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Topic: Why are there very few movies mixed in SDDS currently?

Afshin Omidvar
Film Handler

Posts: 1
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Aug 2014

posted 08-23-2014 09:02 AM

Is there any reason why?

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-23-2014 09:11 AM

Because the system is basically dead, since around 90% of the industry has gone to digital, would be my guess.

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Jason Whyte
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 132
From: Victoria, BC, Canada
Registered: Sep 2002

posted 08-23-2014 10:44 AM

I would love to know if there any remaining theaters that are still playing 35mm and SDDS. I would assume even all the specality/rep cinemas are SRD or DTS only at this point.

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 08-23-2014 11:27 AM

AFI/Silver supports SDDS on all three screens and SDDS-8 on the larger two.

But as others have said. You have an all but dead format (35mm) with the least popular and has been discontinued for 10-years (SDDS). The combination does not lend itself to needing to waste money on it anymore.

Furthermore, those that had money for SDDS are likely all DCinema now so again, it would logically be the first of the digital audios for film to go.

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Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 08-23-2014 01:29 PM

Sony discontinued the sale of new SDDS equipment a while ago. Even the official site on sdds.com is dead nowadays.

The last 8-channel SDDS release was somewhere in 2007, so that practice is essentially dead. Many 35mm production processes are probably still "configured" to deliver an SDDS master and since it doesn't need a special mix as it can be easily created from the 5.1 PCM mix, it's probably still included in several releases... for now.

As Steve already put it, most locations that invested in SDDS and are still operational probably had the necessary means and foresight to convert to digital some time ago.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 08-23-2014 02:36 PM

For some of us that used to work with SDDS on a continual basis, it was a great system until the tracks started to wear down...which caused the system to default to MONO since the whole SDDS system bypassed the default processors.

Thus, there was no automatic backup route if the SDDS playback had issues - it had to be done manually.

Thus, we at a 21 plex, opened up with three houses with full digital capability. But, in just two years later, out came the SDDS - I had to do the uninstall and put in SRD CAT700's in its place.

I did really like SDDS for the dynamic sound it put out, but it was a company decision on the uninstall.

-Monte

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 08-23-2014 03:10 PM

quote: Jason Whyte
I would love to know if there any remaining theaters that are still playing 35mm and SDDS.

The Egyptian in Hollywood still has Dolby, DTS (35 or 70, swappable) and SDDS penthouse readers and processors in a Norelco AAII changeover installation. We last played SDDS about a month ago (The Fifth Element) and do so, I would guess, about two or three times a year.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 08-23-2014 07:11 PM

quote: Monte L Fullmer
For some of us that used to work with SDDS on a continual basis, it was a great system until the tracks started to wear down...which caused the system to default to MONO since the whole SDDS system bypassed the default processors.

Thus, there was no automatic backup route if the SDDS playback had issues - it had to be done manually.

Monte what have you been smoking? That post is flat out inaccurate.

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Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 08-23-2014 07:17 PM

quote: Monte L Fullmer
For some of us that used to work with SDDS on a continual basis, it was a great system until the tracks started to wear down...which caused the system to default to MONO since the whole SDDS system bypassed the default processors.

Well, it has been a while, but from what I remember it could actually fall back to SRD/SR and even DTS if you had those connected...

Edit: Seems like Brad came before me.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 08-23-2014 11:46 PM

Not the way our setup was wired.

It was wired as a bypass setup, thus it didn't went back to default SR optical or any other format.

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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012

posted 08-24-2014 12:29 AM

quote: Monte L Fullmer
Not the way our setup was wired.

It was wired as a bypass setup, thus it didn't went back to default SR optical or any other format.

1. Could you just select SR if the SDDS dropped out?

2. How did you play trailers and snipes that were not SDDS encoded?

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 08-24-2014 12:44 AM

Back then in the late 1990's, it was rare to catch a trailer that had no SDDS encoding. Practically all of the trailers had quad track.

Granted, in these three houses, our preferred sound was DTS since we had the SDDS reader on top of the DTS timecode reader and SR-D basement readers.

Thus, I was told of the bypass and MONO thing from our installers. But as seeing the bypass wiring in the rack, there was no pulse wiring method from the SDDS processor to the main Dolby CP500 processor to take over optical, or even digital playback when the two SDDS track reads failed.

When I was projecting, I would use the SDDS just to keep it breathing and in operation. Also, new films would always play in these houses and move to other houses after the first week to where I had no problems with the SDDS playback.

As for the snipes, we had none - just simple trailer and feature performances.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-24-2014 01:17 AM

That makes no sense...if you had all four formats available, why revert to mono if SDDS should misread? Why not revert say to SR-D?

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 08-24-2014 02:14 AM

Monte, first of all I don't believe you are accurate in your understanding of the SDDS fallback.

Second though, on the assumption that you ARE correct in your statement, then I can factually add to your statement that your installers sucked!

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Will Kutler
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1506
From: Tucson, AZ, USA
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 08-24-2014 05:57 AM

I ran a 20-plex booth. All screens were THX certified and equipped with either Dolby Digital, DTS or SDDS with Dolby analog as the back-up fail-safe. We had 4 of Brad's Film-Guard systems, so all 20 prints would be cleaned at least once a week (no...we did not interlock!).

News flash! The average audience could not distinguish between the analog sound coming from a clean print and properly maintained projection system vs. a digital track. The only time they could really distinguish was when the digital track would fail and switch to analog. More often than not, we would be running silent films if not for the good ole analog!

That being said, SDDS was the worst of all three digital formats...primarily because of its placement on the film (the edges) and that area being most susceptible to wear. We used to get many, many audience complaints because of the constant annoyance of the audible switching between SDDS to analog so much so that audience refunds became the norm. Our SDDS screens became so unreliable that we got permission from the corporate home office to just run those screens in Dolby analog. Not one audience complaint about Dolby analog...sound problem solved!

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