REPORT FROM JAPANESE DYE TRACK COMMITTEE, March 2002 We had several meetings, organized by the Motion Picture and Television Engineering Society of Japan, to promote dye soundtracks last year. Professor N. Yagi and his assistant, Ms. Kamikura of Nihon University, compared silver, high-magenta, and cyan dye soundtracks and reported on their technology and sound quality to technical representatives of all Japanese laboratories at the meeting on 21 June 2001. They concluded there would be no technical problems to switch to dye tracks in sound studios and laboratories when theaters change their sound systems to red LED. Mr. Ioan Allen of Dolby Laboratories made a presentation to Japanese industry leaders from studios, laboratories, projector manufacturers, and theatre owners on 11 September 2001 at Imagica Laboratory. He reported on the progress of dye soundtracks in the US and worldwide, and demonstrated the sound of conventional silver and cyan dye soundtracks. The theatre owners association reported a summary of his presentation in the paper dated 15 September and distributed to theatres. Today, some Japanese laboratories have made high-magenta soundtracks on release prints for US films without problems. They are able to make high-magenta and cyan dye soundtrack prints at any time. There were 2,585 screens in Japan at the end of 2001. 1,509 were constructed after 1994 with the red LED system. In 2002, 123 screens are expected to be installed and 50 will be closed. It is expected that over 60 percent of screens in Japan will be equipped with the red LED system by the end of 2002. Sam Yamaryo
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