This isn't exactly true. The Dolby Digital decoder in my Denon receiver does not recognize the .1 track on the Universal 1.1 encoded titles, and will playback as 1.0. Had Universal encoded it as 2.1, 3.1, 4.1 or 5.1, the sub track would have decoded correctly.

I did a search on Google and noticed this, that you wrote a while back.


To be quite, frank, I haven't yet seen a 1.1 DVD? I have Yamaha RX-V650 not sure if it will or won't work. Are you sure the back of the cover states Dolby 1.1?

The only way to get the sensurround as you described it would be to encode the DVD as
1 for front (is front left/right duel mono) or should it or would it be better to keep it centred to centre channel?
2 for LFE.1
3 for rear (let me get this right the rear plays full spectrum or filtered low rumble)? Send the signal to both channels as I gather its monaural.

I just brought the region 1 DVD for £8.91. I hope it works as Dolby 1.1. Import may take 12 to 14 days to arrive, by which time I'll have the Laserdisc.

Dolby tried to talk Universal out of using the 1.1 mode on Rollercoaster, Midway and the theatrical Battlestar Galactica, but they did it anyway. The back of the jackets clearly state 1.1 audio. I didn't realize that not all Dolby decoders could decode 1.1 tracks - all of mine have been able to, so I was mistaken in stating that all could. Only Dolby's first AC-3 encoder will allow 1.1 encoding - Dolby disabled it on all later encoders.

I see interesting why they opted to not go with it and yet they did. So what is your set-up processors x-cover EQ amps speakers consist of?

Rollercoaster rumbled when the postman handed it to me this, morning it felt light, so I knew it wasn't Romancing Stone/Jewel in Nile or Die Hard.

I like the amusement park scene on side 2 chapter 14, 36m.08s the narrower view though the cameras viewfinder. Its a Kodak! Product placement.

Disc both sides is in excellent condition no scratches.

To bad a Sensurroud track was't put on the Laserdisc and it would be real easy to do! Place one track normal audio and the other track with the Sensurround and simply re-plug the leads or wires on the AVR except at the time most common Dolby pro-logic will only have 2 inputs and it was uncommon that some might have a 6channel input.

Or maybe the duel digital can play the mono track and use the RCA phone for the analouge and set the player to analouge to route the analouge Sensurround to rear?















[img]http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee18/DemolitionMan3417/RollercoasterLaserdisc8.jpg
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disclord maybe you know what the two chips located near to top middle are they ic or some kind of phase lock-loop chip?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sensu ... erator.jpg

I'd have to ask my friend if he can build that as he teaches electronics.

Are some or most of the components still availably or newer ones with similar function? The rest is no doubt caps and resistors the triangle shapes I think I know the name I'm just not electrically minded in design that's all the symbol is used in many today, not sure if its a variable resistor?

They are two IC's that are atill available, but in a slightly different version so the Sensurround rumble generator burns out after about 5minutes. A guy in Australia found the right chips to use. He's on YouTube - do a search for "Sensurround earthquake rumble on oscilloscope". He's a cool guy and has built Sensurround horns for his house too. I supplied him with the schematics for the Sensurround control box for Earthquake - amazingly, I got the schematics for the Sensurround box for Earthquake's 70mm, 35mm mag and 35mm optical prints. Only 35mm mag and optical was made for Earthquake in The US. The Sensurround control box I own is the Mod III version for Battestar Galactica. If you PM me your email I'll send you articles on Earthquakes mix and Rollercoaster and Midway plus an article about the development of Sensurround. Oh, and a hilarious one from fox about their Sound 360 "process".

I've seen the video a few years ago and his, project website that looks super cool!

That's strange burns out so I guess it produces a bit heat that exceeds technical tolerances.
I guess the version I saw was 70mm in 1975. I remember the stereo, thou never knew what stereo was I was into other things in 1975, but recall hearing a sound panned hard to left. What is that another one of those damn earthslides on the other side of the dam? Yep. Damn that's scary sound! I guess I didn't notice many other stereo sounds expect for the HUGE RUMBLE that was in my face and chest for 8mins!

I like that box they made for the re-release of it at Bradford.

Maybe you should make some of these Sensurround boxes with a few special modifications so it can be used in the home and sell them on eBay for $200.00 think they may or may-not sell like hotcakes for the Sensurround fans.

I read that Dolby labs at their San Francisco office as it on display I think in plastic box.

Dose the Sensurround have built in pre-amp to boast the levels? I guessing why the chips overheat and if ran at lesser voltage and boast it elsewhere before it reaches the outputs to the amps??

It's sometching different about how the chips are produced now VS then. They just burn out. After Earthquake, when MCA did the MOD II version of Sensurround, they put preamps in the Sensurround box because they had troubles with certain projectors getting proper output levels or 25/35 Hz at the right level, so they included it in the box. Dolby does indeed have a Sensurround control box, the Earthquake version, which is super rare because MCA converted them to Mod II and Mod III which didn't use the rumble generator but added DBX noise reduction and used the control tones differently. The Mod III box was for Battlestar but I've never been able to find out what changes were made for Battestar. One things for sure though, Battlestar used Sensurround more artfully and effectively than the other films. Mission Galactica never played in theaters in the US, so I don't know how Sensurround was used on it. Zoot Suit in Sensurround Plus and Lightsurround was just mag stereo with DBX for wide dynamic range high fidelity and also in-auditorium synced light effects. I don't know of any theaters that used the Lightsurround part of Sensurround Plus.

Thanks for that good read.

What would you prefer the original Sensurround or the later models, which seems from reading are not all that great maybe this where it started to come apart, if it works and knocks the socks off, of audiences first time around, why make drastic changes to it, besides it loosening plaster or killing fish in pet store I'd say it works!

Here's a little I noticed on side 2 chapter 15, time 46.41s if you have digital freeze still the image and look to right of the screen you can see a camera rig fitted to the Rollercoaster as the sun is ether to the left rear and the shadow appearers on the ground.

One thing that's itching to ask is did they produce any test film for the Sensurrond and what was the normal SPL db, what fader setting would it, I can see a dial on the box, is that the fader, and what would the normal max level be set at?

The level output to Dolby 222 card is hardly peaking at Dolby level, if I placed Earthquake Laserdisc on it peaks a bit higher! I can easily set the level to the Dolby on the Harman up a bit more but put anything else on and I'll have to turn the level down. Mostly what I see is the bottom row of LED Red lighting up.

Switching auto over to play side A chapter 1, the first ride only lights up the bottom row red LED. Its mostly bright sounding in the midrange I think I might have it sussed out with some adjustments as I'm not hard of hearing of the middle range, not yet that is! Might need turning down ether at the crossover to channel 2 and 4 on centre channel on the DCX2496. or maybe putting in an EQ for the Lt-RT input and trimming the levels down equally on both sides to keep it in-phase but lower the brightness to bring out more of the low end.

The mods to Sensurround were done to give more flexibility in effects produced as well as dramatically increase the sound fidelity. All were excellent. Unfortunately, NONE of the modern showings have duplicated it properly or used horns in the front and back of the theater that used the theater walls to extend the horn mouth and increase the low frequencies to 16hz at 120db. 16hz was the design cut off since theaters wouldn't be damaged due to low frequency resonances - theaters resonate around 5 to 10 Hz. Some theaters had minor plaster damage or brickabrack, but the stories of major structural damage, broken ribs, etc, are all urban legends and nonsense.

There was a test set up film produced, plus a demo reel to sell theaters on the system. For Earthquake, normal sound level was set to 86 db for non Sensurround portions, with full Sensurround peaking from 110 to 120db and the main theater speakers volume was raised to 94db during Sensurround portions. The control tones could vary the levels of the Sensurround rumble and theater speakers too, to make the sound undulate or increase dynamic range. The center channel was also directed to the Sensurround horns during parts for a loud, dramatic surround effect as the surround track on stereo prints was not used in Sensurround installations. For the mono earthquake prints the mono track was used for the surround when called for.

The dial on the box was to switch the VU meter to show different portions of the sound, like the control tones, etc. the volume was set by internal pots and the box was sealed once set up so the theater couldn't change the levels and ruin the effect. MCA wanted every theater to give the same experience.

Sorry if I sounded a little misunderstood about that, hey I was only 8 when I saw Earthquake, give me break.

Broken ribs yikes, well I won't push my sound system or install anything that goes near to that. Well maybe broken ribs is possible if the sound is loud and no one has heard it before might JUMP and knock themselves into the side of the seat?

Homes I guess resonate a lot less as there a lot smaller nowhere near to 40 or 60 feet in some small medium sized cinemas large a lot more bigger!

Well I have seen as you've no doubt subs pressurizing a room to the point of rattling windows and not sure how far or how many more subs would be needed with ear defenders! Until the glass cracks? Shattering that would take a sudden bust and sudden bust would rupture ones hearing!

Not quite like, Dolby as you can open the hatch up to adjust levels. So did Universal MCA use tamper screws with paint on the ends as they'll know if it was opened and tampered with.

I guess you could sent the outputs from the Sensurrond to a Dolby processor and then use the fader on the Dolby?

I'm going to tweak around with Laerdisc for a few days until the R1 DVD turns up! Oh, don't mind me I can listen to this in mono all week on the Rollercosaster ride scenes thrilling stuff and I like the way the score goes whooosshhhhh when Harry rides it again on chapter 8. Oh and that scene at 2m.34s scared me when you think its derailed, "Just when you thought it was safe to ride a coaster"! I'd never go with mates to Alton Towers again. I rode I think on 3 rides and one scared me to the point of trembling for hours! I don't like heights!

The inside coaster ride reminded me of the one at Disney world space mountain around 1981. One thing you don't know is how high up you are in the dark, you've got 0 reference? And I rode on that 3 times. as I had green card no not a permit to work, a green card that allows me to go on ride as many times I like.

Oh that outside coaster they had with I think it was two loops scared me! I went on that with my cousin once and he went on it twice! It was the height of the structure not sure what I would think about riding a coaster in the night as long as I can't see any lights that light up the ground.

The boxes were sealed with special pull tabs and stickers that couldn't be replaced if tampered with.

Well that would do it! Is there in away a definitive international worldwide Sensurround log book of all cinemas fitted with Sensurround including my home town Bournemouth? How many cinemas had it and any vintage pictures of the installation not those ones on In-70mm I've seen those ones dozens of times and its like a small bit of visual information to wet the appreciate and I'm hungry for more visual pictures.

Watched a little bit of it the projector to bad the picture is noisy! Plus looking at the end credits it looks a bit cropped as the left side of the credits needs bit more width as does the right side no doubt. I can play chapter 17 on repeat its really dramatic the last few seconds on the Lalo score kinder like Mission Impossible and not least bit interested MI IV they can keep the bluray, it looks to be a bit of turkey I'd sooner play Rollercoaster until I throw up.

I've trimmed the level down on the HF centre to make it less bright in the middle range with LP filter set down very low I can still hear the upper highs as the LP I set to stop around 4.02KHz at -15db the JBL 12SR horn can play loud and loud is okay just not bright in the face where the ear says: More bass! I'd trim back the HF and boast the LF until I can feel the mild chest rumble and let rest of the lows on sub though the OBE play on the 18" and add a little Puck sub seat bass where its not too high in level otherwise it wreaks what I'm listening to over the air-born lows. I blend it until close , its a petty I don't have crossover for the Puck which I need to get to filter off the upper middle range I can hear them easily on their own with LCRS and other subs muted.

Need a filter maybe around in the 100Hz range as I'd like to keep some kick in the seat. As it plays now no one would notice it unless I showed them.

I can push the 12SR to around near 102db at the listening but that's damn loud on the LF only! The HF I tested up to 90db a few weeks ago and they'll go a bit more but 90db only (with only the HF playing was pinning my ears back)! I think I was testing Apollo 13 dts Laserdisc at the time.

Given there was a lot of noise on the picture its rather hard to find a moment worth and the camera is crap. If I try using night mode with tripod it captures so, so good but the image looks too smooth waxy not that its bad I rather use (manual mode) but the damn thing always comes out with green and digital grain noise!



I've the DVL-909 a rest for a few days as its been used a bit over the past week so I'l wait until the other three Laserdiscs turn up.

I came across the Lalo Schifrin score on youtube that shines with bit more aggressive brass and low end.

RollerCoaster OST-Persistence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCACrHH8 ... ure=relmfu

RollerCoaster OST-One Track Mind
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gr0SJdk ... ure=relmfu

RollerCoaster OST-Cotton Candy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbFx_NzV ... ure=relmfu

RollerCoaster OST-The Chase (this is where he's on the run and crosses underneath the coaster ride and stands on the rails WHAM!) Been playing the scene over and over this afternoon some 50 times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ODIn95T ... ure=relmfu

There's lots more of these videos on youtube by the uploder. I'll have to look around to see if there's a CD version?

The score to Rollercoaster was issued as a limited edition CD by Music Score Monthly. I only have the original LP soundtrack as I missed getting the CD. I also have the scores to Earthquake and Jaws in discrete quadraphonic sound on DVD-Audio made from my discrete quad LP's that were only issued in Japan. And they are the actual film score, not the official rerecording. Earthquake has a 2 minute segment taken directly from the rumble generator that JVC Japan had to modify their LP cutting equipment to record.

Just arrived this morning Rollercoaster region 1 DVD and it looks like its playing in Dolby 1.1 on the Yamaha. The 1.1 is playing on format 10.

The chapter stops are slightly less with 16 the Laerdisc has 17.



Picture quality is okay it still has some rainbow colour effect on the radio receiver box chapter 6, 35m.22/24s its a little less distracting than the Laserdisc. The time stamp on the Laserdisc is at chapter 3, 35m.55/56






I like it when the rumble effects cut in. I'll have to go over the film again later on and capture some waterfalls and time stamps of the LFE.1. Its trilling at chapter 8, 59m.37s starting off mildly then as the rollercoaster descends down the level picks up higher with thunderous rumble "I get the sense of it" as the coaster dips down and climbs upwards and then downwards again.