Following is a text version of questions and answers covered by the ITEA Cyan Dye Track Panel on 9 January 2002

Why go to cyan?

• Stopping redevelopment of analog soundtracks in the laboratory would mean no more use of sodium hydroxide (which is caustic and corrosive), and no more use of hydroquinone and ethylene diamine, both of which are hazardous.
• The switch would mean an end to redevelopment, which would stop usage of 1.175 million pounds of chemicals a year in Hollywood, and save 20 million gallons of water in a year, equal to a year's drinking water supply for 75,000 people.
  
• Also, redevelopment is a primary cause of print rejection—still a significant problem in the laboratory and the cinema. Problems exist not just with the audio from the analog soundtrack, but may show up as visible problems down the left side of the picture.

Most theatres are playing the digital track, so why bother working on the analog?

• Digital soundtracks still need occasional analog backup.
• Some theatres will be analog for many years.
• Even if only a few theatres need analog, currently all prints still have to carry a redeveloped analog soundtrack.

How do we know cyan works?

Numerous technical tests have been done over last five years at all major US laboratories. Two recent releases, Get Over It! and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, included a limited number of unredeveloped cyan prints. These were screened in selected theatres that were equipped with red light readers, and the sound quality was every bit as good as the best redeveloped analog tracks. Audible scratch and wear damage was no worse than with a conventional print.

What's stopping a change to cyan right now?

Only about 55 percent of US theatres have red light readers, and cyan track plays badly or not at all with white or IR readers, so it is thought that 85 or 90 percent of theatres must be converted before the change can be made to 100 percent cyan.

Why not ship cyan prints to red light equipped theatres and redeveloped prints to white light/IR equipped theatres?

Dual inventory releases are quite impractical, because many releases have 3,000 or even 5,000 prints, which frequently have to be made at the last minute by the laboratory.

What is an analog high-magenta print?

Some companies are releasing part or all of their products with high-magenta dye under the redeveloped silver. High-magenta minimizes the distortions from the entire installed base of red, white, and IR readers, so it serves as the needed intermediate format between the current and the 100 percent cyan dye track standard.

What about old repertory material: what happens if a B&W or strange format print is played on a red reader?

Every known format will play perfectly well on a red light reader, with the possible exception of a mono unilateral track from the 1930s, but that would play equally badly on any stereo reader, red or white.

Accepting there may be environmental and printing quality benefits from stopping redevelopment, are there any direct benefits to the theatre owner from a change to red light readers?

Yes. Even though a red LED will still require level adjustment from time to time, the life is significantly greater than that of the white tungsten light it replaces. A red LED will never suffer sudden death. The sudden death of a white tungsten filament can well stop the show half-way through. The quality of filament lights has been getting worse over recent years: the red LED will provide more uniform illumination (especially in a reverse scan configuration) and consequently, lower distortion.

What's being done to educate theatre owners about the need for red light readers?

Every effort is being made to persuade the remaining theatres to equip with red lights:

• The US Dye Track Committee (DTC) meets every few months with representatives from film laboratories, equipment manufacturers, stock manufacturers, and film distributors.
• There have been numerous articles in such magazines as Film Journal, Box-Office, and In Focus.
• Presentations have been made at most major trade shows, including ShoWest and ShowEast in the US.
• NATO has sent mailings to all of its membership theatre chains.
• At least one distributor puts fliers in each print's shipping can, alerting the projectionist to the forthcoming change to cyan analog dye tracks, and the need for red light readers.
• A new short demonstration film has been made, showing the effect of the change from redeveloped soundtrack to unredeveloped cyan.

Is this just a US development? What's happening internationally?

The environmental benefits of the cyan track are being recognized internationally. Dye tracks committees are active in Europe and the Far East, and it is anticipated that cyan will appear simultaneously in the US and other countries.