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Author Topic: Tomb Raider, Paramount, and SDDS Aaron Garman Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: Toledo, OH USA Registered: Mar 2003 posted 07-25-2003 03:19 AM                     Hello all. I know there was a thread before about a similar topic in relation to X2 but could not find it. Anyhow, our print of Tomb Raider did not have SDDS just like any typical Paramount release. I saw that Paul posted in FITA that their copy had SDDS. Does anyone else have SDDS on theirs? Of course, Tomb Raider is running in our only SDDS house. Thankfully our 2nd print is running in DTS, albeit no stadium seating. I'd take digital sound anyday though. AJG  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 07-25-2003 11:28 AM                        If there are prints available with SDDS, then your management has to contact the distributor to get a print with SDDS if they care about such matters.  |  IP: Logged John T. Hendrickson, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 889 From: Freehold, NJ, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-25-2003 03:55 PM                     I have two prints. No SDDS. Sometimes the attached trailers on some prints will have SDDS, but the feature does not. Have not seen SDDS on a Paramount print in quite some time.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Garman Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: Toledo, OH USA Registered: Mar 2003 posted 07-26-2003 02:42 AM                     The thing that baffles me is that we opened Seabiscuit in a DTS house, when they could have put it into the SDDS house, with Tomb Raider in DTS. This actually happened before with Star Trek Nemesis (no SDDS): we put it in the SDDS house and put Maid in Manhattan (a Sony title) in the DTS house. I mentioned it to the manager and said, "maybe we could put it in the DTS house." He scoffed at my idea and said I didn't know what I was talking about and to let them make the desicions. This was Thursday night. After the 2nd show Friday of Star Trek, someone complained about how the sound just was not good (running in Dolby A). Our GM had jsut gotten back that night and decided to swap Die Another Day (which was running in SRD, but had SDDS) with Star Trek right before the first night time show. I just found it funny they could have saved the trouble by just listening to me instead of disregarding me. AJG  |  IP: Logged Dino Panagiotopoulos Expert Film Handler Posts: 139 From: Windor, Ontario, Canada Registered: Jan 2003 posted 07-26-2003 03:00 AM                     Aaron, Remember youre just the projectionist.........you have absolutely no clue what youre doing and would not know the first thing about film and sound presentation because people like you dont matter..........you just cost the company money. Important decisions like that should be left to the people who know EVERYTHING about the booth such as management, who on many occasions love to do things the absolute hardest way possible. Believe me that wont be your last time dealing with stupid decisions like that. You dont even need to know anything about this stuff to see that your story is something that can be decided by a little thing called common sense, something you dont find too often in theaters these days. Luckily for me, we have booth smart people running my theater so I usually dont have to deal with stuff like that.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-26-2003 08:05 PM                     You need also to remembet that selection of which house plays a given film is usually decided by bookers on negociating with the film distributor based on number of seats  |  IP: Logged Don Bruechert Mmmmmmmmm, bird! Posts: 340 From: Manitowoc, WI, USA Registered: Jan 2003 posted 07-26-2003 11:03 PM                        Our owner had just put Tomb Raider in our SDDS house and left Pirates in the DTS house it has been in a while. I was going to move Tomb Raider in where Pirates was because there were more seats in there (even though it pisses the owner off when I change what he sends me) but I happen to like the SDDS system better so I left it in there. When the guys screened it Thursday night they were talking about the SDDS "dropping out" and ended up moving it to the DTS house anyway. Interesting to see this thread because I checked the scoreboard when I was setting up the schedule and it said that the movie had an SDDS track on it... I guess not... Bummer  |  IP: Logged Greg Routenburg Expert Film Handler Posts: 178 From: Toronto, ON, Canada Registered: May 2003 posted 07-27-2003 01:53 AM                     We have 1 SDDS unit and 2 DTS units at my theatre. The readers and processors are configured to be portable and the wiring is in place on the sound racks to accept either units. We simply move the units to a theatre that has corresponding support with the print. It seems to work pretty well and seeing as I can't remember the last time a print was released in 8 Track SDDS that's not a problem either.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Garman Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: Toledo, OH USA Registered: Mar 2003 posted 07-27-2003 04:43 AM                     quote: You need also to remembet that selection of which house plays a given film is usually decided by bookers on negociating with the film distributor based on number of seats In those situations, it can be understandable. However, with both cases I cite, the houses are all the same size (297 seats). That's what makes it even more logical. AJG  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 07-27-2003 04:45 AM                        Greg - if you actually get an 8-channel print (however unlikely that is now), you can configure the SDDS decoder to play in 6 channels should you need to move the print into a 6-channel house. I guess you have a DFP-D2000. Connect to the unit using the setup software. Go to the config menu and select matrix mode.  |  IP: Logged Alan Haigh Film Handler Posts: 45 From: Watford, UK Registered: Jul 2003 posted 07-28-2003 02:01 PM                    Charlie's Angels 2 and Terminator 3 are two recent examples of 8 channel SDDS films Alan  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Ralston Film Handler Posts: 13 From: Cincinnati, OH, USA Registered: Jul 2003 posted 07-29-2003 01:12 AM                     I find it fairly amusing. My theater, a National Amusements (Viacom) theater has SDDS in one of our two big houses, but only has six channels wired. Seems like Viacom isn't a fan of functional SDDS.  |  IP: Logged Charles Everett Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: New Jersey Registered: May 2001 posted 07-30-2003 02:37 PM                     Even the stack ads for Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life omit SDDS. Paramount must have a corporate policy not to use SDDS unless the studio is co-financing with a company that uses SDDS. This affects the Loews chain to an extent. Any Loews site that opened from late '98 on (Stony Brook, Kips Bay, E-Walk) will have Dolby Digital; any Loews that opened before then (New Brunswick, Palisades Center) is probably 100 percent SDDS.  |  IP: Logged

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