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In my quest to keep adding obscure and irrelevant technology to my screening room, I've recently gotten hold of the ST100 controller for the Dolby ScreenTalk system.
ScreenTalk, for those who don't know, was Dolby's answer to DTS-CSS, the subtitling system that used the DTS timecode to, instead of synchronising 6 channel digital audio, instead synchronised a narration track and visual subtitles, that were commonly superimposed onto the screen using a separate digital projector (think a VGA data projector, not a digital cinema projector - this was the early 2000s!). Discs are supplied from DTS directly (not the studios!) with the subtitle and narration track. Dolby ScreenTalk worked in the same way, synchronising subtitles to the timecode on the SRD track, and projecting subtitles on top of the cinema screen, along with outputting a narration track that could be sent to those with hearing-aids or special headphones. I've attached a Dolby PDF which talks about ScreenTalk to this post in case you're interested in reading more.
The DTS system worked by having either a special DTS-CSS box, which was basically a cut-down XD10 with only one DVD drive and no 6 channel output card, or by having a license installed on a XD10. The Dolby ScreenTalk system works by having the ST100 controller connected over USB to a Linux PC, which runs the "Dolby ST Media Master" software, and reads CD-ROMs containing the subtitling data.
I now have the ST100, but don't have the "Dolby ST Media Master" software, or any CD-ROMs of the subtitle data. Does anyone have a copy of this anywhere? Perhaps in your projection booth there's an old PC that once was used for ScreenTalk that will have the software still on it, or a CD-ROM of a subtitle data for a film? If anyone has any of these I'd be very interested in getting copies to try and get my ScreenTalk setup working.
ScreenTalk, for those who don't know, was Dolby's answer to DTS-CSS, the subtitling system that used the DTS timecode to, instead of synchronising 6 channel digital audio, instead synchronised a narration track and visual subtitles, that were commonly superimposed onto the screen using a separate digital projector (think a VGA data projector, not a digital cinema projector - this was the early 2000s!). Discs are supplied from DTS directly (not the studios!) with the subtitle and narration track. Dolby ScreenTalk worked in the same way, synchronising subtitles to the timecode on the SRD track, and projecting subtitles on top of the cinema screen, along with outputting a narration track that could be sent to those with hearing-aids or special headphones. I've attached a Dolby PDF which talks about ScreenTalk to this post in case you're interested in reading more.
The DTS system worked by having either a special DTS-CSS box, which was basically a cut-down XD10 with only one DVD drive and no 6 channel output card, or by having a license installed on a XD10. The Dolby ScreenTalk system works by having the ST100 controller connected over USB to a Linux PC, which runs the "Dolby ST Media Master" software, and reads CD-ROMs containing the subtitling data.
I now have the ST100, but don't have the "Dolby ST Media Master" software, or any CD-ROMs of the subtitle data. Does anyone have a copy of this anywhere? Perhaps in your projection booth there's an old PC that once was used for ScreenTalk that will have the software still on it, or a CD-ROM of a subtitle data for a film? If anyone has any of these I'd be very interested in getting copies to try and get my ScreenTalk setup working.
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