At Home: THX Intro Before Movie Begins

[TigSaysHi]

BLUF: How can we get the THX Note to play before a movie begins... but more so in an automated fashion?

The THX "Note" frequency sweep before a movie begins at a movie theater, or like we have in St. Louis (the OmniMax at St. Louis Science Center) is always a call to nostalgia from that first time I saw Jurassic Park in the front row at 6 years old.

Now 35yrs old and having my own dedicated theater room, I long to have the THX Note play before I start a movie when having friends over.

I have the THX tune-up app on my phone, which does provide access to the THX Note. So, sheepishly I hooked up a bluetooth receiver to some RCA cables into a specific output on my receiver. Friends came over, I had all the lights off, projector was off - hit the play button on my phone - A N D I T W A S E P I C, everyone loved it. I then changed modes on my receiver remote (I had the movie queued up in the PS3 already) and hit play and we proceeded into the movie.

As this DID work, it felt a little clunky as the operator - having to juggle my phone and the receiver remote. I've debated loading the THX Note onto the PS3 as a sound file, but then I'd be navigating menus in front of the audience etc - again CLUNKY. My sheepish method was somewhat seamless for the audience, so it may be the best straight line method.

If anyone else has any ideas for execution of this - I would love to hear it!

Sincerely,
Tigger

 

[WookieGR]

PLEX will play any media file you choose prior to launching a movie. It will also play movie trailers from either your local server movies or all films on the net.

I'm sure you can grab a variety of THX trailers off the the net. There use to be a website dedicated to all of those including the DTS and Dolby intros found on laserdiscs.

 

[lovinthehd]

Ebay usually has some of the THX demo discs for sale. Some movies have it as part of the disc, too (altho not necessarily at the beginning of the film, sometimes a separate item in the menu).

 

[WookieGR]

Or go here: https://thedigitaltheater.com/thx-trailers/

 

[TigSaysHi]

Yeah, I've got the sound file now. Just trying to think of a way to have it play before any movies play. I should make a disclaimer too, I typically only use Blurays unless watching Netflix/Prime.

143" Acoustic Transparent Screen
BenQ HT2050A

 

[lovinthehd]

Seems you just need to time it well depending what you'll follow the trailer with. Which one do you use, the basic THX in the center of the screen with highlights on the edges one? I have a disc of trailers around here somewhere, usually only pull it out for brief system demos, otherwise I let the movies speak for themselves rather than try to combine them

 

[Verdinut]

Yeah, I've got the sound file now. Just trying to think of a way to have it play before any movies play. I should make a disclaimer too, I typically only use Blurays unless watching Netflix/Prime.

143" Acoustic Transparent Screen
BenQ HT2050A

Now, you just need to get THX certified QSC DCA series power amps. These Digital Cinema amps are used in Cineplex theaters across North America.

I am using four of them in my HT system:

My 7 Channel System

SYSTEM: MARANTZ SR5010, 3 QSC DCA 1222 AMPS. DRIVING THE FRONT CHANNELS IN ACTIVE BI-AMP CONFIG. QSC DCA 1824 (4 CH. AMP.) FOR SURROUND CHANNELS OPPO BDP-95, REVOX B77, TEAC AN-80 (NR), AUDIO-TECHNICA AT-LP1240, SHURE M97XE, HITACHI HCA-8300, PANASONIC TH-50PZ80U, FURMAN PS-8R, APC H15 FRONT...

forums.audioholics.com

https://www.brucesentertainment.com/QSC_Cinema_Catalog.pdf

 

[BMXTRIX]

I didn't realize Plex could do this. I may play with this tonight on my setup. Put one of the THX trailers into place and see if I can get it to automatically play back when I start a movie. That's certainly the way to do it. Completely automatic if it works right. That would be really cool.

 

[panteragstk]

I didn't realize Plex could do this. I may play with this tonight on my setup. Put one of the THX trailers into place and see if I can get it to automatically play back when I start a movie. That's certainly the way to do it. Completely automatic if it works right. That would be really cool.

There is a pre-roll function that lets you choose whatever file in your library that you want. Works great, but be careful or it will play before EVERYTHING you watch.

https://support.plex.tv/articles/202920803-extras/ Scroll down till you get to the "Cinema Trailers pre-roll video" section.

I used the Dolby True HD countdown as my intro video, but you can use anything.

 

[BMXTRIX]

There is a pre-roll function that lets you choose whatever file in your library that you want. Works great, but be careful or it will play before EVERYTHING you watch.

https://support.plex.tv/articles/202920803-extras/ Scroll down till you get to the "Cinema Trailers pre-roll video" section.

I used the Dolby True HD countdown as my intro video, but you can use anything.

Thanks! I hope they tweak it a bit, or add to it a bit. I would only want it to play before movies, not TV shows. I watch a fair bit of TV on my Plex. I do like the idea of throwing a few different options on my server and have it choose one to play at random before a movie. That would be really a cool feature.

In reality, a cool feature, but I'm not going to be all that upset if it never materializes.

Also would be ideal if I could specify a user in which it would play the trailer in front of. That is, if I go to my kid's accounts, they wouldn't have it happen. If I went to my main account, it would happen. So, it would only play back under a specific user, that way it wouldn't happen all the time for everyone.

 

[panteragstk]

Thanks! I hope they tweak it a bit, or add to it a bit. I would only want it to play before movies, not TV shows. I watch a fair bit of TV on my Plex. I do like the idea of throwing a few different options on my server and have it choose one to play at random before a movie. That would be really a cool feature.

In reality, a cool feature, but I'm not going to be all that upset if it never materializes.

Also would be ideal if I could specify a user in which it would play the trailer in front of. That is, if I go to my kid's accounts, they wouldn't have it happen. If I went to my main account, it would happen. So, it would only play back under a specific user, that way it wouldn't happen all the time for everyone.

All of that is why I quit using it. It is only for movies, but it's a universal setting which is annoying. Only reason I knew it was universal is because a friend asked me why it played before every movie. Had to take it off because it wouldn't quit playing no matter what settings we tried.

That was years ago though, might be a better implementation now.

 

[TigSaysHi]

Now, you just need to get THX certified QSC DCA series power amps. These Digital Cinema amps are used in Cineplex theaters across North America.

I am using four of them in my HT system:

My 7 Channel System

SYSTEM: MARANTZ SR5010, 3 QSC DCA 1222 AMPS. DRIVING THE FRONT CHANNELS IN ACTIVE BI-AMP CONFIG. QSC DCA 1824 (4 CH. AMP.) FOR SURROUND CHANNELS OPPO BDP-95, REVOX B77, TEAC AN-80 (NR), AUDIO-TECHNICA AT-LP1240, SHURE M97XE, HITACHI HCA-8300, PANASONIC TH-50PZ80U, FURMAN PS-8R, APC H15 FRONT...

forums.audioholics.com

https://www.brucesentertainment.com/QSC_Cinema_Catalog.pdf

PHEW! That must be awesome, yeah I'll have to start a budget fund to get those!
My theater room is fairly small, but I do have my towers running from the pre-outs of the main receiver, to a 2nd receiver to power them by itself. So there is plenty of volume, although I'm sure the Marantz amps will provide a cleaner amplification of the signals.

 

[TigSaysHi]

All of that is why I quit using it. It is only for movies, but it's a universal setting which is annoying. Only reason I knew it was universal is because a friend asked me why it played before every movie. Had to take it off because it wouldn't quit playing no matter what settings we tried.

That was years ago though, might be a better implementation now.

Yeah - my brother does run a Plex server I can pipe into - my issue has been sometimes when streaming 1080 video, some of the blacks and gradients aren't as clean as they should be... so I'm pretty snobby and watching only blurays for my favorite movies.

I dont know though, maybe I could set up my own Plex server and the qualities would be better.

 

[panteragstk]

Yeah - my brother does run a Plex server I can pipe into - my issue has been sometimes when streaming 1080 video, some of the blacks and gradients aren't as clean as they should be... so I'm pretty snobby and watching only blurays for my favorite movies.

I dont know though, maybe I could set up my own Plex server and the qualities would be better.

If the quality from someone else's server doesn't look good, it's likely that they either don't have that great a quality videos, or Plex is transcoding because there isn't enough bandwidth to direct stream the original file.

All of my files are direct disc rips and are full quality. Having my own server that doesn't really require me to do anything is nice.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I dont know though, maybe I could set up my own Plex server and the qualities would be better.

Plex can play back any disc copies as 1:1 for quality. You may need to do some homework on how to get 1:1 copies of your movies into digital format... or find a place you can get them from as 'backups' to your originals with full quality, but Plex can handle it.

I'm a huge fan of Plex and it is almost exclusively how I view movies these days. I still pull out my Blu-rays from time to time, but it is way easier to fire up a Roku and launch Plex for playback from my entire collection easily.

 

[TigSaysHi]

Plex can play back any disc copies as 1:1 for quality. You may need to do some homework on how to get 1:1 copies of your movies into digital format... or find a place you can get them from as 'backups' to your originals with full quality, but Plex can handle it.

I'm a huge fan of Plex and it is almost exclusively how I view movies these days. I still pull out my Blu-rays from time to time, but it is way easier to fire up a Roku and launch Plex for playback from my entire collection easily.

Okay, very cool - I definitely will. Any kind of sound demo intro before a Movie starts would be amazing - I mean we all work so hard to get the theater sound right - and movies don't always deliver the experience (depending on content) so it would be great to have a cool little 'wow' moment for any guests --- and for me because I'm a nerdo and would enjoy it myself every time anyways.

 

[-Jim-]

Thanks for this Thread Gents.

It gave me an idea. I dabble a bit in Video Editing (Power Director) and make the odd Blu-ray for Family events. I'm just finishing a Wedding disk and putting a Dolby 5.1 /THX intro would be cool.

 

[TigSaysHi]

Thanks for this Thread Gents.

It gave me an idea. I dabble a bit in Video Editing (Power Director) and make the odd Blu-ray for Family events. I'm just finishing a Wedding disk and putting a Dolby 5.1 /THX intro would be cool.

OMG that would be awesome

 

[mikehbkwm]

New to the forum but very versed with Plex. I want to ask if anyone knows of a way to integrate a THX intro but only specific to three movies in my library. I don't want it to show on other movies. Appreciate any advice or thoughts on this. Thanks

 

[lovinthehd]

What do you mean by THX intro? The little demo clips some discs include or just something incorporated into the beginning of a film? If the former, you just don't play it, for the latter they're integral to the film playback IME.