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Topic: DTS discs on ebay

Kara J. McVay
Film Handler

Posts: 95
From: Delaware, OH
Registered: May 2002

posted 10-13-2002 07:37 PM

I am not familiar with DTS yet, but I thought that these were just sound no pictures? Please correct me if I am wrong.
Item # 1570496535 It was just posted today.

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 10-13-2002 08:36 PM

The dts discs only contain sound and can only be played back by a theatrical dts player. No player on the consumer market can play the discs contrary to what is stated in the item description. The seller probably doesn`t understand that himself. Some Star Wars fan out there will still buy them because it says Star Wars on the discs and then probably spend weeks trying to get them to play until, searching the internet for help, he will end up here and be confronted with the cold truth.
Slightly off topic, but what species is the animal in your picture?
Michael

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Kara J. McVay
Film Handler

Posts: 95
From: Delaware, OH
Registered: May 2002

posted 10-13-2002 08:43 PM

Michael
Thanks for clearing up that for me. Now your turn, his name is Mr. Ma-Goo he is a 4 1/2 year old Chinese Shar-Pei. He does have a pretty big head even for a Shar-Pei. I have 4 total.

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 10-13-2002 09:11 PM

I was just curious since in your profile, it says you liked dogs and horses, and I couldn`t figure out which of the two species is in the picture

Michael

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Mike Olpin
Chop Chop!

Posts: 1852
From: Dallas, TX
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 10-13-2002 11:48 PM

Just sent an e-mail to the seller:

quote:

Hi! I work at a movie theatre and thought i should clear up a few things for you about the Star Wars DTS disks you are selling on ebay. Only a Theatrical DTS player can playback the disks. No consumer DVD players, even ones with DTS and MP3 decoding can play the disks. I assume that you are aware that the disks only contain the soundtrack for the movie. Unless someone owns a DTS cinema processor, a DTS timecode reader, a 35mm projector, and a 35mm print of Ep:2, these are absolutely useless. In any case, it's all a mute point. As soon as DTS, Fox, or Lucasfilm finds this auction, they'll shoot it down anyway, as the disk is their property to begin with. (Even though the guy at the movie theatre gave them to you, they were not his to begin with. The disks are the property of the studio that realeses the films, and are LOANED out to the theatres for use.)
just thought you might want to know.
Mike

P.S. - I think a rare hard to find DTS timecode generator would work in place of the projector and 35mm print, but youll still need a theatrical DTS decoder. And a 6 chanel amp. And speakers.

Think that was too mean?

Now i just need to find Lucasfilms email address.

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Aldo Baez
Master Film Handler

Posts: 266
From: USA
Registered: Mar 2001

posted 10-13-2002 11:54 PM

LOL!! $99 ??? This guy is either nuts or simply stupid. I pick the latter by the use of his grammar.

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Stephen Furley
Film God

Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002

posted 10-14-2002 03:56 AM

I've never looked at a DTS disc, if you put one in a normal pc with a CD-Rom drive can you see files on it? If so, would it not be at least theoretically possible for someone to obtain the specification of the DTS coding scheme, and write a decoder for it in software, either to work in real time, or to convert to some other format which could then be played with more conventional software?

I know that the theatrical version of DTS is not the same as the home version used on Laserdiscs and DVDs, but what is the difference, why, and which, if either, is better in terms of sound quality?

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Stephen Furley
Film God

Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002

posted 10-14-2002 04:06 AM

quote:
(Even though the guy at the movie theatre gave them to you, they were not his to begin with. The disks are the property of the studio that realeses the films, and are LOANED out to the theatres for use.)

And he obvouusly doesn't care that whoever gets the print after him may want to run it in DTS. Nobody would think it was ok to just give away the print, so why should it be different with dhe discs? Surely they should be regarded as part of the print.

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 10-14-2002 04:07 AM

A dts disc contains a file called dts.exe and a directory with files for each of the reels and for the sound trailers. There was a lengthy discussion here about the subject maybe 4-5 months ago. Mr Marcheselli came up with a playful solution to make the decoder play the discs with an AT-keyboard. You can also make the decoder play back the discs without a print running if you have the Empirical Test Disc.
The home dts codec is supposed to be more advanced because it has been continually improved during the last years. It includes the option for different compression rates. There was an interesting duel between Dolby and dts some time ago when each company tested the other`s codec. I think you can find their statements on their corporate websites.
Michael

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

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

posted 10-14-2002 04:28 AM

Surely the solution to DTS disc supply is for there to be an FTP site containing images of every disc released, and for cinemas to simply download the ones they need and then burn them onto CDs. This would solve the problem of prints being shipped without discs.

If security is an issue the site could be protected, with only the IP addresses of specific, registered computers in cinemas being able to gain access. But I can't see there being a copyright problem because as everyone has pointed out, these discs simply cannot be played on consumer equipment.

Eventually you could eliminate the offline part altogether, and have hard discs in the processors which would automatically download and save the sound data for each new film.

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Stephen Furley
Film God

Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002

posted 10-14-2002 04:54 AM

quote:
Surely the solution to DTS disc supply is for there to be an FTP site containing images of every disc released, and for cinemas to simply download the ones they need and then burn them onto CDs. This would solve the problem of prints being shipped without discs.

You don't work for LC Concepts by any chance do you Leo?

It's not a bad idea though.

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 10-14-2002 06:19 AM

If I remember correctly, Mr Hultgren of dts once wrote that the distributors were strictly opposed to the concept of offering the discs for download. You would probably find it easier to fly to Mars than to explain to distributors why this could be safe solution.
Michael

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

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

posted 10-14-2002 09:44 AM

I suppose there is always the risk that someone will produce and distribute software that would enable the audio to be played off a DTS disc. But even if this did happen, who would want to sit through two hours of movie sound without any picture?

It seems to me that the main selling point of DTS is lower compression than Dolby or Sony, which is made possible by the sound data not being stored on the same film as the picture. There has to be a more efficient way of achieving that than using offline carriers which routinely get lost/damaged/nicked or sometimes just not shipped with the prints. When DTS was launched in 1992, CD-ROMs were probably the only viable way of distributing that volume of digital data, so there was no alternative but to live with the shipping issues. But technology has moved on a lot since then.

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Kara J. McVay
Film Handler

Posts: 95
From: Delaware, OH
Registered: May 2002

posted 10-14-2002 10:06 AM

I called Technicolor and they gave me a phone number to call. They ETS (I think) were very interested in this item. General consenses "what an idiot". They are passing the info on to the studio.

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Thomas Procyk
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1842
From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 10-14-2002 11:06 AM

But didn't anyone read the description? These aren't just ordinary DTS discs, they are the special "Digital Cinema Movie" discs. They won't play in a regular DVD player, only ones you can buy at WAL-MART. After all, his friend who gave them to him said they worked fine in the theater, which also apparently gets its DVD players from Wal-Mart to play their Digital Cinema Movies on...

Someone needs to smack this person.
=TMP=

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