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

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Can SDDS still be purchased new? (Page 1)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Author Topic: Can SDDS still be purchased new? Lyle Romer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1400 From: Davie, FL, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 05-21-2005 07:57 AM                     I remember a while back reading that Sony will shut down SDDS. If somebody wanted to, can they still buy a new SDDS processor? If not, what is AMC installing now on their new builds?  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-21-2005 09:10 AM                     No, why would you want to? Its the most unreliable of all of them. Track wear can be very high. Those with Sonys are lucky that they still even print it on at least some films. Some parts are also getting hard to get and I know for a fact that the labs would like to remove the equipment from their printers. AMC is installing CP-650s as far as I know. I always tell my customers with Sonys...... "It sounds great when it works". If its 8 channel that you're after then go with an XD-10. In the future you might be more likely to see 8 channel DTS releases than SDDS. Mark  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-21-2005 10:47 AM                        Hey Mark, doesn't the Washoe Theatre in Anaconda have SDDS? I think they are the only location in Montana to have one (at least, the only one I've heard of).  |  IP: Logged Aaron Sisemore Flaming Ribs beat Reeses Peanut Butter Cups any day! Posts: 3061 From: Rockwall TX USA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 05-21-2005 03:30 PM                     quote: Lyle Romer I remember a while back reading that Sony will shut down SDDS. If somebody wanted to, can they still buy a new SDDS processor? Sony Cinema Proiducts ceased to exist sometime in 2001. That answers the second part of your question. SDDS units can still be FIXED however, by Sony Consumer Repair in Fremont CA (awful service, IMO), or (my high recommendation) by Robbie Hidalgo at Cinematech, who also provides awesome customer service and technical support for those of us still stuck with Sony cinema products! -Aaron  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 05-21-2005 03:35 PM                        quote: Mark Gulbrandsen Those with Sonys are lucky that they still even print it on at least some films. Make that "nearly all films". If you check the Reel-ID section randomly, you will find that whatever movie you click on, it still has the tracks. Also all movies I randomly checked in the field in the last months had the tracks.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-21-2005 06:41 PM                     Michael, You mis-understood me. What I meant was that we are lucky they are still being printed because the labs would rather do away with the SDDS stuff on their printers. Anything that slows them down ys know..... and this one is obsolete to boot. If they had their way we would only be getting SRD and DTS tracks. Quite frankly that wouldbn't bother me one bit either. I will laugh when that day comes along for I have not sold one stinkin Sony system in my career . Mark  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 05-21-2005 06:52 PM                     Michael, When I was projecting it was a mixure of mainstream and art house stuff. I always made a point of looking to see what tracks were on the prints which passed through my hands, even though we were not equipped with any digital system. If we forget about the classic films, which obviously wouldn't have any sort of digital track on them, unless they were new print from a re-recorded negative, I doubt if one film in ten had SDDS, probably more like one in twenty. Even most of the mainstream-ish films, maybe 75%, didn't have it. I know of very few cinemas over here which were ever equipped for it, and I think I've only ever actually heard it once. The projectionist at Bradford was quite enthusiastic about it, but few other people seem to be. Other than eight channels, which most films weren't released with, and most cinemas weren't equipped for, did it have any real advantage over SR-D and DTS? The greater redundency in the recorded data didn't seem to result in greater reliability in the real world. When released, it was the most expensive system, it was the last of the major systems to be released, by which time both the Dolby and DTS systems were already becomming established. Was there ever really a market for two different digital sound on film systems? It didn't just need to be as good as the competing systems, it needed to offer some real advantages, which I don't think it did. I'm quite surprised that it lasted as long as it did, rather than going the way of the CDS and LC Concepts systems. If I was a cinema owner, what real reason could you give me why I should install SDDS rather than one of the competing systems?  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 05-21-2005 07:18 PM                     SDDS is possibly attractive right now because it's possible to get used equipment really cheap and the US prints of mainstream movies still carry the tracks, at least for the time-being. They're probably figuring on going with SDDS until they can afford an eventual upgrade once SDDS is finally dead and gone or when these "buy it used" systems burn out, whichever comes first. Never enough time or money to do it right, but always enough to do it over...  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 05-21-2005 07:24 PM                        If not for AMC choosing it, SDDS might just be a footnote in the history of cinema sound now. Regal Cinema World 8 in Eugene has (had? I don't know if they ever use SDDS now) all 3 digital sound formats. I saw Episode 2 there twice, in SDDS and DTS (they opened it in SDDS but it was dropping out at the end of reel 1 so they switched to DTS after the first day). Also LOTR2 and Spider-Man, the latter in SDDS-8. Those SDDS shows were the best-sounding movies I ever experienced. It was probably a setup fluke, but their SDDS sounded audibly better than either DTS or SR-D to me (that is, as Mark would say, "When it worked").  |  IP: Logged Bernie Anderson Jr Master Film Handler Posts: 435 From: Woodbridge, New Jersey Registered: Apr 2000 posted 05-21-2005 07:44 PM                        The 3000 series worked very well and in my experience where reliable. Jersey Gardens was opened about 4 years ago with them and they all still work. Bernie  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-21-2005 07:49 PM                     Bernie, I have no quams about the 3000 units either. I've not had to repair a single one of them. The main problem still exists and thats the track susceptability to extremely quick wear(as compared to SRD and DTS) and then not playing back reliably, or at all. How quickly the track becomes non-playable depends on what projector you're running and how well maintained that projector is. Weather you have a 2000 or 3000 unit the track wear problem is there and thats where the real problem lies. Prolonging track life is one place where Film-Guard really shines . Its just sometimes difficult to convince every SDDS customer to use it. Mark  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 05-21-2005 09:06 PM                        Stephen - my experience in Germany mirrors your observations. SDDS never really happened on a larger scale in Europe. As Manny pointed out, most releases in the US do have the tracks on them. I worked with SDDS a lot and I loved it. It is the only one which sounds noticeably better. There was a time when it could have ruled the cinema audio world because a lot of the earlier bugs still in the 2000 series had been worked out, but then Sony made their historical mistake and dropped the format. Another problem was that a lot of installers did not understand the system fully. I have often seen improperly installed and aligned systems in the field. Even though SDDS had some really excellent support technicians, they were always spread out too thin. Sony apparently never understood what it takes to establish such a system in the real world of cinema. They could have learned a lot from Dolby and their outstanding support and transparency, but they refused to do so. I mean Sony as a corporation, not the technicians. The issue of track wear is often misunderstood. True, some projectors were nicer to the tracks than others, and abusive projectors would of course contribute to the problem. The main problem, however, was and still may be bad printing quality. I have seen properly done tracks on prints which were trashed into oblivion, and the SDDS track still played fine with very low error rates. While the ruggedness of a playback system and its ability to withstand damage are obviously important factors, I have often resisted to accept living with these since those lab problems also affected the visible image quality and the other sound formats as well.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-21-2005 09:19 PM                     quote: Michael Schaffer They could have learned a lot from Dolby and their outstanding support and transparency, but they refused to do so. I mean Sony as a corporation, not the technicians. Actually Sony had to liscense quite a few of Dolbys patents in order to execute SDDS on film. Dolby has most of the patents regarding recording and reading digital data onto and back from film. DTS of course has has a totally different scheme. Mark  |  IP: Logged Gregory Brannon Film Handler Posts: 28 From: McKinney, TX, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 04-06-2006 10:25 AM                     Does anyone know if AMC still exclusively use SDDS in their newest theatres?  |  IP: Logged William T. Parr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 823 From: Cedar Park, TX Registered: Nov 2000 posted 04-06-2006 10:27 AM                     Last I heard AMC had gone to all Dolby Digital in the new installs  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

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.