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It's false, misleading, and Film Done Wrong.
Unfortunately, if this is not already obvious to them, it's probably non-trivial to convince them.

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Are you surprised that this hype-driven industry isn't exactly wringing its collective hands or loosing sleep because of guilt over a bit of ambiguous over-statement or even outright deception, are you?

I too, would like to know exactly what kind of sound format and projection format is being used on a film before I walk into the auditorium. But that just doesn't seem to be happening. If anything, movie ads are providing even less information than ever. Cost cutbacks are part of the problem. It costs extra money to make a theater directory ad or stack ad that includes all the technical info in readable sized type.

Another problem is a number of newer stadium seated theaters actually feature watered down arsenals of equipment. Most do not qualify for THX standards. Cheaper speakers, amps, cinema processors and projection equipment is installed. One would think every screen in a new multiplex would have digital sound. But they often don't. I can point to a few here in Oklahoma like that. So, to cover up the facts, they just don't notate the technical info for their shows. They let the audiences assume that since it is a newer theater it must automatically have all that stuff.

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Actually, it never occurred to me to run a sound trailer for any format other than the one in which the feature is being presented. Hmm....

One of the places where I fill in sometimes doesn't usually run sound format logos; this is because it is a 5-plex with all three digital systems: the big house has DTS, as does the two smallest houses. The two mid-size houses have SRD and SDDS, respectively. Thus, during the "life" of a print, the sound logo would need to be changed nearly every time it moved. Add to that the fact that prints often move for screenings, interlocks, etc., and it just becomes a big mess. The big house is THX certified and I do try to run the THX trailer when possible.

Another place where I fill in has SRD on three of six screens, but doesn't have any Dolby trailers. I've written to Dolby to ask them to send some out, but haven't heard back from them.

If I worked in a single or a multiplex where all houses were equipped with the same format, I'd definitely run the sound trailers.

But as far as what Ken is talking about where the auditorium has Dolby Digital and the print does not, I don't think that the logo should be played at all. Why even put forth the effort to attach it to the print when it was assembled? Ken, you need to smack your projectionists around!

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We only have a few THX auditoria in the City, and all are one or two theatres within multiplexes. An average film-goer will never be able to find out the right showtime for the THX performance, and most times the box-office staff don't know their rumps from holes in the ground if they're actually lucky enough to get through to a "human being."

I've never understood this. Why would a theatre pay the humongous THX certification fees, have the alignments done, earn the right to advertise in a format that is a guaranteed cinemaphile magnet, yet fail to advertise it, fail to put THX trailers on screen or even push it at the box office.

And forget about finding out which digital format the film's presented in! Nobody knows, nobody cares...

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Cheers,
PJ Dougherty

We had 11 screens: 3 SDDS, 3DD, 3DTS, 2SR. 1 of the SDDS and 1 DD were THX auditoriums. EVERY WEEK, we swapped out sound designation trailers with out fail. Yeah, it was a pain for the projectionists, but who here cares? Its all about the presentation, so suck it up. We also changed the sound designation if the show was being moved for a day to accomodate a "sneak screening" in the larger house. The box office reader boards had "digital sound" and "THX" snipes that went on the appropriate film (mylars, the only way to go. I hate those red LED signs!) All of the staff (even the ushers and concession people) had dailies available should a customer want to know exactly what digital format was being used. The box office staff also had a company memo that was updated every week, and could tell any customer the sound format for the whatever show of whatever movie on the 8th screen of the location 2 hours away, and whether it was THX certified or not.

quote:

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Bobby Henderson wrote:
I've never seen a theater anywhere play the SR "Temple" trailer (which simply features the plain Dolby logo).
The only place I've ever seen "Temple" was on some European web site that had a bunch of format trailer to download. They had .VOB files with DD 5.1 for all the Dolby and THX logos, but the "Temple" trailer was just a basic MPEG with a tiny picture.

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We play 'Temple' (Single University screen, dolby A)
I have a flat and a scope copy.

I wish they made another one. It can get a bit tiring.

And I have seen it played in a multiplex - SRD film in an SRD house