Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Dolby E

This is topic Dolby E in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 09-22-2012, 05:17 PM:

I've got an HDCam tape with Dolby E on CH3/4.

Playback deck is Sony SRW-5500
AES Router is Evertz Xenon XE8 128x128
Decoder is DMA8plus
I also have a Wohler monitor that can decode Dolby E

Playback sounds like rapid-fire digital splats, almost like "choo-choo" test noise. Dolby E was not recognized at the DMA8plus (no indicator light for Dolby E) but the Wohler displayed metadata indicating Dolby E at 23.98 -- the tape is 59.94.

When the tape is played at 23.98 there is no sound at all -- including the noise from the Dolby E stream.

I suspect there may be an issue with the recording of the Dolby E stream on this tape -- would that be common or uncommon? -- but I've had issues with getting the Evertz to pass multichannel audio, so I tried bypassing it.

Direct connection of HDCam to a coax input on the DMA8plus yielded a different result -- front panel indicators on the DMA8plus flashed alternately between Dolby E and PCM.

Has anyone seen this problem before?

My experience with Dolby E is limited, but I don't recall it being a headache. Are there "gotchas" with this format?

I know there are some settings that have to be changed on the deck for RECORDING Dolby E, but could there be settings for playback too? I've looked. If there are any, they are hiding!

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 09-23-2012, 08:05 AM:

For Dolby-E playback...on your VTR: the output should be in "DATA" mode and the output level should be "Auto" fixed...not set to a reasonable level. In fact, the meters should be bouncing off the charts on channels 3/4. Your playback must match frame rates exactly too.