'
Sony Dynamic Digital Sound' (
SDDS) is a
cinema sound system developed by
Sony. Digital sound information is recorded on both outer edges of the
35 mm film release print. The system supports up to 8 independent channels of sound: 5 front channels, 2 surround channels and a sub-bass channel. Only
Cinerama and
Cinemiracle have used as many sound tracks. This arrangement is similar to
70 mm magnetic sound formats %u2013 and is useful mainly for very large cinema screens. Most cinemas are capable of four- to six-track stereophonic sound, and it may sometimes be downmixed.
"8 channel SDDS is awesome. It makes a huge difference on Pearl Harbor. I've never heard a movie sound so real. By all means, seek out a theatre featuring SDDS 8 to experience Pearl Harbor the way we intended it.- Michael Bay, Director 'Pearl Harbor'
Pearl Harbor has been granted a Blu-ray release with Linear PCM 5.1 surround at 48kHz, 24-bits. While such a treatment is fancy enough, it lacks the full 8-channel (7.1) SDDS experience Bay intended. Even though Blu-ray is capable of 7.1, the speaker placement is inappropriate for SDDS. Or likely, the wide left and wide right channels have been downmixed to the left and right channels, and such a matrix system to split the two channels into four individual ones won't fully capture the SDDS experience.
This is not certainly a plea to bring the SDDS system back into theaters, or into the home. This is a plea to preserve those SDDS8 mixes for history and enjoyment. Only very few theaters are still equipped with SDDS systems, and most of them, if not all, are installed with SDDS 6-channel (5.1) setups that cannot capture the full power of SDDS8.
Despite the lack of theaters equipped with SDDS, films are still being made in that format, and some even mixed in 8-channel! This means SDDS is not fully dead, as some people still support it! These 8-channel mixes are never preserved on Blu-ray or DVD.
SDDS was not a format intended for the home, but with technology advancing every day, and being almost two decades after SDDS's debut, why shouldn't it? Dolby has a new 8-channel system in theaters, but it only extends to the surround zones, and not the front area. This setup is very similar to 7.1 in the home, so it can be translated easily.
So as I end this, my goal is to either:
1.) Install new SDDS8 setups in the theaters, or revamp the system for digital cinema.2.) Introduce SDDS in the home, and put SDDS8 mixes exclusive for Blu-ray discs.
Thank you for reading this and please sign in if you're interested. My goal is 1,000 signatures. For more information on SDDS:
http://www.sdds.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Dynamic_Digital_Soundhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_8_channel_SDDS_films
