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Author Topic: AMC Sound Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 12-10-2002 08:42 PM                    Does AMC put in only SDDS on new builds? And do they do 8 channels on them or does it vary with the screen size?  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 12-10-2002 08:50 PM                        FWIW, the AMC River East 21 in Chicago is fairly new, and when you click on the "Digital Surround Sound" icon under that theater's amenities, it says: quote: Don't let your eyes have all the fun. Find yourself engulfed in a multidimensional cinematic sound environment. AMC uses Sony Dynamic Digital Sound,TM the leader in digital sound technology. You'll hear the difference.  |  IP: Logged James R. Hammonds, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 931 From: Houston, TX, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 12-10-2002 09:10 PM                     They only buy SDDS now, but theatres that were taken over kept whatever sound formats they used before. Not sure if they are adding SDDS to those or not. Im not sure about 8 channel, but my theatre is 3 years old and has no 8 channel houses in the building.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 12-10-2002 09:30 PM                        SDDS is definitely NOT the leader in digital sound technology. In fact I'd be willing to bet that they are in DEAD LAST PLACE! Dolby Digital seems to be #1.  |  IP: Logged Jason Burroughs Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 654 From: Allen, TX Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-10-2002 09:39 PM                     I think if the auditoriums are set up for 8 channel depends on the size of the auditorium and when it was setup. For instance The Grand in Dallas has 8 out of 24 screens equipped for 8 channel playback. Though I couldn't say anything about their new gigaplexes.  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 12-10-2002 10:29 PM                    That's a shame. Because when you have big films like Star Trek opening that Only features Dolby Digital and DTS from what I have heard. I guess they just won't be playing it in the splender of digital sound. My favorite is DTS but Dolby is the widest used digital process.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 12-10-2002 10:56 PM                    Darryl, that's exactly why I was asking. I was contemplating using Star Trek as an excuse to check out the new AMC River East 21 and having screened it twice I know that it's SR-D and DTS only. (I ran one screening a few weeks back SR-D and this afternoon I ran it in DTS).  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 12-10-2002 11:21 PM                        As is obvious from many of my posts on this forum, I am a friend of SDDS. However, practical reality makes it advisable to have other digital formats installed as well. I think the best solution is to also have Dolby Digital or dts, the latter preferably as a mobile solution since it is so easy to move it around following dts films. The DFP-D3000 makes it very easy to have up to three digital formats installed even with multiple fallback through all formats. Even though there still are some reliabilty issues which are usually due to sloppy printing of the tracks, I still think that SDDS can be the best sounding format provided the playback systems are good enough. However, it must be said that many screens have sound systems which are less good than they could be, and then it does not make a big difference which digital format is used.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-11-2002 06:43 AM                        I find it odd that anyone would buy SDDS for a six-channel (5.1) house now that there aren't (to my knowledge) any SDDS-exclusive releases. I am a fan of film mixes intended for five screen channels, but those are sadly few and far between. How does the cost of the SDDS 3000 processor compare with that of the cat701/CP650 or DTS6D with CP65? If I were building a multiplex, I'd probably put in a mix of SRD (which has the best print availability, by far) and DTS (which I think sounds better than SRD or DTS and which will play perfectly even on damaged prints...if the disks arrive). I'd consider having an 8-channel house with SDDS, but I'd also put in SRD or DTS and use SDDS only for 8-channel films.  |  IP: Logged Mark Lensenmayer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1605 From: Upper Arlington, OH Registered: Sep 1999 posted 12-11-2002 07:33 AM                     There are some fairly recent AMC houses in my area. They have SDDS in all of the rooms, with additional Dolby Digital in a few of the huge rooms, and additional DTS in a few of the others. The one I am most familiar with is a 24-screener, with the 4 biggest rooms in the center. I'd be curious to know if they are still building with the Torus screens...they look good, but the sound gets very weird in those rooms.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 12-11-2002 10:24 AM                    I was working with AMC in the Philly market when they decided to put SDDS in everywhere. All of our "big" houses, which were set up as 4 channel analog were converted to 8 track digital, and all of our "small" houses which were set up as front-surround analog were converted to six track digital (and four channel analog). Also, when the Lion King was released, Disney cut a deal that was something to the effect of "If you show it in Dolby Digital, we'll give you a really big box office cut." So, AMC saw fit to install ONE Dolby Digital system in each multiplex showing the Lion King, and they're still there to this day. They were CP65s with the outboard digital processor (DA 10 I think - or something like that). Later, DTS's were installed in some houses for - get this - the Jurassic Park II *TRAILER* along with the strobe lights which fired off in sync with the lightning. That was an extremely cool effect in my opinion. There may have been other motives behind the DTS install (like getting ready for the JP movie), but that was the reason given at the time. I'm currently at an AMC multiplex (not megaplex), and we have SDDS-8 in four houses, and the rest are all 6. We also have two DTS', one of which is working, the other keeps losing the time code, and I can't figure out what its problem is. I might have to swap the readers around and see what happens. I'm not sure what the megas do, but I imagine they are all SDDS as well, with maybe a small handful of Dolby & DTS.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 12-11-2002 11:39 AM                        The good thing about SDDS is that you can install it with 6 channels and later upgrade easily to 8 if the need arises.  |  IP: Logged James R. Hammonds, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 931 From: Houston, TX, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 12-11-2002 01:36 PM                     "I'd be curious to know if they are still building with the Torus screens...they look good, but the sound gets very weird in those rooms." I believe they stopped with the Torus screen all together. From what I hear, all the new theatres are installed with perforated screens with speakers beind the screen instead of above.  |  IP: Logged Charles Everett Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: New Jersey Registered: May 2001 posted 12-11-2002 01:38 PM                     James S is correct: The GCC-turned-AMC theaters keep whatever sound formats they had. When I saw The Ring at the AMC Essex Green in West Orange NJ -- an all-stadium 9-plex built by GCC -- there was a Dolby Digital snipe between the "Feature Presentation" snipe and the start of the feature. The AMC Empire in Times Square opened as a new build in 2000. Since the "Top of the Empire" (halls 19-25) is upmarket/arthouse, AMC may have installed Dolby Digital for at least that floor.  |  IP: Logged Jason Burroughs Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 654 From: Allen, TX Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-11-2002 03:34 PM                     From what I understand, AMC has abandoned the Torus screen, I believe that there was even discussion that they were removing the installed screens slowly. Would be nice to see AMC take more care with the acoustics of their auditoriums. They still need to add some sound absorbing materials to the walls however.  |  IP: Logged

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