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

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Bar code cue readers... (Page 1)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Author Topic: Bar code cue readers... Tom Wienholt Master Film Handler Posts: 371 From: Towson, MD, USA Registered: Dec 2002 posted 02-25-2008 04:55 PM                     I am taking over a location previously owned by UA Theatres. The booth is equipped with bar code readers to detect film cues. However, there are no bar code stickers to be found in the booth. I would like to know where these bar code cues can be purchased. Any help would be appreciated.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 02-25-2008 04:58 PM                     I believe Kelmar still sells them. If not let me know and maybe I can do a high resolution scan of the different sheets that you could print out and trim to size on label stock paper.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-25-2008 08:29 PM                     If you know the symbology/format of the bar code you could probably get any old computer program that can create and print bar codes then run them off with your laser printer using any old kind of Avery label stock. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode#Linear_barcodes Aren't they just a simple two digit code? I don't remember them well. It's been a long time since I've seen them and the only times I've had to deal with them is when I had to peel the damn things off a print.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-25-2008 10:06 PM                     Sam Chavez might be able to shed some light(pun intended) on this... Far as I know Kelmar no longer offers them. It was a UA thing and there were problems of some osrt that sam may be able to elaborate on. Mark  |  IP: Logged Sam D. Chavez Film God Posts: 2153 From: Martinez, CA USA Registered: Aug 2003 posted 02-25-2008 11:29 PM                       Not me, I worked on the Dolby one. The bar codes were entirely different.  |  IP: Logged Tom Wienholt Master Film Handler Posts: 371 From: Towson, MD, USA Registered: Dec 2002 posted 02-27-2008 11:56 PM                     I have not been able to locate these bar codes. HELP!!  |  IP: Logged James Westbrook Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1133 From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa Registered: Mar 2006 posted 02-28-2008 01:45 AM                     I remember Symbol Technologies was the group who designed that barcode set up for UA. The UA Plaza in Dallas had this.  |  IP: Logged Kenneth Wuepper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1026 From: Saginaw, MI, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 02-28-2008 06:42 AM                     The print of "I Am Legend" that we had this week had those bar codes stuck in the middle of the image on the emulsion side of the film. They were impossible to remove as there was no splicing tape BETWEEN them and the film. KEN  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 02-28-2008 10:49 AM                     There were 2 different kinds of UA barcode systems. One was a simple 4 cue system, the other had tons. I do have a book here. I don't have a super high resolution scanner on-site, but let me try scanning in a sheet and have someone on the forums with one of those systems print it out and wave it in front of their reader and see if the resolution is good enough that the scan could be printed onto label stock. PS - PLEASE listen to Ken!!! Putting the barcode sticker directly onto the film is terribly unprofessional and permanently damages the film. Lay a piece of splicing tape down and THEN put the sticker on top of that.  |  IP: Logged Tom Wienholt Master Film Handler Posts: 371 From: Towson, MD, USA Registered: Dec 2002 posted 02-29-2008 06:42 PM                     Brad, Thanks for the help. Let me know ASAP if you are successful.  |  IP: Logged Tristan Lane Master Film Handler Posts: 444 From: Nampa, Idaho Registered: Feb 2002 posted 03-01-2008 01:47 PM                     Component Engineering has a conversion board for the Barcode automation so that you can use a traditional proximity cue detector instead of the barcode reader. I believe that Regal was converting a lot of their theaters to FM-35 failsafes using these.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 03-01-2008 08:59 PM                     Ok, I have done a test scan and the manual will be available on the front page tonight. Someone with one of these systems please print it out (a piece of regular paper is fine), cut out a single cue and then wave it in front of the scanner and please verify it is high enough resolution to work. It looks plenty high quality on my end. Note these cues are for the version A system and stand-alone reader, not the later "B" version. There are only 4 cues, of which UA only ever used 3 of them. However the "O22" cue should work on the B system just like a #19 shutdown cue if memory serves. If this works, I will scan in the "B" version book.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-02-2008 10:06 PM                     I did some reading up. As far as I can tell, this barcode is just a regular old "2 of 5 Interleave" with no checksum. Any old barcode generating/printing program can whip these codes up with little problem. I used "KBarcode" for Linux (freeware) to generate these barcodes: Note the human-readable text in the original has been altered. A normal 2/5 barcode can not have letters in it. Only numbers. The "O", "C", "I" and "X" presumably stand for "Outboard", "Inboard", "Center" and "Cross". If you can remember the numbers, you don't need the letters, really. I don't have a barcode reader to check my work. If somebody who has one of these systems could verify that they also work, please, I would appreciate it. If it does work we have verified that barcodes for these automations can be made by virtually anybody with a computer and a laser printer that can handle Avery stick-on labels.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 03-02-2008 10:44 PM                     It was just verified at a UA that the barcode scans on the front page for version A do in fact work properly. I am in the process of scanning my book in, but am missing a few cue sheets. The missing ones are being mailed to me and I should have the pdf file for version B online by this weekend.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 03-02-2008 11:02 PM                        The barcodes currently listed on the front page are very different than the ones we used at Greenwood Plaza 12. We had tons upon tons of different functions, and the cues were labeled as 01, 02, etc all the way up to 35 I think. The ones on the front page do not have these numbers. Good luck guessing at what they do! Also, wouldn't it be cheaper to print them on normal paper, lay the paper on the film and then put a single-sided splice over it? It should still read, and when the splicing tape is peeled off, the paper goes with it. Has UA switched all of their theaters over to some sort of non-barcode system?  |  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.