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Author Topic: Dual inventory print hassles...again! Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 05-02-2003 02:02 PM                     From the FITA thread on "X-Men 2" quote: Some prints DO have SDDS, but not all. One of our prints had a reel that was not SDDS, but the rest were. Why oh why are they doing this? Is Sony now charging by the quantity of prints made? Does anyone have an insight to this decision to suddenly make dual inventory prints?  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 05-02-2003 02:14 PM                     Brad it's like going back to those Dolby A and SR print inventory days.  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 05-02-2003 02:21 PM                     Probably another squabble among the "big boys" or somebody just screwed up at the plant.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 05-02-2003 02:47 PM                    Aren't the soundtracks all printed at the same time?  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 05-02-2003 02:58 PM                        Yes, all soundtracks are on one sound negative (analog, Dolby Digital, SDDS and DTS). But licensing fees could vary by the number of prints made, so they may choose not to print one of the formats by turning off the printer lamp for that area. Another possibility is that lab QC might find some defects in one of the digital tracks, and negotiate having those prints sold for use only in areas not needing that track.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 05-02-2003 03:08 PM                        Another reason might have been that the SDDS track has smaller pixels (or "fixels") and therefore is more difficult to print, or the prints can not be copied with the same speed as without the SDDS track. Maybe they decided to print a pile of reels without SDDS so they could print them at higher speed which of course will also have affected the image quality.  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 05-02-2003 03:33 PM                     Fox had dual inventory of prints on "Die Hard: With a Vengeance" There was SRD/DTS/SR prints and SDDS/DTS/SR prints.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-02-2003 04:45 PM                        Perhaps there were multiple sound negatives? Maybe someone decided to make SDDS prints at the last minute and only the later prints have SDDS tracks? Anyway, why was there a need for dual-inventory Dolby A and Dolby SR prints? If I were the distributor, I'd rather take the risk of having SR prints being played in A (which happens all the time even today and doesn't sound offensively bad) than risk having Dolby A prints being played in SR (which sounds terrible). Anyway, the theatres that didn't upgrade to SR probably didn't (don't) care much about sound quality, anyway.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 05-02-2003 05:12 PM                     I have seen Fox screw around with Quad Format prints before. I have some frames from a single print of "Strange Days." Some of the frames have SDDS soundtracking on them while some others clearly do not. Just SR/SRD/DTS. Weird. I'm wondering if the "opening in 93 countries 5-2-03" push has anything to do with the sans-SDDS thing. The United States has the prevailing majority of SDDS installations. So many theaters in Europe, the Far East and many other regions are heavily installed with Dolby Digital and DTS to a lesser extent. John's probably right though. Licensing fees on print count seems like a likely culprit. At any rate, in checking the Dallas and Oklahoma City newspapers today, I saw a good number of ads CLAIMING their shows of "X2" were in SDDS. I'm not taking any chances. I'm finding a theater with DTS or Dolby Digital.  |  IP: Logged John T. Hendrickson, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 889 From: Freehold, NJ, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 05-02-2003 06:32 PM                     All three of my prints had no SDDS. If my memory serves me correctly, they were print #'s 2886,2887, and 2888 out of the ETS depot in Rahway, NJ. Not a problem, since we have DTS. I did remark to some of my people that I hope the folks up the road (our competition) had either Dolby Digital or DTS as well as SDDS, or they would be out of luck.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 05-02-2003 08:01 PM                        Reel 1 of the print I just saw looked VERY different from reels 2-7. Reel 1 was very grainy and had a washed-out look, no blacks. As soon as reel 2 started it looked 100% better for the remainder of the movie. Whatever that means.  |  IP: Logged Patrick McDonough Expert Film Handler Posts: 118 From: Greenfield Ma. Registered: Jul 2002 posted 05-02-2003 11:15 PM                     our print was fine, no problems at all  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 05-03-2003 01:51 AM                        Has anyone noticed whether or not the SDDS prints are only printed on 2393? I have an SDDS print on 2393, anyone have one on 2383?  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 05-03-2003 01:58 AM                     All of the prints I handled were on 2393 and no SDDS.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 05-03-2003 08:09 AM                        Not a 100% sure, but I think the license fee for SDDS is the same regardless of how many prints you make. There is a one-time fee for the encoding, at least that`s how it is here. Maybe some labs are still not equipped for SDDS or maybe some prints were made outside the US? I wonder if many American prints are made in cheap labs in Mexico or somewhere else outside the US?  |  IP: Logged

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