Tag Archives: dvd

Vintage

Why Not Laserdiscs In The 2020’s?

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In this, our new high tech world, a lot of people may think I’ve gone decidedly crazy.

I’ve always wanted the man cave ‘aka’ cinema room to have a nostalgic feel to it. I started collecting videos at the tender aged of 11. All my friends growing up called me videoboy lol because I was the go-to-guy to get films from on vhs videotape but one format that always intrigued me was laserdisc.

A Little History

LaserDisc (often abbreviated as LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978.  No one can say for sure if the disco craze at that time was responsible for its early name or if it was simply a play on the word ‘disc’. Whatever the reason, the early DiscoVisions have distinct cover designs which make them quite collectible and they have a certain unique retro-funk all of their own.

Although the format was capable of offering higher-quality video and audio than its consumer rivals- VHS and Betamax videotape, LaserDisc never managed to gain widespread use in North America, largely due to high costs for the players and video titles themselves and the inability to record TV programs. It was not a popular format in Europe and Australia when first released but was popular in the 1990s. By contrast, the format was strongly embraced in Japan and in the more affluent regions of Southeast Asia, such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, and was the prevalent rental video medium in Hong Kong during the 1990s. Its superior video and audio quality made it a popular choice among videophiles and film enthusiasts during its lifespan. The technologies and concepts behind LaserDisc were the foundation for later optical disc formats including Compact Disc (CD), DVD and Blu-ray (BD).

A Little Boasting

LaserDisc had a number of advantages over VHS (and Beta) videotape. It featured a sharper picture with a horizontal resolution of 425 TVL lines for NTSC and 440 TVL lines for PAL discs, while VHS featured only 240 TVL lines in NTSC (VHS HQ offered 260). It could handle analog and digital audio where VHS was mostly analog only (VHS did have PCM audio in professional applications but was uncommon), and the NTSC discs could store multiple audio tracks. This allowed for extras such as director’s commentary tracks and other features to be added onto a film, creating “Special Edition” releases that would not have been possible with VHS. Disc access was random and chapter based, like the DVD format, meaning that one could jump to any point on a given disc very quickly. By comparison, VHS would require tedious rewinding and fast-forwarding to get to specific points.

Please be kind! Rewind!

LaserDiscs were initially cheaper than videocassettes to manufacture, because they lacked the moving parts and plastic outer shell that are necessary for VHS tapes to work, and the duplication process was much simpler. A VHS cassette has at least 14 parts including the actual tape while LaserDisc has one part with five or six layers. A disc can be stamped out in a matter of seconds whereas duplicating videotape required a complex bulk tape duplication mechanism and was a time-consuming process. However, by the end of the 1980s, average disc-pressing prices were over $5 USD per two-sided disc, due to the large amount of plastic material and the costly glass-mastering process needed to make the metal stamper mechanisms. Due to the larger volume of demand, videocassettes quickly became much cheaper to duplicate, costing as little as $1 USD by the beginning of the 1990s.

LaserDiscs potentially had a much longer lifespan than videocassettes. Because the discs were read optically instead of magnetically, no physical contact needs to be made between the player and the disc, except for the player’s clamp that holds the disc at its center as it is spun and read. As a result, playback would not wear the information-bearing part of the discs, and properly manufactured LDs would theoretically last beyond one’s lifetime. By contrast, a VHS tape held all of its picture and sound information on the tape in a magnetic coating which is in contact with the spinning heads on the head drum, causing progressive wear with each use (though later in VHS’s lifespan, engineering improvements allowed tapes to be made and played back without contact). Also, the tape was thin and delicate, and it was easy for a player mechanism, especially on a low quality or malfunctioning model, to mishandle the tape and damage it by creasing it, frilling (stretching) its edges, or even breaking it.

My NTSC/PAL hybrid player.

LaserDisc players also had several advantages of VHS and other format playback machines. Some models, such as my Pioneer CLD-1850 are able to playback both NTSC movies and PAL movies. Since I live in the UK- this means that I can buy Laserdiscs from America or Japan (or anywhere in the world that uses NTSC video) and they will play in my machine. Try doing that with VHS or DVD. Another important innovation for Laserdisc was the fact that it was the very first home video format to offer Dolby Digital Surround Sound- often referred to as AC-3 on Laserdisc jackets and hardware. Many fans of Laserdisc are still enjoying this feature because some movies such as the Alien AC-3 LD were released with their original cinema surround mix on the AC-3 Laserdisc and those mixes are unavailable on today’s modern formats such as Blu-ray or UHD Blu-ray. Many early LD players can even be modified to turn them into AC-3 LD players.

The Death And Re-birth Of Laserdisc

By the time of the advent of the DVD, LaserDisc had declined considerably in popularity, so the two formats never directly competed with each other. In fact, combination LD/DVD players were introduced into the marketplace and continue to be quite popular with collectors as these players tend to be flagship models with advanced features such as digital 3D comb filters and digital frame memory and effects. It’s too bad that I couldn’t afford the format at the time , and I really don’t know why I’ve decided to pull the trigger now as Jez would put it lol.

Prices on the used market are still quite high on these combi players but other machines are affordable and the LD’s themselves can usually be found at affordable prices with exceptions for the ultra rare and more obscure releases.  I can’t say exactly

Some of my LD collection.

what has me so excited again about Laserdisc and why I’m back in the hunt but I really like the way the discs are packaged in big vinyl like slips, they look so cool. The artwork has totally sucked me in. I’ve started my journey, but I don’t know where it will end. And of course that journey has to begin with Schwarzenegger LD’S. “Get to da choppa! Hurry!”  

For the Silo, Anneal Butt- member of Laserdiscs & Hardware Enthusiasts on Facebook.

Featured image via highdefdigest.com

Sci-Tech

Definitive Guide to Speaker Setup Now Available

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Octave Records Debuts The Audiophile’s Guide: The Loudspeaker, the Definitive Guide to Speaker Setup

–  New book and companion SACD disc/download dive into exacting, step-by-step detail on how to get the most out of any loudspeaker –

Boulder, Colorado, October, 2022 – PS Audio’s Octave Records label announces its latest release, The Audiophile’s Guide: The Loudspeaker, a book and companion SACD/download that tells listeners exactly how to get the most out of their loudspeaker setup. Written by PS Audio CEO Paul McGowan, the book and its accompanying disc (also available as a download) offer the practical knowledge he’s gained through more than 50 years of high-end audio design and in setting up hundreds of speaker systems.


 
“I’ve had to come to the rescue of someone’s system time and again because it just wasn’t sounding right. It was almost always a setup problem. Like everyone else, I used favorite music tracks for system tuning. But now, with Octave Records’ recording studio at our disposal, we were able to create tracks that are ideal for system setup, and then write a book that tells listeners how to implement these tracks to their best advantage.”
 
The Audiophile’s Guide: The Loudspeaker is useful for both novices and experienced audiophiles who may benefit from bringing their setup to a higher level or musical realism.

The book begins by covering a variety of topics including the nature of sound, different speaker designs, the importance of choosing the right speaker for your particular needs and listening tastes, and one of the most critical aspects of speaker setup: the effect of the listening room on loudspeaker performance.
 
Next the book discusses where to place the speakers in the room, and how to deal with various types and shapes of rooms. The Guide notes that different placements may be appropriate for different speaker types – for example, stand-mounted “box” speakers versus dipole planar designs – and listening room configurations (such as whether to place speakers across the short or long wall of a room). Real-world aspects like accommodating living spaces that aren’t dedicated to loudspeakers, and taking into account the locations of furniture, are also considered.
 
The Audiophile’s Guide: The Loudspeaker (SRP: $58usd/ $79 cad – $68usd/ $93cad depending on format) then walks the listener through using the accompanying reference disc (or download) to fine-tune the system to perfection. The disc starts with some basic tests for channel orientation and moves on to exacting, step-by-step procedures (time to get out the tape measure!) for getting the best bass response and tonal balance, achieving a solid center image, finding the best seating position, maximizing dynamics, producing a believable soundstage, capturing subtle musical details, and ultimately, getting the speakers to “disappear” and create the feeling that the musicians are in the room with the listener.


 
The tracks on the disc are tailored to help the listener zero in on various sonic aspects, from the pluck of Chris Brunhaver’s acoustic bass and how it energizes the room, to the focused center image of Gabriel Mervine’s trumpet, and the resonance and spatiality of Bill Kopper’s acoustic guitars and a number of tracks featuring vocalists with a full band.

The Recording

Recorded over three months of intense work, The Audiophile’s Guide: The Loudspeaker was the first recording project at Octave Records’ new state-of-the-art studios. Recorded in pure DSD256 and mixed by Paul McGowan and Jay Elliott, the tracks on this work were laid down with every effort to maintain not only the purity of recording, but the accuracy of mic’ing, distance, and purpose. The mic’ing on solo voice, piano, trumpet, and guitar was primarily handled with a single-point stereo microphone to maintain a sense of realism. In particular, Octave Records’ hand-modified AKG C24 was used throughout the many tracks. On other tracks, like guitarist Bill Kopper’s seminal work focusing on the beauty of ringing harmonic overtones, we blended the detailed stereo condensers of the single-point Telefunken with the dynamic impacts of a single-point stereo ribbon microphone. Engineers Jay Elliott and Zach Balch went all out to get the best recordings from an amazing drum kit.

The Ludwig Supraphonic snare drum used on many hit records.

The kit (the same kit used in The Audiophile’s Guide: The Stereo) consists of a Ludwig 1970 Blue Sparkle 20” kick drum, 12” rack tom, 16×16” floor tom, 14 x 6.5” Ludwig Superphonic John Bonham LM 402 snare drum, Zildjian New Beats Hi-hat 70’s era 14”, Custom Dark Crash Kerope by Zildjian Crash 18”, and a Kerope by Zildjian 22” ride. To capture this kit, Jay and Zach employed their favorite setup for close mic’ing: a Shure Beta 52 for the kick-in and a cardioid patterned, phantom powered, large-diaphragm FET Soundelux U195 by David Bock for the kick-out. The top of the snare was handled by a Hypercardioid Beyerdynamic M201 with its phase flipped while the snare’s bottom was a Telefunken M80. The rack tom was captured by a Shure SM7B Cardioid dynamic microphone and the floor tom, an Audix D4 hypercardioid dynamic microphone.

The earlier Shure model SM7 was used to record Michael Jackson’s vocals for the Thriller album.

To capture the ambient room response, a pair of calibrated DPA omnis were used for the overheads, and the stereo AKG C24 in a Blumlein configuration was placed twelve feet into the room for space recording. All microphone preamplifiers were Manly vacuum tubes with a small smattering on the overheads using Forsell preamps. The tracks were all mixed in Octave Records’ custom mixroom on PS Audio’s aspen FR30 loudspeakers powered by an all-PS Audio system.


 
The Audiophile’s Guide: The Loudspeaker SACD is playable on any SACD, CD, DVD, or Blu-ray player (an SACD player is required to play the high-resolution DSD files on the disc). In addition, the master DSD and PCM files are available for purchase and download in formats up to 352.8 kHz/DSD256 from psaudio.com at this link.

Culture

Bullet Train Arrives On 4K Ultra HD October 18

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In Bullet Train, Brad Pitt stars as Ladybug, an unlucky assassin determined to do his job peacefully after one too many gigs gone off the rails. Fate, however, may have other plans, as Ladybug’s latest mission puts him on a collision course with lethal adversaries from around the globe—all with connected, yet conflicting, objectives—on the world’s fastest train.

The end of the line is just the beginning in this non-stop thrill-ride through modern-day Japan from David Leitch, the director of Deadpool 2. Available on Digital 09/27 and on 4k Ultra HD, Blu-Ray, and DVD 10/18.


The “heart-pounding wild ride” comes home

– Kristy Puchko, MASHABLE

4K ULTRA HD™, BLU-RAY™ AND DIGITAL

  • Outtakes & Bloopers
  • Catch What You Missed: Easter Eggs
  • All Aboard the Pain Train: Stunts
  • Mission Accomplished: Making of Bullet Train
  • Trained Professionals: The Cast
  • Select Stunt Previs
  • Audio Commentary with David Leitch, Kelly McCormick & Zak Olkewicz

DVD

  • Mission Accomplished: Making of Bullet Train
  • Trained Professionals: The Cast

CAST AND CREW

Directed By: David Leitch

Produced By: Kelly McCormick, David Leitch, Antoine Fuqua

Executive Producers: Brent O’Connor, Ryosuke Saegusa, Yuma Terada, Kat Samick

Cast: Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Benito A Martínez Ocasio, and Sandra Bullock

Based on the Book By: Kotaro Isaka

Screenplay By: Zak Olkewicz

SPECS

Run Time: Approx. 126 Mins.

Rating: R: Strong and bloody violence, pervasive language, and brief sexuality

4K UHD: 2160p Ultra High Definition / 2.39:1 • Audio: English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible), French (Doublé au Québec), Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English – Audio Description Track 5.1 Dolby Digital • Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish • Color

Blu-ray™: 1080p High Definition / 2.39:1 • Audio: English, French (Doublé au Québec) 5.1 DTS-HD MA, Spanish, English – Audio Description Track 5.1 Dolby Digital • Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish • Mastered in High Definition • Color

DVD: 2.39:1 Anamorphic Widescreen • Audio: English, French (Doublé au Québec), Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, English – Audio Description Track Dolby Surround • Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish • Color

ABOUT SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Group Corporation. SPE’s global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition, and distribution; television production, acquisition, and distribution; television networks; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of new entertainment products, services and technologies. Sony Pictures Television operates dozens of wholly-owned or joint-venture production companies around the world. SPE’s Motion Picture Group production organizations include Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems, TriStar Pictures, 3000 Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Stage 6 Films, AFFIRM Films, Sony Pictures International Productions, and Sony Pictures Classics. For additional information, visit http://www.sonypictures.com/corp/divisions.html 

Sci-Tech

Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far Away We Weren’t Overloaded With Content

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It all used to be so simple and satisfying- a long time ago, tv content was delivered from a long distance transmitter and received by a roof antenna. That antenna had to be manually or automatically positioned whenever you wanted to watch distant channels. Work was involved. Mystery was involved. Finding something to watch was satisfying. Channel 3 Barrie-Orillia for example had classic movies. CP
TV content used to be delivered from a long distance transmitter and received by a roof antenna on your house. The antenna had to be manually or automatically positioned whenever you wanted to watch distant channels. Work was involved. Mystery was involved. Finding something to watch was satisfying.

I’m often asked what I think about the original Star Wars series versus the “new stuff”. A debate that continues to rear its ugly head again ever since Episode VII was released back in December 2015 . I think, for me, I’ve determined what the problem is and why those of us who grew up with Darth, Luke, Han and Leia have a hard time with the newer movies when the younger generation just loves them.

If you're approaching or passing 40 years of age, you might remember your grandparents having a set up like this. You might have dreaded the day you visited because you were forced to watch black and white television and fiddle around with the 'rabbit ears'. To those readers who have no idea what I'm talking about (LOL) the 'rabbit ears' are those two metal rods sticking up from the corner of the television set. The rods could be rotated, pulled apart, shortened and lengthened etc. All in the hopes of receiving a television signal as clearly as possible. There was an art to this stuff. Trust me, I'm old. CP
The ‘rabbit ears’: two metal rods sticking up from the television set. The rods could be rotated, pulled apart, shortened and lengthened etc. to fine tune a distant channel.

The Empire Strikes Back was released in 1980.  I was an impressionable nine year-old. Although I had seen the original Star Wars, it didn’t resonate with me as much as Empire did. When May 21 of that year hit, my life it would seem was changed forever. After seeing the film, it was all I could do to stop thinking about it and what I had seen. The cliffhanger ending was killing me and yet I seemed okay with the fact that I was going to have to wait three more years to find out what happened to Han (no spoilers here in case somehow you have somehow missed Return of the Jedi).

With no VCR in his home, Syd watched The Empire Strikes Back at the cinema...13 times! CP

That summer I saw the movie 13 times. The world was a different place. I took the bus by myself downtown to the beautiful Capitol Theatre (now the even more beautiful Sanderson Centre in Brantford). There was no internet (at least, not that mere mortals could access). I got excited by the occasional mention of the Star Wars universe on the television and I wouldn’t even get a VCR for four more years so the idea of being able to watch the movie “on demand” was not even a thought in my young mind. Instead, I had to rely on my mind through my memories and imagination.

For me, getting the action figures from the movies and being able to recreate scenes from the film helped bring me back to my happy place inside the Star Wars universe. We couldn’t afford to get all the playsets and ships, so I built a lot of them out of cardboard. I used my creative side to paint them like I remembered them in the movies and as soon as I could I ordered the photo books from the school book service so that I could go back there. When the movie eventually made it onto television, a VCR-less me compromised by recording the audio of the film onto cassette. I could then listen (and listen I did) to the movie with my eyes closed and pictured it all in my mind.

If I told this story to a nine year-old today, I would get strange looks. “Dude, why wouldn’t you just watch it on Netflix or look it up on your iPad?” It just wasn’t possible. I was so desperate for a connection to the universe I even cut out the black and white mini-movie poster that was printed into the newspaper with the local theatre listings and posted it on my bedroom wall. Yes, that’s honestly how it was.

Today, I feel like the instant access we have to everything “on demand” somehow diminishes our connections to content. I am pretty sure good movies have been made after the 80s, but I would be hard pressed to find one that hasn’t held such a close connection with me. Not only is there instant access to so much of the content we get today that there is, in fact, more content out there than I can possibly keep up with. This got me to thinking, how do others deal with content overload?

In my case the biggest problem I have is video games. With over 15,000 to choose from I am rarely bored. However, I have needed to come up with a system to keep track of everything I want to play. In my vast game collection there are surely a ton of stinkers, but there are also some amazing games from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s that I have missed. Heck, I’ve missed a lot of the games that made the most critically acclaimed lists in the past few years. So I had to come up with a system.

How easy is it to have access to thousands of movies? Netflix can be streamed anytime to your I-phone. There's no need to adjust an antenna or fine tune video settings with an actual dial control. The older crowd reminisce about having to work to get results, the new generation can't see the point. CP
How easy is it to have access to thousands of movies? Netflix can be streamed anytime to your I-phone.

What I do now is maintain a list on Dropbox.com that I can access anywhere. It’s called “Games I need to play.txt” (notice the “need” and not “want”). It has two sub-sections: “Started and Never Finished” and “Games to Play”. I don’t really like leaving games unfinished and so when I look at this list I am reminded of what I need to finish up (as I am often playing more than one game at a time) and then for my larger list I prioritize it with what should be next “on deck”. The list is dynamic, changing as I remember what I want to play or come across things of influence from my colleagues. I also have to admit sometimes I choose to play shorter games so that I can get through them and feel more “accomplished”.  The site www.howlongtobeat.com  is an amazing resource for this sort of thing.

When I asked my friends how they deal with content overload I got some interesting feedback.  One of them, John, actually has an algorithm for dealing with his backlog of books. John shared it with me and it goes something like this:

1. I always have one serious and one fun book on the go and which I put on top of the night stand along with my reading glasses. Sometime I cheat and have two of each kind on the go.
2. I keep a pile of books I want to read someday in my night stand.
3. If I get bored with a book, I trade it with one in my night stand.
4. When I finish a book, I choose another from inside my night stand.
5. If I get tempted by a new book I buy it. If it will not fit in my night stand, then I discard the book that interests. Same goes for books that I’m given.
6. I do have a book shelf at work and one at home for books that I want to keep for later reference. If they get too full, I discard things of least interest.
7. I discard books by giving them to someone, donation to a charity or yard sale.

That’s pretty organized. It’s a little more efficient than how I deal with movies I have yet to watch. Presently, the ones that are on the shelf (Blu-ray or DVD) get “pulled out” a little bit so I can see them clearly among all of my other movies. Since they are all in alphabetical order I don’t want to just pull them out randomly and create a new pile.

A friend shared with me a good way to deal with television content. Just PVR or DVR all the content and then watch as you can. I tried this, but filled up my hard drive so I had to go out and buy an external drive. That drive is now dangerously full. There was some good advice in there, however. “What I do is record all the episodes of a TV show and then when it’s all done I go on a watching marathon and binge on the content for an entire day or two. If it’s a new series and I find out it has been cancelled before I even watch it, I delete all of the content and that way I’m not investing in a show that will ultimately let me down with no additional content.”

Algorithms, mechanisms, processes and lists all to deal with an over abundant amount of content. It’s a wonder there is any room left in our brains to remember or think about what we consumed last week, let alone last year. Yet I find myself looking forward to more content in an ADHD kind of way, I can’t seem to get enough. This is, ultimately, why there will never be anything better in my life than the original Star Wars and other films of the 80s (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ghostbusters, Stripes, Uncle Buck, Back to the Future). At the end of the day, I’m okay with it because there is always something good and interesting around the corner, even if I have to implement a system to manage it all. There are definitely worse things in life. For the Silo, Syd Bolton.

Culture

Celebrate 20th Century Fox Alien Day On April 26 With Re-Issued Reebok Shoes

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Alien Day Poster 20th Century Fox Is the Alien(s) franchise overdue for an official day of recognition and fan celebration? I think so.  Fans of the original 1979 movie and the sequels and prequel that followed are a loyal bunch. They spend money on toys, posters, t-shirts, Blue-ray box sets and some like me, shelled out big bucks in 1987 for a pair of Reebok’s Bugstomper shoes. That’s dedicated fandom.

1987 All Black Reebok Bugstompers
1987 All Black Reebok Bugstompers

#AlienDay426

This week’s big announcement of #AlienDay has coincided with reports in the media of ‘new’ Reebok Aliens shoes. I have serious doubts that any of those writers responsible for the reports are hard core fans of the franchise. If they were, they would know that the Reebok shoes being written about were actually available almost 30 years ago.

Perhaps I’m splitting hairs here. There’s a good chance that the re-issue shoes might be slightly different than the original Bugstompers. Images and an official 20th century fox poster being used to promote the re-issues show the Alien character Ripley in a pair of very noticeable “high top” Reebok Bugstompers. Back in the day, only “mid top” shoes were available.

Reebok Aliens Shoes Movie Size Ripley Newt

What else besides shoes?

Beginning at midnight and lasting 24 hours, 4/26 (an homage to the planet LV-426) will be filled with product launches, nationwide screenings and a Twitter trivia contest that will give away ALIEN merch every 42.6 minutes. Now you know what that twitter hashtag #AlienDay426 is all about: make April 26 the de-facto fan day for the Alien franchise. CP

Did you know?

The most sought after Alien collectible is the 1979 Kenner 18″ Alien doll– a fine likeness of H.R. Giger’s design. Originally pulled from toy store shelves due to frightening parents and children alike.

UPDATED- Aliens | July 2016 Comic Con Full Panel (James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, Bill Paxton)

Click me! New Music created from early sci-fi soundtracks.
Click me! New Music created from early sci-fi soundtracks.

Sci-Tech

Dolby Laboratories Media Emulator In Minnetonka Master Suite

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DolbyMediaScreenshots
MINNETONKA, Minn. — Minnetonka Audio Software Inc. (MASI), a leader in production software for motion picture, broadcast surround sound, and consumer electronics applications, recently announced that it is now providing worldwide distribution and resales of the Dolby(R) Media Emulator toolkit from California-based Dolby Laboratories Incorporated. This fortifies Minnetonka Audio’s already comprehensive offering of production problem solvers. Minnetonka Audio has added Dolby Media Emulator to its SurCode for Dolby E Master Suite 3 product bundle without raising the bundle price.

 “Our strategic decision to distribute Dolby Media Emulator strengthens our current product mix and expands our reach into more post suites,” said Jayson Tomlin, vice president of business operations at Minnetonka Audio. “For our customers, Dolby Media Emulator is a bargain in itself. By bundling it with the SurCode suite without raising the price, we’ve created a one-stop shop for media producers that is truly an outstanding value.”

Dolby Media Emulator is a software tool for authoring and post that provides real-time emulation for Dolby broadcast formats. Acting as a plug-in for popular digital audio workstations, Dolby Media Emulator enables an audio engineer to simulate accurately how content will sound when played back through licensed consumer electronics.

Dolby Media Emulator lets an operator preview the results of differing metadata values when decoding Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, and HE-AAC audio formats.

One application worth highlighting: Take a look at this diagram. See all of those speakers? Consider that Dolby Surround formats are varied but most include multiple speakers and therefore multiple positions of "sound". The vast majority of consumers are listening to complex surround signals through only one or two speakers. That means, a proper mix MUST take this into account. Minnetonka's Dolby Media Emulator makes sure you get this right. CP
One application worth highlighting: Take a look at this diagram. See all of those speakers? Consider that Dolby Surround formats are varied but most include multiple speakers and therefore multiple positions of “sound”. The vast majority of consumers are listening to complex surround signals through only one or two speakers. That means, a proper mix MUST take this into account. Minnetonka’s Dolby Media Emulator makes sure you get this right. CP

 

“With the majority of surround programs being played back in stereo and mono environments, correct metadata and downmix settings are a critical requirement for deliverables,” said Markus Hintz, director of global sales and business development at Minnetonka Audio. “In addition to previewing their metadata settings, audio engineers can use Dolby Media Emulator for standardized loudness measurement, proper  monitoring of LtRt sources, and downmixes from all other sources.”

Rather than resort to using home audio gear in a professional workflow, engineers can use Dolby Media Emulator to validate mix and metadata decisions against a certified standard in their familiar monitoring environment.

To aid in specifying proper metadata values, Dolby Media Emulator can measure and properly determine the dialogue normalization (dialnorm) value with a standardized loudness meter. The included loudness meter supports international ITU-R BS.1770, ITU-R BS.1770-2, and EBU R-128 loudness standards and incorporates the optional Dolby Dialogue Intelligence(TM) algorithm. Its ability to configure and control the monitoring environment and evaluate metadata parameters makes Dolby Media Emulator an essential product for postproduction, DVD, and DTV facilities that master, author, or broadcast program material with Dolby surround sound formats. Dolby Media Emulator runs as an Avid(R) Pro Tools(R) RTAS(R) plug-in, and as a VST(R) plug-in for popular programs such as Nuendo(R).

Dolby Media Emulator is available for immediate delivery from Minnetonka Audio resellers and distributors, and also directly from Minnetonka Audio’s eShop. In-depth information on Dolby Media Emulator and how it enriches existing tools and workflows is available at www.minnetonkaaudio.com. 

Reviews

The Social Network Movie Blows My Mind

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Movie expectations are a dangerous bag. We savor anticipation, but envisioning a positive experience before you’ve actually had the experience can warp perception and lead to anti-climax: the proverbial let down.

Hype is another form of expectation, one that is projected from external sources. And how many times have we heard the phrase: “It just doesn’t live up to the hype.” We get suckered by marketing and take solace in acerbic criticism. We love to hate the let down.

I went to my local video store a couple of weeks ago on a mission. It was time, I decided, to watch The Social Network, the much acclaimed film by director David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club) about the founding of Facebook.

Rarely do my trips to Super-A Video feel like such an event. First of all, Columbia Pictures has gone all out on a gorgeous, deluxe box for this film. I felt like I was in a record store again, holding in my hands, for the first time, a new album I had been waiting for. Some of you will remember what that was like…

On the cover, a host of superlatives from the likes of The New York Times, New Yorker, and Rolling Stone Magazine. “Stupendous!” “Exhilarating!” “Absolutely emblematic of its time and place!” The list of ecstatic declamations was exhilarating in itself. But it also made me nervous. Will it live up to the hype[rbole]?

So this was my Friday night. I dimmed the lights and sank into my couch, prepared for what was, in the educated opinion of many, a defining cinematic event. This is my substitute for romance, I guess. And in this case: no anticlimax.

The film starts at a blistering pace with a scene of two people sitting relatively still. The momentum is in the dialogue, in the intellectual animation of two brains on fire. I watched the movie again on Saturday, this time with a friend, and he was literally on the edge of his seat, concentrating to following the rapid-fire repartee which is the opening salvo of Fincher’s film. And then he said, “Wow. What a way to start a movie.” Certainly makes you pay attention.

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, TV’s The West Wing), who is known for his dense, tightly scripted approach to writing, has already won the Golden Globe for this piece of work and the Oscar seems likely. But don’t let my description of the opening scene scare you off. The Social Network is not an exhausting experience. It chronicles a moment of great creative outpouring in the lives of brilliant people who think very quickly, and it finds a way to carry you along, and in, to the tale of their accomplishments and relationships.

The DVD extras illuminate what can happen when a great director, writer and actors work collaboratively on a project like this, providing a rare glimpse into the artistic process of an incredible team. Fincher (Golden Globe, Best Director), comes off as an affable perfectionist, admired in spite of the fact that he will do 99 takes of a scene—ie: that electric opening. And the newly feted Jesse Eisenberg, with a host of Best Actor nominations for his role as principle Facebook architect Mark Zuckerberg, seems almost as smart as the genius he portrays.

The other star of this film is Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ original soundtrack. At times haunting, at times propulsive, these long-time musical partners (Nine Inch Nails) have created a techno film score that will make your home theatre sing. Never obtrusive, always complimentary, it adds tone and depth, feeling and movement to this film. And it is cool. This is important. Zuckerberg knew that, with Facebook, he was on to something cool. He also knew that there is no more precious commodity—aside from sex—when it comes to marketing to young adults.

The Social Network, too, is that rare constellation of co-factors: it is a document, and example, of pop-culture that is blisteringly smart, sophisticated, exciting, funny, sexy, and cool. It is also a work of art, and for all of these reasons it is, truly, an emblem and anthem of our time.  For the Silo, Chris Dowber.