greetings

I would like some guidance please re archiving (into the digital domain) a
lot of material from 1/4" tape which has been dolby decoded. Is it possible
to decode the Dolby SR in digital domain via a plugin or some such? Googling
does not seem to give any promising leads at all.

The alternative of looping the material back out through a hired decoder and
re-recording does not appeal particularly but realistically this may have to
suffice, given that any mistracking and the quality degradation could be
minimised by recording the original material in 24deep/96KHz. The final
result will be 16deep/44.1KHz.

Although I understand that decoding the material as it is dubbed will
produce the optimum results, it is not a viable option unfortunately.
Hireage cost is significant and there is just too much material. It would
seem far more time effective to compile the material first.

Thanks in advance for any guidance here

oops - error

I would like some guidance please re archiving (into the digital domain) a
lot of material from 1/4" tape which has been dolby ENCODED.

sorry about that \

On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 23:45:30 -0700, Simon Rod. wrote
(in message 1065940463.422288@teuthos):

I would like some guidance please re archiving (into the digital domain) a
lot of material from 1/4" tape which has been dolby decoded. Is it possible
to decode the Dolby SR in digital domain via a plugin or some such?
-----------------------------------snip-----------------------------------

I put this same question to a Dolby tech at an AES show a few years ago, and
they told me that it was theoretically possible to do an exact mathematical
model of the Dolby encode/decode process, and then release it as a plug-in
for the various platforms (VST, TDM, RTAS, etc.). But they felt the R&D to
get it done wouldn't be worth the time and money, plus it would have to cost
several hundred dollars -- probably as much or more than a hardware decoder.

My advice would be to rent or borrow a 363 decoder and just use that. Note
that some engineers are of the opinion that not every Dolby A and Dolby SR
decoder sounds the same. I've seen cases where the specific cards used for a
master tape have been sent over with the tape, to make sure the tracks get
decoded correctly. It is true that there are internal pots which aren't
supposed to be tweaked, and once in awhile, gremlins sneak in and make these
adjustments, and that could account for the differences in sound quality.
That, plus aging of caps and other solid-state components.

--MFW

greetings

I would like some guidance please re archiving (into the digital domain) a
lot of material from 1/4" tape which has been dolby decoded. Is it possible
to decode the Dolby SR in digital domain via a plugin or some such? Googling
does not seem to give any promising leads at all.

The alternative of looping the material back out through a hired decoder and
re-recording does not appeal particularly but realistically this may have to
suffice, given that any mistracking and the quality degradation could be
minimised by recording the original material in 24deep/96KHz. The final
result will be 16deep/44.1KHz.

Although I understand that decoding the material as it is dubbed will
produce the optimum results, it is not a viable option unfortunately.
Hireage cost is significant and there is just too much material. It would
seem far more time effective to compile the material first.

Thanks in advance for any guidance here



Can't be done. You need the Dolby unit to do this. No plug-ins have been made.

This also applies to Dolby A , B, C and S as well as SR.
Richard H. Kuschel
"I canna change the law of physics."-----Scotty

In article 1065940463.422288@teuthos writes:

I would like some guidance please re archiving (into the digital domain) a
lot of material from 1/4" tape which has been dolby decoded. Is it possible
to decode the Dolby SR in digital domain via a plugin or some such?

There are a few things that seem so obviously practical and possible
you wonder why nobody's ever done it, and this is one of them. Best to
rent what you need, or, these days, buy someone's ununsed junk. But
keep the tape, and keep the Dolby processor in case you want to play
it again.

Storage requirements for the true archivist never shrink.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
news:znr1065959994k@trad...

Storage requirements for the true archivist never shrink

Boy, ain't that the truth, and you don't really even have to want to be an
archivist. I've got people asking if I still have the 8 track tape sessions
we did 8 years ago and it's like, "Why the hell would I want to hold onto
your music if you weren't interested in doing it?" (my winning personality,
don't you know). But then I'll go back and look, and yep, there it is. So
now I need something that will allow me to track 8 tracks to DVD directly so
that I can finally try and sell this Tascam 38 that I haven't even used
since I had it totally refurbished a year ago.

I mean, supposedly I have a studio, but most of the money in the last 5
years has gone to live setups (I now have 3) and archiving and CD burning.
Oh, and video. It's starting to look like the "old man who loves books'"
house where there's only a small path between the pieces of equipment, and
in order to move quickly through it one must turn sideways and kinda hop and
skip through the maze. I still haven't installed that 52X speed Plextor
Kurt turned me onto, and, in fact, have loaned it to JnyVee because of some
problem he had with his Mac. Now how is it that equipment leaves the house
before I've even gotten a chance to use it? g

I suppose I'll just have to raise the level of justification requirement
again until I can't justify buying ANYTHING new.

--


Roger W. Norman
SirMusic Studio
Purchase your copy of the Fifth of RAP CD set at www.recaudiopro.net.
See how far $20 really goes.

Simon Rod. wrote:

I would like some guidance please re archiving (into the digital domain) a
lot of material from 1/4" tape which has been dolby decoded. Is it possible
to decode the Dolby SR in digital domain via a plugin or some such? Googling
does not seem to give any promising leads at all.

No, but if you write Dolby, and enough other people do, they might do something
about it. There's no reason they can't do this, and I know a lot of people
have asked them to. I asked them yesterday at the AES show and they said they
had no intention of doing it.

The alternative of looping the material back out through a hired decoder and
re-recording does not appeal particularly but realistically this may have to
suffice, given that any mistracking and the quality degradation could be
minimised by recording the original material in 24deep/96KHz. The final
result will be 16deep/44.1KHz.

That's pretty much that you're stuck doing. "Mistracking," if by that you
mean azimuth error, can't really be corrected at all once you're off the
head and into the play electronics, so it's too late to worry about that.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

(Scott Dorsey) wrote in message ...

No, but if you write Dolby, and enough other people do,
they might do something
about it. There's no reason they can't do this, and I know a lot of people
have asked them to. I asked them yesterday at the AES show and they said they
had no intention of doing it.

For what it's worth, quite a while back I forwarded part of a prior
RAP discussion along these lines to a few people in the pro audio
division. Same response. Obviously, "enough other people" is the key
here.

I'm a copy editor so that's about the extent of my persuasive
abilities. I just wanted them to be aware of the issue.

-Rick

(Scott Dorsey) wrote in message ...

No, but if you write Dolby, and enough other people do,
they might do something
about it. There's no reason they can't do this, and I know a lot of people
have asked them to. I asked them yesterday at the AES show and they said they
had no intention of doing it.

For what it's worth, quite a while back I forwarded part of a prior
RAP discussion along these lines to a few people in the pro audio
division. Same response. Obviously, "enough other people" is the key
here.

I'm a copy editor so that's about the extent of my persuasive
abilities. I just wanted them to be aware of the issue.

-Rick