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This topic comprises 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
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Author
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Topic: 70mm Opening in York (UK)
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Darren Briggs
Master Film Handler
Posts: 371
From: York, UK
Registered: Dec 2001
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posted 09-29-2003 05:12 AM
Hi Stephen, you should of asked for me and had a look around.
We installed the Christie DLP last week along with a EVS server.
We have so far only used the DLP for Beta SP video shows and powerpoint slides, as you saw.
The DLP can accept any video format via a interface unit call the CINE-IPM. This convets the Analog video (Composite, S, RGB and component) into DVI format that the DLP head can use.
So yes in screen two we have, 16mm 35mm x2 for changeovers,DLP digital cinema and dolby screentalk Audio and subtitle system.
Four projectors in one 142 seat cinema, not bad ehh!
Then in Screen 1 we have 35mm x2 for changeovers and 70mm, THX and dolby screentalk. LCD projection also available for all formats video playback (DigiBeta, Beta SP, DVD VHS and LaserDisc as in screen 2)
So maybe we have one of the most advanced equipmed cinemas in the U.K, who knows! If required we have 2 Vic 5MI projectors for preview theater use if we so desired to install them to go that route, both with 3 track mag followers.
I really should take some pictures and post them on here!
Next 70mm shows are...
Indy Jones Temple of Doom 11th and 12th Oct
Indy Jones Last Crusade 25th and 26th Oct
The Thing 31st Oct
EARTHQUAKE IN SENSURROUND 22nd and 23rd Nov
Krakatoa East of Java 23rd Nov
Gremlins 13th and 14th Dec
Earthquake will be a cinematic experience not matched for years!
Darren
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Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 09-29-2003 09:28 AM
Darren,
I was going to ask for a look, but after the show I was talking to Paul Smith from Paddington Films for a few minutes, and then I had to get out rather quickly, so I didn't have time. I had a quick look up through the ports, but I couldn't see any of the screen one stuff. Where is screen 3?
I was at the 'Harbour Lights' two weeks ago, the first time I've been there.
What is the intention with the DLP, are you going to use it whenever possible rather than film, or as little as possible, only when film prints are not available, or for material originated on digital or are you not sure yet. Do you have it permanently, or is it there for evaluation, and will move around to other theatres in time? How much is available on digital now anyway?
Have you tried running VHS through it? The reason I ask is that a few years ago I did some video projection for a Jewish film festival at the Phoenix, East Finchley. There is a large Jewish community in the area, and it does very well. They got hold of a Sony projector from somewhere, large and heavy, but it used the Texas system, obviously at a much lower resolution than the Digital cinema system uses. While the picture quality from VHS was not great, it was far better than I have seen from any other projection technology, and far better than I expected it to be. You wouldn't screen VHS by choice, but if that is all that is available then it is watchable.
How do you handle the sound from digital, do you have a Dolby DMA8?
I'd like to get up to a 70mm show, but there's a problem. The first coach from London arrives in York at 14:30, and the cheapest walk-on rail fare from Kings Cross is now £63.90! There are cheaper fares if you book in advance, but I never know until a day or to beforehand if I will be free on a weekend. I'm now earning rather less than I have been inthe past, so I have to be careful with the spending; I can't come up too often.
David says he hopes to be there for the November shows; how about making it a 'Film-Tech UK' get together if anyone else can make it that weekend.
You can't get hold of anything with a Perspecta track on it, can you? I've got a print sitting under my desk at the moment, but it's only a cartoon, and doesn't make very good use of the process. I've got one of Dion Hanson's Perspecta cards which fits in place of a Cat 150. It would be yet another format you could run.
How about a 4 track mag show, you've got the MPU, I don't know if any of your projectors have 35mm mag heads, the vic 8 may have.
Can you interlock? How about hireing a silver screen and doing some 2-strip 3-D.
[ 09-29-2003, 12:45 PM: Message edited by: Stephen Furley ]
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 09-29-2003 10:31 AM
Hi Stephen,
I'm sure Darren will answer when he gets a moment, but as the former Darren, so to speak...
quote:
Where is screen 3?
Right at the other end of the building, above the bar (turn left instead of right at the top of the stairs).
quote:
Have you tried running VHS through it?
I don't know if Darren has, but he's shown me some Beta SP (PAL). I certainly think that the xenon lamp gives the video projector a 'brighter' colour temperature than the quartz/halogen lamps you normally get in video projectors, and being fed with the proper 'digital cinema' data the picture is certainly very bright and crisp. But I just don't think it has the contrast and saturation as a good 35mm print - not sure how to put it in words, but you can just see that it's still very much a second best to film. But if you think of it as a glorified video projector then the picture certainly looks very good. You can definitely tell that the SP is a videotape. I can't see VHS looking like a significant improvement on the output from a £10k S-XGA projector to be honest - the limitation is in the signal recorded on the tape, not the machine used to project it.
quote:
...and the cheapest walk-on rail fare from Kings Cross is now £63.90!
Tell me about it! And if you want to travel at any remotely useful time you're looking at a minimum of £135. Grim Never-Ending Ripoff know full well that they have an absolute monopoly on the only means of getting from York to London in two hours (that is, assuming the trains work, which they usually don't), and can thus milk the passenger for whatever the hell they like. To put this in perspective, the full open Newcastle fare from York is £24. If you work that out per mile, that should equal a London fare of £68, walk-on and travelling any time you like. Isn't it interesting how there are three train companies going between York and Newcastle, and only one between York and London? Despite the faff and cost of driving to Leeds/Bradford, parking and then getting in from Heathrow, I'm doing London meetings by air now when arriving at a certain time is remotely important, because rail is simply too expensive and unreliable. I can go out on the 0645 for £68 return: even when you factor in the cost of parking and getting to/from airports, it still works out at £30-40 cheaper than the train if you need to be in London for a 9 O'clock meeting.
quote:
How about a 4 track mag show, you've got the MPU, I don't know if any of your projectors have 35mm mag heads, the vic 8 may have.
Screen 1 at York can show four-track mag and Darren has done a demonstration of it, using a print borrowed from a private collection. But the fact is that just aren't that many mag prints available now, and most of the ones which are are held by the NFTVA, which won't allow them to be run on a platter.
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Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 09-29-2003 12:22 PM
Leo,
Re your comments on VHS, that's what I would have expected, but it really did look better than I've seen with VHS from any other projector, including the one in NFT 1, which is probably the best that I've seen otherwise. I don't know if the projector had some digital signal processing built in to improve poor source material, but it looked more like I would have expected from U-Matic. Nothing like as good as Beta SP, but better than I've seen from VHS on anything else. How did the Beta SP look on the DLP machine, compared to a normal video projector?
From the Hertfordshire Railtours site:
YORK MIDWEEK DAY OUT
Merrymakers - THURSDAY 2 OCTOBER 2003
to THE CITY OF YORK, from London King`s Cross, Potters Bar (for M25), Stevenage and Peterborough.
York, with its endless attractions, is a great place to visit at any time, but it`s certainly more relaxed midweek! Entry to the National Railway Museum is now free of charge. You get valuable discounts on York Boat river cruises and City Sightseeing open top city tours - plus half price admission to the York Model Railway. A great day out is assured, so why not bring your friends along too! We reach York at 11.28 and stay until 18.21, so you can really make the most of your visit!
The Standard fare is only £19.50 (Junior £9.75) and availability is limited. Sorry - there is no First Class Gold accommodation to York on this tour.
London King's Cross depart 07:55 arrive back 21:06
Potters Bar (for M25) depart 08:15 arrive back 20:49
Stevenage depart 08:38 arrive back 20:32
Peterborough depart 09:39 arrive back 19:57
AVAILABILITY: This tour is over 90% full.
Saturday trips to York, when they have them listed, are slightly more, about £24 I think. You might expect a charter train to be cheaper, but HRT are not a charity, they aim to make a profit, and they have to pay for the stock, locomotive, path, power or fuel, etc. Obviously, this isn't a travel when you like service, but if they can do it at these prices, then a saver return really shouldn't cost more than three times as much.
You also get nice comfortable 40 year old Mk.1 stock, which I much prefer to the modern stuff, but not for much longer, sadly.
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Darren Briggs
Master Film Handler
Posts: 371
From: York, UK
Registered: Dec 2001
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posted 09-29-2003 05:20 PM
Hi Dick,
yes, its booked with Bill, or should be, I spoke to him a couple of months back regards it.
Not heard from you for ages, hope your well. Ill try bob across sometime to say hello again, maybe pick up Krakatoa at the same time.
Speak soon
Darren
Stephen,
Leo has ansawered most of your questions i think,
Yes we can interlock screen 1 and 2 if we really wanted to, i just never have! Got all the rollers in a box ready to put them up, but we have no call to do it.
As for 3D, i have a friend who has some 'Up and Over' style 3D films, but we dont have a silver screen sheet to even hang for the one off show.
The Vic 8 has 4 track mag heads as Leo said, and we have spare penthouses that we could affix to the Vic 5's too.
If any Film-Tech UK people want to come up for the Sunday shows on the 23rd of Nov, I would certainly welcome them.
The DLP is on a 6 month trial and will more than likely stay, dont fancy lifting the f****r again down the stairs!
Any video source looks better throught the DLP than through our super bright Eiki LCD machine, you can even see the line structure on a Beta SP tape!
The DLP will be used for true HD screenings mainly of lower budget films, (not Finding Nemo.) Films like the new Peter Greenaway film, 'TulseLuper Suitcases PT1 and PT2'.
The aim is to be able to release lower budget art-house films in 7 of our sites in Digital, so it isn't a major risk for the distributors to pay for prints to be struck. If the film takes off, then 35mm prints can be made, knowing the film is doing ok at the box office. Makes good sence. We even have our own digital encoder for the EVS server.
Other uses are for lectures, short films etc.
ScreenTalk works by taking the SRD meta data, which has reel and frame numbers stored in it, and syncronising it to a PC via the Dolby screentalk interface. The pc outputs video data(subtitles) and Audio for decription purposes. Simple!
Darren
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Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 09-29-2003 05:51 PM
Unless costs have come down a lot in recent times, someone is making a heck of an investment, putting digital into seven sites. I think that's more than in the whole of London, until recently.
quote:
Yes we can interlock screen 1 and 2 if we really wanted to, i just never have! Got all the rollers in a box ready to put them up, but we have no call to do it.
I was thinking of interlocking the two machines in screen two, for two strip 3-D, like the recent festival at the Egyptian. There wasn't a suitable screen there either, they put one in for the festival. There are few places that can run that format now, but if it's done right, the results can be very good.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 09-30-2003 03:40 PM
quote:
Saturday trips to York, when they have them listed, are slightly more, about £24 I think. You might expect a charter train to be cheaper, but HRT are not a charity, they aim to make a profit, and they have to pay for the stock, locomotive, path, power or fuel, etc. Obviously, this isn't a travel when you like service, but if they can do it at these prices, then a saver return really shouldn't cost more than three times as much.
Agreed entirely. OK, charters are cheaper than scheduled (because, being planned in advanced, they're full to greater capacity), but this just goes to show what a ripoff GNER's 'normal' range of fares are. And as I say, if work dictates that you have to go to London and back in a day for the times that the London-based people expect you to be there, GNER have you over the barrel. Travelling on the busiest trains and without being able to advance-book the fare is as follows: £135 to stand in a corridor for two hours (i.e. what they euphamistically called 'standard class') and £220 for a 50/50 chance of getting a seat (what, with even more irony, they call 'first class'). It's a sick joke, and it's only because York is nowhere near an airport that they can get away with it. If proof of this is needed, just look at the range of 'no frills' airline flights on offer from the other main points on the East Coast main line, i.e. Newcastle and Edinburgh.
Off-topic rant over, promise.. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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Darren Briggs
Master Film Handler
Posts: 371
From: York, UK
Registered: Dec 2001
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posted 10-01-2003 05:14 AM
Stephen,
yes we can interlock two machines via the inverters. Just like any interlock. Have tested once in the past with identical head leaders running loops for 4 hours and all mahines in the building ran in perfect sync. The component engineering data bus just starts all machines at the same time, and due to the projectors runing off the same phase mains supply, the inverters run exactly the same.
DTS
As there are only a handfull of DTS70 prints and around 100 70mm mag prints, the money for a DTS unit can be spent on other items like new lenses to improve quality, new Mag heads etc.
All our screens are SRD, and DTS is used as much on the art-house films, and all main stream we get have SRD. If i had money id put SDDS in even though its dieing.
I spoke to someone at DTS at cine expo from DTS uk regards DTS 70 and the possibilty of use getting it, but even after a followup email when back in the UK, i didnt get a reply!!!
Not a good way to do business! So never did get the full list of DTS70 prints, or info on hiring a reader, We are all set to promote DTS70 a big way, even have a DTS70 70mm logo.
Im planning on screening some DTS70 prints next year so will need to get something sorted by then. City screen wouldnt hava problem getting DTS and DTS 70 installed if say Harry Potter 3 was release in DTS70, we would be the first to want it.
Darren
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