This section does not any. Unsourced material may be challenged and. (September 2011) () was the first film to use Dolby Digital technology when it premiered in theaters in the summer of 1992. Dolby Digital cinema soundtracks are optically recorded on a using sequential data blocks placed between every perforation hole on the sound track side of the film. A constant bit rate of 320 kbit/s is used. A (CCD) scanner in the picks up a scanned video image of this area, and a processor correlates the image area and extracts the digital data as an AC-3.
The data is then decoded into a 5.1 channel audio source. All film prints with Dolby Digital data also have analogue soundtracks using Dolby SR noise reduction and such prints are known as Dolby SR-D prints. The analogue soundtrack provides a fall-back option in case of damage to the data area or failure of the digital decoding; it also provides compatibility with projectors not equipped with digital soundheads. Almost all current release cinema prints are of this type and may also include data and a timecode track to synchronize CD-ROMs carrying soundtracks. A photo of a 35 mm film print featuring all four audio formats (or quad track)- from left to right: (SDDS) (blue area to the left of the sprocket holes), Dolby Digital (grey area between the sprocket holes labelled with the Dolby Double-D logo in the middle), analog optical sound (the two white lines to the right of the sprocket holes), and the (the dashed line to the far right.) The simplest way of converting existing projectors is to add a so-called penthouse digital soundhead above the projector head. However, for new projectors it made sense to use dual analogue/digital soundheads in the normal optical soundhead position under the projector head.