Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: DVDs in Perspecta

This is topic DVDs in Perspecta in forum The Afterlife at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Warren Smyth (Member # 1838) on 12-29-2003, 02:50 AM:

As some film titles were produced in Perspecta sound in the 50s, I'm wondering if there is a likelihood of these being restored on DVD in this format. It wouldn't take too much for those who care about transfers like Criterian, to put the audio through an integrator and allow the mono sound to pan across the left, centre and right channels on the DVD. Conventional mono reproduction could be an option.

Has anyone heard of any moves in this direction? I've never heard this format but I think even Tom and Jerry would be a real blast in Perspecta. [Wink]

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 12-29-2003, 06:54 AM:

It has been done, with the release in three channel Dolby Digital, but I can't remember the title that I read about, if I can find the details I'll edit this post.

Found it, 'The Hidden Fortress' details here:

This only says that the three channel mix 'recreates' the original Perspecta, which could be interpreted as meaning that the mono track was manually panned at the time to create the three channel mix, but I have read elsewhere that it was done using the original tones.

There may be others, but this is the only one I know of. Two people who may know of others are Bob Furmanek, who programmed the first two film seasons at the Loew's Jersey, including the 'Forbidden Plannet' show (and lots of other shorts) run in Perspecta, with an original integrator, in April 2002. He seems to be something of an expert on the use of the process, as opposed to the technical details.

The Prspecta card I have was produced by Dion Hanson; I understand that a possible market for this card was thought to be for the production of new three channel tracks for DVD, (or film prints I suppose), he may know of films which have been processed with these cards.

It has been reported hat the french track on the 'Forbidden Plannet' contains the Perspecta tones, and could be decoded; on the disc I have this is not the case, I cannot hear any tones, and my card cannot detect any, but I have seen two different versions of this disc offered on Ebay, so it is possible that another version may have them. My copy has English two channel and French single channel, both Dolby Digital. The case notes say that there is also a Spanish mono track, but this is not the case, or at least my player cannot find it. Is it technically possible, in error or otherwise, to author a DVD in such a way that a sound stream is physically present, but cannot be seen by the player?

Most of the Perspecta I've heard was on cartoons, and I have to say that this tends to not be a very effective use of the processes, cartoons tend to rely quite heavily on music, for which the process is not really suited, panning a whole orchesta around in front of the audience to follow the action on screen really isn't a good idea. Directional dialogue is possible, but the best use of the process is probably for effects, for which it can sound surprisingly good when done well, and not so good when done badly, which it often seems to have been. I would like to have heard the version of the 'Around the World in Eighty Days' track in which Perspecta was used on the single surround channel, and played through a modified integrator. Given that the surround channel would be mainly effects, this could have worked well.