In Defense of Dolby Laboratories
Benjamin Goulart
Fielding Greaves's letter is sympathized with. However the idea of suing
Dolby Laboratories (Dolby Digital is a technology standard not a company)
is absolutely bogus. The problem was obviously with the management of
that particular theater. You should take it up with the theater chain.
Dolby Laboratories can not be held responsible for the volume level on
a particular amplifier, in a particular auditorium, for a particular movie.
Dolby plays very little part in how movies are played using their licensed
technology. One interesting thing is that George Lucas's company who licensees
the "THX Digital Theater" standard willingly plays an integral
part in sound and picture quality. If you ever have a problem with a theater
released movie by Lucas's movie company or one that uses his THX, please
call 1-800-Phone-THX. I encountered the same problem as Mr. Greaves, but
with the "Star Wars-Special Edition" here at the local Cinema
7 in Roseburg, OR. Many people around me held there ears, and not only
during explosions and blaster fire, but during just the higher pitched
portions of conversations! It was actually very uncomfortable and I'm
20 years old and very healthy... Don't get me wrong. I love full, clear,
accurate sound. I'm a total audio/video-fanatic. Yet, now I feel any place
where loud sound will be created for a paying audience, they should use
a decibel meter 1/3 from the front to make sure it doesn't go over 90
dB. Most theaters already have someone in charge of watching the new movies
the night before they are released. They check visual quality and sound
quality, balance, and volume. But volume is subjective since many people
already have some kind of hearing loss. It's time they use a new tool.
|
 |
|
|
