by Bobby Henderson
NOTE: if you are the [above mentioned] original author of this article OR
know of the site it came from, would you please
let us know....
Cinema Digital Sound was the first digital sound format
commercially available to movie theaters. "Dick Tracy" was the first film
released in CDS. That also made "Dick Tracy" the first film to use digital sound
film prints in its original release. The CDS system was developed in a joint venture
between Eastman Kodak and the Optical Radiation Corporation.
Cinema Digital Sound encoded 5.1 channels of discrete audio
on 70mm and 35mm film prints. The system was set up in the typical Left, Center, Right,
Right Surround, Left Surround, LFE channel format. CDS encoded 16-bit PCM audio in a
compression process called Delta Modulation. The process is very similar to normal PCM
coding, but with one major difference. PCM coding records the intensity of every sample to
a zero db level. That requires 16-bits for each sample. Delta Modulation records the
intensity differences of successive samples, and that doesn't require nearly as much data.
The compression level of CDS ran approximately 4:1. The system sounded very good. Some
sound designers have argued CDS sounded better than any of the current formats. For all
that high quality audio a lot of data had to be put down on the film print in the form of
very tiny spots.
The CDS digital data replaced the magnetic tracks on 70mm
prints and the SVA tracks on 35mm prints. Of course, this meant CDS had no audio backup in
case the digital system failed. It also meant theater operators had to carry dual
inventory prints in case of a hardware component failure or seriously degraded soundtrack.
Failures did happen. The LED and CCD video technology was not at the level it is today for
imaging more than 1 million printed spots per second. Film printing technology was also a
good bit more primitive in 1990. The fatal flaw in CDS was the lack of an analog backup
soundtrack.
Cinema Digital Sound had a short history, but one that
scored a number of film firsts. CDS was the first to encode digital sound on a 70mm
release print. CDS was the first to put digital sound on 35mm with "The Doors",
released March 1, 1991. "Hudson Hawk" was the first film to put six track audio
into theaters without any 70mm release prints. CDS was the first digital system used on a
Best Sound/Best Sound Effects Editing Oscar winning film, "Terminator 2: Judgement
Day". T2 was also the first box office champ of the year to use digital sound release
prints. T2 also remains the only film to have both 70mm and 35mm digital sound prints in
its original release. DTS is the only current active format that supports 70mm film, but
the 70mm system has so far only been used on film restorations and special venue films.
Finally, CDS was the release format used on "Final Approach," the first film
with 100% of its audio digitally recorded.
When CDS launched their 35mm system they were hit with two
problems. The 35mm system ran into reliability problems. To make matters much worse, Dolby
introduced the other problem with their February 1991 announcement of Dolby Stereo
Digital, a full sixteen months before the format was actually released. Distributors held
off CDS releases because of the playback problems. Movie theater operators looked at the
$20,000 price tag along with the system's problems and then thought long and hard about
the vaporware Dolby was selling.
"Terminator 2" was CDS's brightest moment, but
after that everything fell apart. "Final Approach" was the last actual CDS
release. "For the Boys" and "Universal Soldier" were both announced as
CDS releases, but CDS prints never made it into the theaters. Dolby Digital debuted one
week before "Universal Soldier" on the release of "Batman Returns".
Eastman Kodak and ORC abandoned the CDS effort and sold off assets in April of 1993. At
the same time, DTS and SDDS were getting ready to appear.
Even though CDS ultimately failed, the format pioneered
motion picture digital sound. It was the first in the trenches and made some costly
mistakes that provided valuable experience for DTS, Dolby, and Sony to use to better their
yet-to-be-released systems.
Films Released in CDS
| Title |
Studio |
Release Date |
CDS-35mm |
CDS-70mm |
Notes |
| Dick Tracy |
Touchstone Pictures |
6-15-90 |
|
 |
|
| Days of Thunder |
Paramount |
6-27-90 |
|
|
|
| Flatliners |
Columbia |
8-10-90 |
|
|
|
| Edward Scissorhands |
Fox |
12-7-90 |
|
|
|
| The Doors |
TriStar |
3-1-91 |
|
|
also 70mm Dolby SR |
| Hudson Hawk |
TriStar |
5-24-91 |
|
|
|
| Terminator 2: Judgement Day |
TriStar |
7-3-91 |
|
|
also 70mm Dolby SR |
| For the Boys |
Fox |
11-22-91 |
|
|
CDS-announced, 70mm Dolby instead |
| Final Approach |
Trimark |
11-?-91 |
|
|
|
| Universal Soldier |
TriStar |
7-3-92 |
|
|
CDS-35mm announced, actual release unconfirmed |
|
