Pink Floyd's Live at Pompeii

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Lucanu

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I bought this DVD today and it's a director's cut.
Now it contains the original film version and, as title says, a director's cut.
Inside bonus content of this dvd (which is only stereo) I saw a thing I didn't know.
It's the movie advert which states is quad.
Maybe the soundtrack is SQ?
Or what?
 

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Somewhere I have read that the original soundtrack has been lost. Not sure of how true that may or may not be. It certainly would have been a real treat to get Floyd in surround from their early days.
 
According to the Director interview when they searched for the original negative to create this Disc, they could not find it. This Disc is a copy of the "full TV screen" Laser Disc that they used to create more "Director cutting" and less Pink Floyd. Plus, they put black bars on the top and bottom of the screen to make it look like it came from a 35 mm print. You're better off with the 1980's VHS or Laser Disc IMO, although I'm glad I bought this for the extra's. If anyone has a copy of the original movie print contact Pink Floyd's management immediately!

The Quadraphonic Ad looks like an advert for a 1970's showing at the Alexandria theater in San Francisco if I'm not mistaken. They showed this movie in Quad in S. F. for years off and on if I remember correctly.

I didn't see it in San Francisco because I thought Quad would always be with us. I did see this movie in 35 mm at a midnight showing in Concord in the very late 1970's, but I'm not certain it was Quad. I remember it more as glorified stereo.
 
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How do you think they managed the quad soundtrack? :confused:

According to atrocity2001 at the "Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii DVD" thread:

"Pink Floyd at Pompeii" wasn't exactly quad, it was discrete 4-channel with the sound being carried by magnetic stripes on the 35mm prints. The track layout was the same as 4-track features had been since the 1950s: Left, Center, Right and mono surround.

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?t=362&highlight=Pink+Floyd+Pompeii

That was my understanding of the track layout on the print, discrete 4-channel magnetic stripes. I thought the Alexandria had a 4 speaker Quad set-up - with a separate Quad amp system and large speakers Left / Right front - Left / Right rear. But I never made it to that theater. I'm going on vague memories from the 1970's - what I believed to be true at the time - from what was advertised on KSAN FM and what people said about it.

I think atrocity can give (or already did) the definitive answer on this subject. Perhaps those who saw it in the theater could elaborate and confirm what the mix was.
 
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I think atrocity can give (or already did) the definitive answer on this subject. Perhaps those who saw it in the theater could elaborate and confirm what the mix was.

I guess a truly definitive answer can only come from someone who knows for sure whether or not there was ever a genuine quad (i.e., four-corner) mix. I can't say that there wasn't one prepared for some venues, but I'm positive that two times I saw magnetic prints in two different theaters the speaker layout was L-C-R-S with the mix on the prints clearly intended for that layout.

As for the controversy about the aspect ratio...well, that's a long story, too. It was shot in 35mm but originally intended for TV, which would make 4:3 framing appropriate. But none of the theatrical showings I saw (and I can think of five different theaters in which I saw it) ran it at that ratio. I may have seen it once or twice at approximately 1.66:1, but more commonly masked to 1.85:1. Looking at the DVD, some shots seem compromised by the masking while others (I'm thinking specifically of parts of "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun") seem to be composed with matting in mind.

You can go crazy trying to figure out the "proper" aspect ratio for some things. Lots of stuff we think of as "made for TV" here in the USA was also intended for theatrical release elsewhere around the world. You can make the case that 4:3 framing is appropriate, but if you look you'll see that nothing important is happening in the top or bottom of the frame and that cropping to 1.85:1 may result in more pleasant composition.
 
Nothing useful to add, but I saw this in the early 80s, & it rocked. (y) I really couldn't say what format the soundtrack was, but it sure sounded good.
 
OK, so I tried to sync what I think is an upmix of the soundtrack to the ripped Laserdisc but my guess is that the soundtrack sounds a bit higher in pitch (transfer to LD) so , no dice; at least not in Logic Pro...anybody else has tried to do this?
 
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