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Author Topic: Soundtrack Format Mitchell Dvoskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1869 From: West Milford, NJ, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 06-07-2002 12:10 PM                     Is there any free site(s) on the internet that lists whether a film is Dolby A or Dolby SR. The Dolby site only lists whether it was Dolby (not the type). /Mitchell  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 06-07-2002 12:39 PM                     Mitchell, I have not known of Dolby "A" prints that have been produced in years. If there were, they are far and few in between.  |  IP: Logged Michael Brown Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1522 From: Bradford, England Registered: May 2001 posted 06-07-2002 05:27 PM                     If there is a particular film in mind, then open a thread in the 'Feature info' forum and I’m sure someone will try to help.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 06-07-2002 06:25 PM                     Dolby SR came about when, around 1997? (I'm sure someone will answer that definitively.) Anything before that will automatically be A. Generally though if it says "stereo" or "dolby stereo" on the leaders, it's A noise reduction. If it's SR, it will ALWAYS say "SR" on the leaders. The problem of course comes during the days of dual inventory where a theater may have gotten two prints, one in SR and the other in A. Few people pay attention to which set of cans they are breaking a certain print into.  |  IP: Logged Michael Brown Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1522 From: Bradford, England Registered: May 2001 posted 06-07-2002 06:37 PM                     quote: Dolby SR came about when, around 1997? Um 1987 Brad?  |  IP: Logged Joe Beres Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 606 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 06-07-2002 06:53 PM                     A friend of mine that used to run screening rooms for Dolby told me that running a Dolby A print with SR format on the processor will not sound noticeably different than running it with the specific Dolby A format. That being said, when in doubt, just run the film in SR.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-07-2002 07:28 PM                     Joe, if your friend in fact said that...then he is a fool and I don't care who he is. The two noise reductions are dramtically different and in particular, the SR has a narrow right vs wrong tracking. If either the NR or the media is a little off, SR will show it more dramatically. Steve ------------------ "Old projectionists never die, they just changeover!"  |  IP: Logged Joe Beres Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 606 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 06-07-2002 07:49 PM                     Steve, somehow, I knew that you would jump on me for that one. He did say it, but I certainly don't doubt your knowledge. However, in a case when you really can't figure out if you have a Dolby A or SR track (either by examining leaders or listening to a bit of the track), which is the better format to use? In other words, What is the lesser of the two evils, running A in SR or running SR in A?  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-07-2002 08:11 PM                     It would sound better to play a SR print in A type than a A type in SR but better to just get it right  |  IP: Logged Joe Beres Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 606 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 06-07-2002 08:33 PM                     Is there a way to determine whether a track is SR or A (without the aid of labeled leaders or listening to the quality of reproduction in both formats) by examining the track itself? Are there telltale signs that could give you clues as to what it might be?  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-07-2002 09:29 PM                     none  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 06-07-2002 09:38 PM                     Yes I meant sometime around 1987. Typo. Anyone know the exact year?  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 06-07-2002 09:44 PM                        The first movie I was specifically aware of being in SR was U2's concert film "Rattle And Hum". That was 1988. Had to be very close to that date, maybe 1987 as Brad suggested.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-07-2002 11:33 PM                        In those early days, they would double inventory A and mono prints, because Dolby's position, correctly, was that playing back A prints without Dolby A N/R will sound like dog doody. Anyone in a recording studio will attest to this: playing back either a Dolby A tape without N/R or playing a non-A tape with A noise reduction switched on will be obviouly "way wrong," even to the layman's ears. Yet when the studios started to balk at the chaos that always ensues with double-inventories, Dolby quietly backed away from their original stance and pretty much let the studios send A prints to theatres without any cinema processors at all, dropping double inventories. BUT for some reason, playing N/R prints without any N/R doesn't sound quite as bad as I remember playing an N/R master tapes without N/R used to sound -- with the tape you hear all that pumping and hiss and high end frequency levels changing all over the place. I don't hear that as much with film, yet I have never heard that the Dolby A or SR N/R is any different in cinema or audio studio processors -- A is A and SR is SR, no?  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 06-07-2002 11:50 PM                    "Star Trek IV The Voyage Home" (aka Star Trek IV Save the Whales) had two 70mm prints with SR NR. That was a 1986 release.  |  IP: Logged

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