Reflections on 2024

Happy New Year!

This year, thedigitaltheater.com turns 10 years old. Launched on July 22, 2015 this is now pretty much the only place in the universe to get high quality movie trailers, with lossless video and multi channel audio. Gone is the old https://demo-world.eu which used to contain a wealth of trailers in 5.1, including audio format trailers such as DTS and THX. Demo World was a great source of material. Near the end, they were borrowing encodes from me, which I took to be a great honour. The domain is still alive, and is dedicated to the history and technology of sound in film. If you are like me and have a passion for sound, head on over to https://demo-world.eu

HD-Trailers.net was also a good resource, providing links to trailers with 5.1 audio. As their source became limited, they moved to providing download links to trailers hosted by Apple. But when Apple moved their trailers from trailers.apple.com to Apple TV the page essentially died, as all the links ceased to work! That is why from the beginning, I have had full control of every link that I posted. There are user uploaded trailers that I have no control over, but I wanted to ensure that what I posted were files that I encoded and had access to the location.

Thinking about it, the biggest weakness this site has is the reliance on WeTransfer. If they ceased to exist all my links would be dead as well. However, I do have a backup of all my uploads so I would just need to upload it all again. It would not be pleasant, but not the end of the world.

thedigitaltheater.com is still here!

2024 was an historic year for this site. I promoted (for free) 37 films, an all time record; and almost twice the number as years past. I encoded and uploaded over 330 .mkv and .mp4 files (22% of all the files since 2015). Almost every film had a trailer in 4K encoded from a 4K master, many in the IMAX aspect ratio. I was really proud of the trailers I had available for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) as there were 20 encodes of the two trailers, including the 4K IMAX. To be honest, I took the box-office performance of Furiosa a bit personally. On a personal level, I spent a lot of time working on those trailers – making sure people would have the ability to see and hear them in their best possible way, which would generate interest in seeing it in the theater. If it is a good theater, that is the place to see it. So when the numbers came in, I felt like I was doing this for nothing. It killed the momentum I had going. As someone left in the comments: “Bro dipped again lol”

But that comment was great, as it was not mean but it was to the point. It made me laugh and want to keep going. Thank you Bro dipped again lol! I try my best to respond to comments on this site, as well as on Facebook and X. I can not always do so. Rest assured that I do see what you send me.

Challenges

Even though I published a record amount of content in 2024, it did not come without challenges. The most recent being my Facebook post about the Superman (2025) trailer. It was removed and I was notified that it violated community standards, for being misleading or hateful. I submitted an appeal, which has not made a difference as far as I can tell. I don’t know what the issue is, but all I can think of is the term superman may be flagged as some sort of male superiority or misogynistic proclamation. It is the first time it has happened, and since I just added the 4K 5.1 versions to the page, I will soon add a new post and see if it happens again. BTW, since you are reading this, you have advance notice that the 4K 5.1 versions of the Superman (2025) trailer are up. !Shhhh…

Other challenges include recent Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) violations targeted at my advertising account. At the moment, I have policy violations for Venom: The Last Dance (2024) and The Creator. I have already removed The Creator, but it keeps coming up in my notifications. If you want the trailers for Venom: The Last Dance (2024) get them now!

A few years ago I had this happen with a Warner Bros. film, and when I issued a counter claim I received a letter from one of their lawyers saying it would never happen again. It has not happened since for Warner Bros. I sent in a counter claim for The Creator but nothing came of it. Which is too bad, as it was a great film with 2.76:1 trailers. Anyway, these DMCA violations seem to be increasing, and are targeted towards site revenue, not the content. If it were content, it would be a search result violation, not an advertising policy violation. This is an ongoing concern of mine.

I did not mean to turn this into a manifesto, but I guess I had a lot to say! The other challenge I have is advertising revenue. It is down, way down. It is about 10% of its peak, even though I have been publishing 100% more content. It is still covering the cost of hosting, but in no way is it coming close to meeting cost of the time and effort that goes into it. For the most part, I do this because it is a passion of mine. I want to put these trailers out so that you can experience them the best way possible.

It still boggles my mind why the studios are not doing the same. It also still boggles my mind that Dolby® hit me with that trademark infringement where I was promoting their products, and allowing people to hear their proprietary sound formats in they way they should be heard, instead of compressed AAC stereo on YouTube. (Dolby® and Atmos® are registered trademarks of Dolby® Laboratories. thedigitaltheater.com is not affiliated with or endorsed by Dolby® in any way. For more information on Dolby® products and services, visit www.dolby.com) For the record, Dolby® should be affiliated with this site. I asked, and they said they had to respect their licensees. But if I were a licensee, I would not be happy with people thinking that what they hear on YouTube is actually Dolby® Atmos®, as is the case. Anyway, you’re here because you know, you’re on YouTube because you don’t.

Call to action

If you are still here, thank you for reading all this. Yes, you did get advance notice of the Superman (2025) 4K with 5.1 trailers and I hope that you enjoy it. To keep this site going, I need to increase the revenue. The easiest way is to disable ad-blockers on your device. I know they can be obtrusive, but they serve a purpose. And if you get an ad that interests you, click on that ad. Don’t  click on ads haphazardly. If there is an ad that relates to something that you are interested in, go for it. It will help immensely. Not into ads? Why not order one of the custom trailers I can make for you at the Shop. I am more than happy to help create something that you can show off to your friends and family. You can also make a purchase through any of the Amazon links that are in various places on the site. You can also make a much appreciated donation. To make a donation, click on this donate link.

Thank you! I hope 2025 is a fantastic year for you.