 06:39 PM:
 

quote: Joe Redifer

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I also seem to be the only person in the state who doesn't rely on zebra tape (which either covers part of the image or part of the Dolby Digital track).

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It always seems that picture, sound, or both get compromised,

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I got call from a theater one afternoon from the service company we used. The tech explained that all the CP500s were messed up. I told them not too touch anything and I was on my there. 6 hour drive later, I get there as the evening shows were playing and took a listen to all the movies. The first three that they worked sounded like shit.

They had tried to eq them and completely turned down all the frequencies from about 500hz up. They said that when they ran pink noise their analyzer was pegged on those freqs.

They didn't think it was odd until after the 3rd one. Needless to say they got an earful and were asked to leave. It was one tech who was fairly new (6 months tops) trying to teach a new guy.

I had made the mistake of not password protecting them during the install
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 06-26-2010, 10:26 PM:
 
More importantly, is your technician capable of bringing your theater to TAP specs? I'd be willing to bet that at least half of them of them out there working today don't even know what TAP is and that 2/3 are not capable of verifying most of it. I've heard stories of techs being hired for large service companies that don't even know the basic functions inside the Windows OS!!

Mark
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 06-27-2010, 08:05 AM:
 
When I started servicing theatres, the theatre had a list of "problems" for the tech.

Now, as a tech, I have a list of problems. Occasionally I am allowed to fix one or two. More likely, I do this as a sneak when I am there fixing something else. The issue is the bill. They want it low and they liteerally don't know or care about standards/quality, etc. I have been told many times that they don't apply to this theatre. Louis
 

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