Any reason there is no DTS Disk Repository?

[Kyle Mikolajczyk]

I am trying to figure out why there is no database of DTS disks for 35mm/70mm prints (especially for trailers). Would these disks be under copyright if all they contain is (scrambled/encrypted) audio that syncs to film timecodes? I understand it is also possible to add DTS content to a DTS processor through USB (with newer firmware versions that is). Any ideas?

[Leo Enticknap]

This question has been asked in the past, with the likely suggested answer being copyright issues, as you suggest. A lot of us have informal/unofficial collections of physical discs and/or ISOs. When I worked at the Egyptian we had around 200 titles, and would copy any discs that passed through the booth. We just couldn't rely on the print arriving with its discs if we were ever to play that title again. Of course that's less important for 35mm (but I still preferred to play DTS over Dolby if I could: it sounded better and was less likely to glitch or drop out if the print was in poor condition), but if you receive a 70mm print without DTS media, you're buggered.

I hope those discs survived the closure for refiurbishment and made it into the American Cinematheque's archive. Some of them were for quite obscure foreign movies, of the sort that would be unlikely to be in the collections of others.

You can ingest via USB or IP into an XD-10 or 20. For The Hateful Eight, they shipped USB sticks rather than CDs for the audio.

[Mike Blakesley]

I can't answer for sure, but I'm guessing there are at least these reasons:

1. Lack of demand
2. Copyright rules
3. Who's going to maintain it?

[Jim Cassedy]

Leo Sez:

For The Hateful Eight, they shipped USB sticks rather than CDs for the audio.

The DTS audio for the 70mm prints of DUNKIRK and LICORICE PIZZA I ran
also arrived on USB.

[David Ferguson]

Copyright is really the only reason. You may feel like because it's only audio that the studios wouldn't care, however past precedent has shown that not to be the case, for example with the case of the operator of a subtitling site facing prison time a few years back. If studios are like that with fan created subtitles, I wouldn't want to push my luck with film audio.

[Leo Enticknap]

I have no knowledge of Swedish copyright law, but if Sweden is a signatory to the Berne Convention, then US copyright law applies as far as Hollywood movies in Sweden are concerned. Presumably, the thinking is that the creation of subtitles in another language counts as adaptation of an original work for legal purposes, which is a protected right. I'm a bit surprised that the authorities pursued this one, especially given that this site wasn't distributing the video and audio, no rip files of subtitles created by the studios. Presumably their thinking was that these subtitles were almost exclusively being used to facilitate the viewing of pirated video and audio.

[Jim Cassedy]

I recall reading about a similar case where some guy had made his own "sing along"
versions of a couple of musicals and was sued, not by one of the studios, but by
ASCAP, for "Unauthorized Music Publishing" ( I think the actual criminal charge was
worded somewhat differently - - but basically ASCAP said he violated copyright by
"publishing" the words to the songs, without permission or paying a licensing fee)

[Marco Giustini]

Also DTS media have a very basic encryption - or nothing at all if you go back enough in time. Making them available online is unlikely to be something that studios would want.

[Neal Scanlan]

As a general question, would a film print with a foreign language play an English language DTS disc?

[Gordon McLeod]

As a general question, would a film print with a foreign language play an English language DTS disc?

Not always usually they had a different serial number

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

It's absolutely because of copyright issues. The studio owns the actual sound and distribution paid for the disks.

[John Eickhof]

i have thousand or so disks, and a time code generator i use to play them without film time code. works well. the timecode gen was purchased from dts years ago. i automatically received disks for every release made up to about 10 years ago, as i had dts units serial numbered 1 &2 i still have them but they have been replaced by newer units

[Marco Giustini]

As a general question, would a film print with a foreign language play an English language DTS disc?

Usually yes, but some reels may have been edited or changed (something distributed in the US by a Studio which is distributed by someone else in another country). In those cases either the edit has a different serial and DTS would not work on that section or, as Mark said, the whole reel is given a different serial number. In that case, it won't work.

But I'd say in general the serial number does not change for the main movie.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

"i have thousand or so disks, and a time code generator i use to play them without film time code. works well. the timecode gen" - John Eickhof

I installed quite a few DTS time code genny's in Giant screen theaters out west. Most of them were to update the earlier Iwerks locations that had the very old industrial looking rack mount 486 computer that was actually the first product Digital Theater Systems ever made. So once support on that stopped, they had to be replaced with 6D's and the current time code generator and a shaft encoder installed driven from the output sprocket of the Large Format machine. The Shaft encoders came as a kit and went right in. Switching the rest was just removing the old processor, which by the way was never before driven from a shaft encoder. Anyway, just had to run a shaft encoder cable and rewire the line out plug. Each disk, or set of disks as it often was, came with a time start code you set in.the Time Code Genny. You threaded picture start in the projector and then the show ran in sync. 2 hour shows, even on the 8 perf systems all had an intermission. I actually found the linear Loop projector to be way more interesting than the 15/70 stuff. Also, the very first DTS Large Format players were 7 channels. The replacement of course was only 6 Chan.

[Marco Giustini]

Not even 6! 5 and a half I’d say ? (the subwoofer channel was derived from the surround channels)