Dolby E Deliverables

[Matt Faddy]

I have to supply various deliverables for an independent film we recently did all the audio post for including Dolby E. Dolby E looks like a bit of a minefield and I'd be more confident if we can farm that bit out to someone. I'm out in the stix in Dubai so I suppose almost anywhere would be fine. Can anyone suggest a good and reasonably priced post house that can sort this out for me ?
Thanks.
[email protected]

[Postman]

Do you want complete with layback to video tape or just encoding to data? If to tape, what frame rate and tape format do you have?

[Matt Faddy]

No, I have to supply wav files to the Video post house and they will do all the laybacks.

[JKD99]

The most important thing with Dolby E is that you monitor it coming off of the tape you're laying it back to. So, the idea of you (or someone else) doing the Dolby E encode of your mix, but not the layback (and thus, have no way of checking what's on the tape) is extremely risky.

So, if I were you, I would let the producers know that they need to choose a video house that can actually monitor the decoded Dolby E mix, and if they can do THAT, then they can do the encoding as well. The producers will still be booking the time on the deck and on the Dolby E box anyway, so there should be NO cost difference between you doing the encode and the video house doing it as they're actually doing the layback.
Best,
Joe

[Postman]

I have to supply wav files to the Video post house and they will do all the laybacks.

That means shipping the master tapes somewhere, and insurance and protection of them will be a critical concern. You need someone as close as possible, local hopefully. Can Condor Dubai help?

BTW, your company advertises high end video editing that includes "broadcast tapes." Is there anything other than Dolby E encode/decode that you cannot do in house? I'm asking because I think it might be smarter to buy a Dolby E package, plugin or hardware, to do the job. You'd have the necessary gear forever afterwards. A couple of jobs like this will pay for it, and you'll have peace of mind knowing it was done right, and also being able to deal with possible QC problems later on, which might require new laybacks for no extra money.

[EarHole]

You really should be the one to QC the decoded stream from the tape. Cutting corners usually results in something happening. I wouldn't trust the video house to layback a dolby E stream. Stereo mix, sure makes my life easy but a dscrete 5.1 mix or even worse Dolby E stream is asking for trouble. They won't be able to tell if something went wrong.

Can you rent the box from somewhere and bring it with you to the layback?

[Matt Faddy]

Thanks, that all sounds like good advice. I looked into buying the Nerynck Dolby E plugin and even built the cost (which is not cheap) into the quote - but to be perfectly honest I was a little put off by all the meta data and various adjustable parameters like "input offset" and "dialog norm" ect. (I'm a music engineer by trade)

We also can't do the tapes here for rather complicated political reasons and as far as I'm aware the post house making the masters can't do the DOlby E.

[quadraphonics]

Matt -

I have the Neyrinck Plug in and it works wonderfully. All of the metadata that you see is what is normally available to you in the use of the Dolby hardware (with the expection of input offset) - just a bit more straight forward to deal with.

This is a less than ideal setup - but what if you supplied the Dolby-E streams and verified them using the Neyrinck Decoder. Have the video house lay them back. Then get the tapes back to QC?

I know it is a bit of a pain, but it could work.

[neumiller]

Hey Matt,

I work here at Minnetonka Audio Software and we've also got a solution for your Dolby E Encode/Decode needs.

Our AudioSuite SurCode Dolby E encoder has all of the metadata parameters required for encoding. We also have an RTAS Dolby E decoder for real time QC and file based decoding, so you can decode directly back from tape, or QC your media before layback to check for sync.

Our encoder has very flexible timecode entry. You can manually enter your timecode, use the timecode from your Pro-Tools session timeline, or you can choose no timecode to be embeded in the stream if you need to reconform at a later date.

The SurCode for Dolby E Suite is sold as just and encoder or just a decoder with independent licenses so you have the flexibility to decide how to create the best work flow without a huge upfront investment. Though, yes it would be very wise to also have a decoder for QC so you're not wasting any time if there are errors. Our decoder has CRC error indicators should there be any issues.

You can purchase the full suite (encoder and decoder), an encoder only, a decoder only, or rent any of these options at a fraction of the cost.

Since this is an encoder and decoder specifically for Pro-Tools, you can have confidence in encoding and you won't have to farm it out to another facility.

If you have any further questions or concerns you can contact me on here or via email @ [email protected] or www.minnetonkaaudio.com

-Andrew Neumiller