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Author Topic: Help! My onscreen image looks too good! Andy Bajew Expert Film Handler Posts: 136 From: Bellaire, Texas Registered: Jun 2009 posted 08-21-2009 02:51 PM                     Off topic, but I had a lady run out of the theater one time saying we are trying to make them deaf. She said it was too loud so I went into the theater to check the sound--went to the booth and turned it up more because it was too quiet.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 08-21-2009 02:58 PM                     I had a similar occurrence long ago where someone repeatedly had come out complaining that the sound was way too loud and the guy running the booth kept on turning it down. A couple of us went in with the guy and while I could barely make out the dialog because it was so quiet, this guy was wincing in pain claiming it was unbelievably loud. We gave him a refund since it was obvious we were never gonna be able to make it quiet enough for him with anyone else able to hear anything. Now I've come to realize that the guy likely had a hearing aid that wasn't calibrated correctly.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 08-21-2009 03:03 PM                        quote: Scott Norwood As for image brightness, there is a certain threshold for me, above which the image "pops" and below which it looks flat and lifeless. This is around 14fL. Anything less just looks ugly. There is a huge difference for me between 12fL and 16fL. Yeah, a couple of mine really attract the eye. You can just stare at them because they look so good. The larger (LOL) auditoriums are dimmer and don't look anywhere near as nice, especially with our ancient 1940's lenses. Yet they are still "too bright" if the DM is to be believed. As for sound, I used to get a lot of complaints when I first started, but I don't any more since I fixed those issues to the best of my ability given the speakers they have (JBLs with internal crossovers as big as your head).  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 08-21-2009 03:10 PM                     FWIW contratulations on your "Hot" screens Joe. Most multiplexes I've been in were way too "cool". I suspect the multiplex operators are trying to save money on xenon lamps. Never had complaints about the light in the carbon arc days.  |  IP: Logged Bill Bright Film Handler Posts: 25 From: St. Petersburg, Florida Registered: Oct 2003 posted 08-21-2009 03:30 PM                     quote: Like ANYONE could hear a 1 dB difference...HA! Perhaps his ears were manufactured by Dolby?  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 08-21-2009 03:40 PM                        quote: Robert E. Allen I suspect the multiplex operators are trying to save money on xenon lamps. Maybe. They do seem to be in some financial straights or something just by judging what is going on. They told the manager to cut my shifts down to two days a week so I could just build, break and change trailers/ads. No time for any booth maintenance at all. They specifically wanted to reduce booth hours, yet our attendance has been up.  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 08-21-2009 11:44 PM                     quote: Joe Redifer No time for any booth maintenance at all. They specifically wanted to reduce booth hours, yet our attendance has been up. Now there's some great logic for you. Put the "heart" of your theatre in a risky position and expect to maintain business.  |  IP: Logged Charles Greenlee Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 801 From: Savannah, Ga, U.S. Registered: Jun 2006 posted 08-22-2009 02:42 AM                        No, but I did get comments after I'd been there a while, and a few adjustments to the bulb focuses, that our pictures look better. One would be amazed when you actually adjust things properly, clean up the reflectors, and lenses, and port glasses, and films. I have gotten complaints about the booth cleanliness, being not so good. But hey, I'm more worried about what hits the screen and comes out of the speakers than I am how the booth looks. I'll handle that after I'd cleared up the cataracts on the optical readers, cleaned and lubed the film path, the film, cleaned the nasty platters, the afore mentioned reflectors, lenses, port glasses, etc. There was a marked difference in quality of picture and sound from when I started, to a few weeks into my job. Also, cleaning and lubing the projectors for the first time in years also quieted them, and thus less purring you hear in the auditoriums. They commented on how much better the picture looked, but also had to complain about my booth. I was like "Hey look, I've been here 2 weeks. Give me time." But you know, upper management has to find something to complain about, or they wouldn't be doing their job. BTW, I wasn't even certified level 1 yet, and regal requires you to be level 4 before even thinking about doing anything with the bulbs.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 08-22-2009 04:18 AM                        That Regal certification thing is weird. I guess it might be a decent idea or at least a good intention, but I don't put too much faith in it judging by some of the Regal presentations I have seen. They aren't any better than other chains when it comes to their projection booth employees (exceptions will always apply so please don't take offense if you are actually good), so I don't think that it is really very beneficial, at least not in this town. Sometimes I wish there were a real Film-Tech training program, but I think it is too late for that since film is going bye-bye in many venues and so little importance is being place on its handling. Anyone who managed to touch the leader to the floor when threading would automatically fail. Oh, they did mention my clean projectors, but somehow the lamphouse door hinge dust still interferes with the quality of my presentation and customers are less likely to return as a result. I guess if I get a compliment, I must also get backhanded in the face to bring me back down where I belong. I am actually amazed that my projectors weren't "too clean", though.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 08-22-2009 10:44 AM                     Scott said, "I thought that 1dB was, by definition, the smallest perceptible difference in loudness." What?! How could you think that? The deciBel is one tenth of a Bel, which is just the ratio of the logarithms of two power levels. That is, one Bel is log10(P1/P0), and one deciBel is 10*log10(P1/P0). (That's for power or intensity. For voltages, because they are squared to get power, a dB is 20*log10(V1/V0), which is 10*log10((V1^2)/(V0^2)) => 10*log10((V1/V0)^2) => 10*2*log10(V1/V0) => 20*log10(V1/V0)). For that simple mathematical expression to by definition be the smallest perceptable difference would be really weird. It would require an extreme mathematical elegance about the human body that probably necessitates intelligent design Anyhow, I think it's generally accepted that most people can distinguish a volume level of about 3 dB. I'm sure there's plenty of variation, though, and it probably depends on the program material and the how trained the person is. --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 08-22-2009 12:48 PM                     True though, 1dB difference is a decent jump.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 08-22-2009 06:11 PM                     Actually John...1dB in SPL is indeed considered the resolution of typical human hearing. 3dB is a sizable jump that even people not paying attention to will notice. It also happens to be a doubling in power. 10dB is another magical number...not only is it 10 times as much power but it sounds 10 times louder (or quieter) too. There are many oddities in the world some human based...some physical. My personal favorite is the expression i^i (eye to the eye). It is equal to e^(-Pi/2). To have i, e and Pi all have a relationship to each other is a nifty one. A Complex, and two irrationals and all are key to most scientific numerical expressions. Steve  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 08-22-2009 07:11 PM                       quote: Louis Bornwasser it's all about power, control, and ego. I think they actually resent competence. They have to justify their jobs. Most probably wake up every day worried sick that today will be the day they will be outed; that it will be discovered they really don't know anything or have any talent, and their trip on the gravy train will come to an end.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 08-22-2009 08:49 PM                        Thanks, Tim! Steve: the 1 db mark is the mathematical enumeration of the result of many (hundreds, thousands) of test volume changes conducted by Bell Labs way back there (1920's?). The average, non technical person can just perceive 1 db as the smallest change that is apparent Louis  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 08-22-2009 08:56 PM                     Louis, I think that is pretty much what I said.  |  IP: Logged

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