Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Cyan Dye Tracks -- Disney Announcement at ShowEast

my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

»	Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE » Operations » Film Handlers' Forum » Cyan Dye Tracks -- Disney Announcement at ShowEast (Page 1)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3

Author

Topic: Cyan Dye Tracks -- Disney Announcement at ShowEast

John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 10-25-2004 04:02 PM

quote:
BURBANK, Calif., Oct. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Buena Vista Pictures Distribution will officially make the switch to environmentally friendly pure-dye cyan soundtracks for all future 35mm film prints of Walt Disney Pictures and Touchstone Pictures releases, starting with the February 2005 release of Disney's "The Heffalump Movie," it was announced today (10/25) by Chuck Viane, President of Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, and Jeff Miller, President, Worldwide Post Production and Operations for The Walt Disney Studios. Buena Vista joins MGM in leading the industry's commitment to this milestone in exhibition technologies.
This move follows Buena Vista's announcement of intent this past March, and the successful test of 2,800 pure-dye cyan soundtrack prints for the Touchstone Pictures' comedy, "Mr. 3000" in September. This new soundtrack technology represents a noteworthy environmental advance for the motion picture industry as it eliminates the traditional silver-applicated tracks and the use of caustic chemicals involved in that manufacturing process. Buena Vista worked closely with Dolby, Kodak, Technicolor, and NATO to perfect the technology, and to encourage theater owners to install RED LED soundtrack readers on their projectors.

Commenting on the announcement, Viane said, "Our test engagement of pure-dye cyan soundtrack prints for 'Mr. 3000' was an overwhelming success and proved that the exhibition community is indeed ready for this new technology. Based on that success, we are proud to be leading the industry in adopting safer standards that will have a major impact on the environment. This latest innovation has been made possible by an unprecedented collaboration between Disney, NATO, and our manufacturing partners, and we salute them in helping to make the world a cleaner and safer place."

Miller added, "This new soundtrack technology represents one of the most significant advances in film manufacturing in the past 70 years, and all of us at Disney believe very strongly in the benefits it presents for both our product and the environment. This has truly been an industry-wide effort to improve the way release prints are manufactured, and we are confident that this is the wave of the future. Starting in January, all of our 35mm prints will use pure-dye cyan soundtracks."

| IP: Logged

Steve Scott
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1300
From: Minneapolis, MN
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 10-25-2004 05:53 PM

Well, if 'Pooh's Heffalump Movie' is their first release of '05, then it's business as previously stated. But if not, then this is just a grand way of pushing back the cyan date.

| 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 10-25-2004 06:09 PM

Jan 07, 2005: UNDERCLASSMAN (Miramax)
Jan 14, 2005: LES CHORISTES (Miramax)
Jan 21, 2005: HOSTAGE (Miramax)

Feb 11, 2005: POOH'S HEFFALUMP MOVIE <Walt Disney> (Buena Vista)
Feb 25, 2005: CURSED <Dimension> (Miramax)

| IP: Logged

Mark J. Marshall
Film God

Posts: 3188
From: New Castle, DE, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 10-26-2004 12:13 AM

Well, I hope all the foreign countries who a) complained that they didn't have the resources to upgrade all their exciters to red lights, and b) constantly blame America for all the environmental ills of the world ... are ready for the switch!

[Big Grin]

| IP: Logged

John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 10-26-2004 05:39 AM

Many overseas countries have a higher percentage of red reader installations than the USA. I just saw results of a theatre survey in New Zealand that showed 89 percent of screens were ready. Dominic may have recent figures for Australia and other countries in that part of the world.

Yes, there still are places that show films on a sheet from the back of a truck using antiquated equipment, but the theatre industry in many countries uses the latest technology, and is ready for the change.

| IP: Logged

Frank Jerkic
Film Handler

Posts: 77
From: Ayr Queensland Australia
Registered: May 2004

posted 11-08-2004 09:45 PM

But at what cost is the change this is the latest thing sent to me and I have been told that Disney will be all cyan from January 1st 2005 MGM will follow in March with others following in April

With the new Cyan Sound track that is to be used from the 1st January you will have to replace the optics with a Red Led Reader, as the old exciter lamp system will give you little or no sound output.
This involves installing a new Reader, that is a new Lens with the cell and preamp combined.
The reason for replacing the Lens is the quality of sound is improved, a Kalee would have a top sound output of 6,000 to 8,000 cycles where the new reader would be flat to 16,000 cycles.
The cell is also the slit so the film is focused on the cell and there is no cross track information to cause Surround problems like speech coming from the surrounds or low level distortion.
All units you have to install new power supplies.
The Century are straight forward but the RCA (Toshiba) you have to dismantle the soundhead to install the new reader and the Kalee you have to replace the mounting hardware.
The new Kalee hardware fits 83, 378, 543, 678, 834 not sure of the 890. Can you send me a photo of the soundhead.

The cost of the Readers: -

* Century kit (Reader, Led with bracket and Power Supply) $1,680 + GST.
* RCA Toshiba Kit (Reader, Led with bracket, collar for lens and Power Supply) $1,720 + GST.
* Kalee kit (Reader, Led with new mounting hardware and Power Supply) $1,904 + GST.

The estimated time to install each unit: -

* Century 2.5 to 3.5hrs
* RCA 3.5 to 4.5hrs
* Kalee 3.5 to 4.5hrs

[Roll Eyes]

| IP: Logged

Edward Jurich
Master Film Handler

Posts: 305
From: Las Vegas USA
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 11-12-2004 12:02 PM

I borrowed a trailer with a cyan (light blue/green) track and ran on my Holmes at home. The level was 6 - 8db lower, well within volume control range and sounded fine. I have a white exciter lamp but my pickup is a home brew stereo photo-transistor setup. Pictures and Circuit Drawing

| IP: Logged

John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 11-12-2004 12:50 PM

quote: Edward Jurich
I borrowed a trailer with a cyan (light blue/green) track and ran on my Holmes at home. The level was 6 - 8db lower, well within volume control range and sounded fine. I have a white exciter lamp but my pickup is a home brew stereo photo-transistor setup.

If you had to up the gain by 8 dB, you definitely are getting more noise. Did you listen in a quiet environment, or with headphones? Even a "home brew" red LED source would likely help improve the signal.

| IP: Logged

Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-12-2004 12:57 PM

I did some more tests yesterday, involving a cyan-track trailer and a Kelmar mono system (with Western Electric soundheads). As I posted before, the gain had to be increased from ~6.5 to ~8.5, and there was more noise than usual, but it was definitely "listenable" and good enough that the show wouldn't need to be cancelled if a dye-track print shows up (though I agree with John P. that it isn't really suitable for a permanent installation). A home-made Jax Light setup is in the works for this theatre.

Hopefully I will get to try this same experiment tonight on Simplex 5-star soundheads with white-light exciters and a Dolby processor. I suspect that the noise reduction will improve quality considerably.

| IP: Logged

Steve Kraus
Film God

Posts: 4094
From: Chicago, IL, USA
Registered: May 2000

posted 11-12-2004 07:16 PM

Interesting. That's the sort of thing I've been asking about all along. Seems like maybe if you up the bulb voltage a bit and raised the pre-amp level (taking care not to mix in non cyan material) you could at least save a show.

| IP: Logged

Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-13-2004 01:04 AM

I tried the same thing tonight with Simplex 5-Star soundheads and a Dolby CP65 processor with Dolby A-type NR (this unit does not have the SR cards). I had to turn the fader up from "7" to "10" and the sound level was still slightly lower than it should normally be at "7." Sound quality was decent--not great, but stil listenable. I doubt it would generate complaints from audience members.

From these non-scientific tests, I would conclude that, yes, theatre owners _should_ convert to the proper readers, but, no, the result of playing a dye track with a conventional soundhead is not as bad as many of us had been led to believe. It certainly is not bad enough to cancel a show if a dye-track print shows up unexpectedly.

| IP: Logged

Aaron Sisemore
Flaming Ribs beat Reeses Peanut Butter Cups any day!

Posts: 3061
From: Rockwall TX USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 11-13-2004 02:57 AM

I ran 'Everything Else' back when it came out on a standard exciter system (USL JSX1000, Century SA/R3E)to see what happened if one ran cyan on a white-light reader, and with the volume cranked to maximum on the processor the sound was barely audible (had to strain to hear the dialogue clearly) and had lots of hissy noise in it (which made the track even harder to hear). It would have definitely caused customer complaints.

-Aaron

| IP: Logged

Jack Ondracek
Film God

Posts: 2348
From: Port Orchard, WA, USA
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 11-13-2004 10:33 AM

Hope you've got some extra speaker parts stashed in the back somewhere.

'Bout the first time a studio splice goes through your machine, you'll be re-coning the auditorium! [Eek!]

| IP: Logged

Carl Martin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1424
From: Oakland, CA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 11-14-2004 04:45 AM

won't those be quieter as well if they're cyan (played with normal exciter lamp)?

carl

| IP: Logged

Jack Ondracek
Film God

Posts: 2348
From: Port Orchard, WA, USA
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 11-14-2004 09:53 AM

Well, now that you mention it, you may be right. The cyan track isn't as dense as the silver one.

John????????

| IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3

Printer-friendly view of this topic

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.