Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: DTS tag question

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Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 4784) on 05-19-2011, 09:55 AM:

I'm puzzled. I have a soft spot for the old "Digital Experience" DTS tag (the one with the golden disc). I still have two of these (one scope, one flat) but sometimes, they just don't start with some films I'm trying to project. The audio is apparently present on the disc (it's listed as part of the R14 trailer package) and timecode is visible on the film. So what's happening?

Posted by Markus Lemm (Member # 3456) on 05-19-2011, 11:21 AM:

I had the same problem. Either the film has shrunk a bit or the timecode is printed a bit off center. I had to adjust the lateral position bolt, under the do not adjust sticker, to get it to read. Does the LED light on the reader stay solid when the tag runs through?

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-19-2011, 12:13 PM:

It looks like when DATASAT took over DTS, they're gradually removing that old audio tag from their trailer/feature discs since DTS is considered a defunct company - DATASAT wants to keep moving forward and remove itself from anything DTS related.

Posted by Daniel Schulz (Member # 1881) on 05-19-2011, 12:22 PM:

While it's true that we are moving forward with branding as Datasat, the audio files for all the old logos are still included on all our feature soundtrack discs to ensure digital playback. This may change in the future if we need the space to allocate to the new Datasat trailers, but for now the audio for the Digital Experience (crashing disc), Sonic Landscape (piano) and Sparks logos are still included on the feature discs.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 05-19-2011, 01:54 PM:

And with the possibility of later no longer having discs that have the appropriate sound for that tag/trailer.

http://www.film-tech.com/warehouse/wareview.php?id=1737&category=2

It lets you extract the sound for individual trailers so you can make a custom disc... and obviously you could use that to keep a copy of that tag for future use. [Smile]

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 4784) on 05-20-2011, 07:44 AM:

Thank you for the informations. The tag works fine with older films, though, it's bizarre. I'll try with my trailer disc tonight as the film we are screening has sound on a single CD...

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 4784) on 05-22-2011, 04:56 AM:

OK, tested with a trailer disc containing the "Digital Experience" sound. To no avail. I just screened the tag in SR, albeit slightly louder, then switched to DTS (feature was perfectly in sync so I don't think there's something wrong with my set-up).

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 05-22-2011, 01:17 PM:

That makes me think there's something wrong with the tag itself, that the film has shrunken enough that it's not reading the timecode as alluded to earlier. You should try just running that tag and see if you get a timecode at all.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-22-2011, 01:25 PM:

Is it the original flying disc logo, or is it the extended flying disc logo introduced about 1994 where after the disc flies around the final dts logo appears with a helping of bass?

The original 1993 version is no longer on the discs. You would have to have the Reel 1 audio file from an early release when they were printing the logo onto the beginning of the movies.

Here is a youtube link to the extended version. The original ended at about 16 seconds.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-22-2011, 01:49 PM:

It's a long shot, but I think it would be good in terms of historical significance if Universal Pictures included the original (shorter) DTS flying disc logo on the front of Jurassic Park when it is released on Blu-ray. All of the original release prints of Jurassic Park had the flying disc trailer attached, leaving it up to theaters not equipped with DTS to remove the film clip. Many didn't.

It was Spring of 1994 before Universal stopped including the DTS flying disc trailer on all their release prints. I'm not sure if other distributors using DTS in 1993 and early 1994 had the same practice. All of those were the original, shorter version of the trailer. The extended trailer with the DTS logo always shipped separately from the release prints. Speed was the first release I saw it used. I'm not sure which was the first, The Crow perhaps?

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 4784) on 05-23-2011, 06:23 AM:

More tests performed. You guys were spot on.
Flat tag will only run with 1993/1994 media (short version ending with golden disc explosion).
Scope version (with DTS logo at the end) has probably shrunk as it sends infos for one or two seconds at the beginning then the green LED on the reader goes off.
Datasat here no longer supplies 35mm tags so I guess I'm stuck with "Landscape" until that one wears off.

Posted by Blaine Young (Member # 3992) on 06-05-2011, 08:31 PM:

As best as I can tell, the "short" version of "The Digital Experience" tag (that ends with the exploding disc) was only issued as "attached" trailer, which would be part of Reel 1 of the feature. I've checked very early discs and the first instance of the "Stand Alone" trailer was on SN 1017 (Beethoven's 2nd), and is the full 34 second version.

I have run across audio for a tag called "DTS Water". Anyone have a copy of this tag, or know what it looks like?

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 06-05-2011, 09:23 PM:

There was a Dolby 'Rain' tag. Perhaps it's been mislabelled?

Posted by Blaine Young (Member # 3992) on 06-06-2011, 11:27 AM:

What I have located is DTS audio on a few early (1997 and before) feature discs.

Posted by Damien Taylor (Member # 4255) on 06-19-2011, 08:19 AM:

FWIW, leaders and labels simply refer to this tag as "Stand alone" [Cool]