Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Anyone got Forrest Gump DTS discs?

This is topic Anyone got Forrest Gump DTS discs? 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=012118

Posted by Andrew Maddison (Member # 4499) on 03-02-2017, 02:18 PM:

We have a print of Forrest Gump that we're showing next Tuesday and it's arrived with DTS as the only digital sound format on the film (not that having Dolby Digital would help as our readers are currently not working).

Does anyone have a copy of the DTS discs that we could utilise for our showing? As you can see from my profile info we're based in Coventry in the UK.

Thanks!

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 03-02-2017, 02:40 PM:

Just checked my list (we have around 130 titles), and I don't have that one - sorry.

Universal releases between 1992 and around 1997-8 had DTS as the only digital audio format on the 35mm prints. It was a case of history repeating itself (Warners grimly hanging on to sound on disc in the late '20s and refusing to issue optical sound prints).

The real bugger of it is that the analog tracks on these Universal 1990s prints aren't genuine SR: they're "DTS Stereo," which was their attempt to rip off the SR noise reduction and phase matrixing. Play them with genuine SR decoding and the high end will sound shrill and gnarly (in my experience). They're OK on A-type to my ears, though: they sound no worse than genuine Dolby A. I had to play the second Jurassic Park movie for weeks on end in A-type because of this.

Posted by Andrew Maddison (Member # 4499) on 03-02-2017, 02:46 PM:

My understanding as far as DTS Stereo is concerned was that SR was still under patent and Dolby wouldn't allow its use on DTS prints, but Dolby A was out of patent and the technology could be used (but obviously not named anything that could be implied it was actually Dolby)... Many thanks for looking, though!

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 03-02-2017, 05:10 PM:

Exactly. DTS claimed that DTS Stereo was equivalent to SR, and that these tracks should be played 05 (the cans and leaders of these prints were marked with instructions to play the analog audio SR); but if you tried, your ears, and those of your audience, lived to regret it. I'm sure you're right, and that this encoding system was effectively an aftermarket version of A-type.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 03-02-2017, 10:42 PM:

The Forrest Gump prints were dual inventory.

One set of prints were dts with "A" type noise reduction. (I am not sure if it was "DTS-A" or real "Dolby A".) The second set of prints were DTS and SRD (meaning the analog track was real Dolby SR).

On the discs, an easy request. I've sent them to you. Please do help future repertory bookings by sending the discs with the print after your show for the next guy.