Cinema Canada (Apr 1976)

tracting widespread attention in the motion picture industry. The Jan. 1975 issue of SMPTE Journal has a paper by Petro Vlahos of the Motion Picture and Television Research Centre in Los Angeles, reviewing the subject of optical/acoustic response in theatres and dubbing rooms, and recommending the adoption of a standard dubbing room response curve. This paper contains a great deal of useful information on the Academy characteristic and the problems involved in making modifications. Suggestions that the frequency response’ should be opened up to gain high fidelity sound in the theatre overlook the fact that pictures being made now and ali those made in the past require the Academy characteristic. Mr. Vlahos notes that theatres modified to play Dolby encoded tracks will have a switch-selected modification. The sound system can have a wide range high fidelity response, but a switch position marked ‘‘Academy” will remain for many years to come. oO FQUIPMENT NEWS Note to Canadian distributors: We would like to include the names and addresses of Canadian distributors of equipment and services mentioned in this section. Please ask your suppliers to give Canadian sources in their publicity releases. Ed. Optasound 116R Sound Recorder Optasound Corp. has announced its new 116R self-resolving, synchronous recorder utilizing standard cassettes that will record and maintain sync with any Super-8, 16mm or 35mm camera or projector that emits. a digital pulse (one pulse per frame) at either 24 or 18 fps. The recorder weighs only 32 lbs. New features of the recorder are: sync transfer to edge stripe; syne transfer from edge stripe to cassette; displacement. recording for single system editing; auto recall of first sync frame; stop/start continuous sync recording; multiple recorder or multiple camera sync; sync dubbing and mixing. The recorder gives outstanding audio quality on standard cassettes — 55 to 12000 Hz = 3dB, with signal-to-noise ratio in excess of 60dB and 0.25% wow and flutter. Price of the recorder is $425 US. For information write or call Optasound Corp., 25 East 26th St., New . York, N.Y, 10010. <Tel. (212) 689-4082. Hervic Lands TOPCON Line Hervic Corp. has obtained exclusive distribution of the Topcon line of 35mm SLR photo equipment. Integrating Topcon equipment into the Hervic product lines will include establishing a full Topcon service department and warehousing at the Hervic Sherman Oaks headquarters in California. Pricing and product marketing plans will be outlined in a mailing that will go out to dealers in the near future. For further information contact Sol Spiegler at Hervic Corp., 14225 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, Calif. 91423. Belt-Connector Replacement Kit Now available from Image Devices Incorporated is a kit for converting any 30-volt battery belt or pack to the improved quick-connecting Lemo electrical connector. This new highquality connector has a number of advantages over the male-female pin type connectors generally used. Its design is such that no circuits can be accidentally grounded by misorientation. At the same time, the plug can be correctly inserted with one hand, in the dark, because it is simply rotated until it drops into the correct position. In addition, automatic latching is accomplished by simple push-pull action. Cable assembly is also simple and an efficient collet type strain relief arrangement protects cable against TECH NEWS damage. Contacts are gold-plated; other metal parts are silver, nickel, or chrome-plated nickel. All are precision machined. Kit, which contains everything necessary for conversion (including full instructions) lists at $29.95 (US). Various other connectors of similar design for related applications are also available. For further details, contact: Image Devices Incorporated, 1825 NE 149 Street, Miami, Fl. 33181, USA. Prospects for the Video Disc In the past year or two there has been a great flurry of publicity about a revolutionary new development — the video disc. Several companies have been working on video discs — Telefunken and Decca as Teldec: Zenith/Thomson-CSF; Philips-MCA; and RCA. Predictions have been made that discs would be available for $5 or $10 and players for $500 or less. Some enthusiasts have been saying that the emerging videodisc technology promises to be one of the most revolutionary developments in the history of entertainment and education since the invention of motion pictures. The companies promoting video discs are aiming at a large consumer market comparable to record players. But it seems now that video discs are being plagued by some of the same problems that have hurt low-cost videotape systems — lack of compatibility between the different systems; higher-than-expected costs of the playback units; and the fact that low consumer disc costs must depend on mass marketing, and this cannot be achieved until there are large numbers of playback units in the homes and schools. Frank M. McGeary, president of Motion Picture Laboratories Inc., writing in the Jan.-Feb. issue of the MPL Recorder, has something to say about video discs: “Until the video disc people can solve these problems, the growth of this field is bound to be slow. The only thing that might save them in the near future is finding someone who is willing to put a tremendous amount of money behind disc production, and we don’t think this will happen in the present state of our money market. We think it is going to be four or five years before video discs appear in any quantity at all. (Equipment News continued p. 19) April 1976 / 17