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Author Topic: EX Format Dying breed Demetris Thoupis Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1240 From: Aradippou, Larnaca, Cyprus Registered: Apr 2001 posted 11-29-2009 05:56 PM                     Are there ANY movies being encoded in EX today in cinema? EX is greatly used in home theaters. We've been the first to install EX throughout Greece and Cyprus for the Phantom Menace release and today almost no movie is EX encoded. There isn't even a list of EX encoded films anymore. Demetris  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-29-2009 06:11 PM                     'UP' was the only film we played in EX this year.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-29-2009 07:21 PM                     Almost all the Bollywood films are ex encoded  |  IP: Logged Robert John Jeromson Master Film Handler Posts: 264 From: Auckland, New Zealand Registered: Jul 2004 posted 12-01-2009 01:01 AM                     Ponyo (English Dubbed Version) was also...  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 12-01-2009 12:43 PM                        All of Studio Ghibli's films have been EX once the format became available, just not in the US.  |  IP: Logged Eric Robinson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 538 From: Santa Rosa, CA Registered: Jan 2005 posted 12-03-2009 11:45 PM                     What a waste of time, money, and effort for an effect that possibly 1% of the audience might discern. Really, unless the EX effect is really exaggerated do you think any of the main stream simpletons would have any clue that they are being treated to an EX production.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-04-2009 11:44 AM                     Yes and no...The EX format also helps with "steering" the surround sound. I'm actually using an EX decoder in a long-narrow screening room, regardless of EX encoding just to steer the audio towards the rear...it works rather well. Personally, I think that it should have be a 4-channel surround so that the surround information could be pulled back and into a corner rather than just sides and rear....again with steering the surrounds, 4 channels would have been better. To add insult to injury, you have to wire for 4-channel surrounds anyway. Most EX decoders, however, only give you 3-channels of EQ...which means the EQ is wrong for either 5.1 or EX on the side surrounds. Steve  |  IP: Logged Jonathan M. Crist Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 531 From: Hershey, PA, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 12-04-2009 04:56 PM                     EX is just the latest in a long list of theatre equipment sold to the exhibitor only to have the studios stop supporting the format - with the equipment ending up gathering dust in the back room. 70MM anyone? A cautionary tale for those who seek to push digital 3D. Of course it certainly makes the equipment dealers happy when the new gimmicks appear since it gives a boost to their sales.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-04-2009 06:06 PM                     Really? You are going to poke at 70mm? It was in pretty decent use from 1954 until about 1993...40-years on a technology is phenomenal. It still isn't obsoleted today but I stop it at 1993 as that is when the studios stopped doing the big releases in it as a rule. Digital audio on film in cinemas, if you believe the "film is dead" folks, will have a shorter life than either 4-track mag on 35mm or 70mm. How many things in life really stay popular or supported 10-20 or 30 years after introduction? There certainly are a few but most technology doesn't enjoy such a long life. Steve  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-04-2009 06:48 PM                     quote: Jonathan M. Crist Of course it certainly makes the equipment dealers happy when the new gimmicks appear since it gives a boost to their sales. The whole time I've been in this buisness.... 32 years... I have never pushed any of the "Gimmiks" unless the customer insisted on having it. There were already expensive doorstops in place from previous eras in this biz when I started out!!!  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-04-2009 08:26 PM                     While it is true that there are times when the new technology boosts sales...EX was one of those. I, personally, don't know of any dealer that pushed for it though. All of the exhibitors told US they HAD to have it by May 19th (Star Wars Ep. 1). The exhibitors were literally begging us! And were very thankful when we told them we could get them set up in time. SA-TENs were in very short supply with both the UK and US cranking them out as fast as they could. When I was putting it in I actually felt pretty bad about it...the SA-TEN was such an ill conceived product that every time I put one in, there was a "gotcha" in there. It played the nicest with the CP500...with the CP55/65 you had to modify the control board, the DA20 had to have resistors cut out and non-Dolby processors had their own set of "whoops". It did okay with the CP200 as well (what doesn't?). I remember loading up an Astro van with SA-TENs, QSC amps, and wire/cable and then going from theatre to theatre putting them in/tuning...calling Dolby to find the latest kludge that needed to be done...and it all turned out to be a bit of a sham in that I later heard that the exhibitors didn't need to install it after all...they were just encouraged to. But everyone wanted to relive the 1977 boxoffice experience again. So as a Dealer, yeah new desirable technology can often help the bottom line but you'd be hard pressed to find many dealers in this industry that are PUSHING the latest piece of crap the moment it comes out. Just the opposite...it often opens the doors to a whole list of new problems. In the case of EX...I don't recall anyone that I spoke with really touting as being great. At least with digital audio, there was a clear and immediate impact on the sound track...particularly the discrete part of it as well as the increased dynamic range over the optical track. It also got us stereo surrounds for the masses. And even with that...the headaches came...tracking issues, film coming out of readers...roll around rack systems...you name it. Steve  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-04-2009 08:51 PM                     I would not call any of them a gimmick EX is still supported and used by many foreign producers 70mm is not gimmick and as steve said cinemascope and mag has lasted longer than any other new technology  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 12-06-2009 11:01 AM                     My big theatre no longer has EX sound. I've only had one title that used it in over 3 years.  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 12-06-2009 01:45 PM                     quote: Steve Guttag How many things in life really stay popular or supported 10-20 or 30 years after introduction? There certainly are a few but most technology doesn't enjoy such a long life. VHS tape has lasted longer than most formats; and how long have CDs been around now, ~25 years?. As for cinema equipment that was short-lived, how about: Kinemacolor projectors. Vitaphone turntables. Tri-ergon 42mm sound system. Fox Grandeur and other wide-film projectors from the same era. Fantasound equipment. Push-pull sound reproducers. Vistavision projectors. ARC-120 attachments. Perspecta integrators. Quintaphonic sound. Two-strip 3-D. Single-strip side-by side anamorphic 3-D. Sensurround. CDS digital sound. First generation 1.3k digital cinema projectors. LC Concepts sound on magneto-optical disc. Several other digital sound systems that never got anywhere. We probably can't include 55.625 mm 6-perf projectors since I don't think any ever made it to an actual installation, but if the format had lasted a few more months it might have had a similar status to Vistavision projectors.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-06-2009 03:30 PM                     To be honest EX has been more of a nuisance then it has done good. Aside from using it for sterring as Mr. Guttag has done it can cause utter confusion among new theater owners. I also wonder how many EX decoders are just always left in the on position when they sholdn't be. This is something no one would ever if it just faded away. Mark  |  IP: Logged

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