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Author Topic: Best Platter Available Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 01-24-2014 01:06 AM                     Come back down to reality Steve. We miss the logic-inspired version of Steve. Sam summed it up well. The Kinoton, while I will agree does handle film well, is WAY over-engineered. Over-engineering typically brings about failures. With Kinoton being a foreign company and film being all but dead, it would be my last choice for future-proofing. I would actually rather have a Strong platter over a Kinoton (and you know I dislike those), because in the US parts on the used market for Kinoton are rare, but still somewhat plentiful for Strongs due to a higher market saturation. Heck the ST200E hasn't even been around for very long to do a fair assessment of it's overall reliability. That being said though, I don't think you will find a platter with more US market saturation than the classic AW3/AW3R. In the US there is simply no other platter easier to keep running given the state of the industry. And whether you agree with my opinion or not, it's the best damn platter ever made. This is also why I would NOT want a Kinoton "E" machine. 5 years ago, sure. Now? Nope! The Kinoton "D" machines use a conventional intermittent, and even though their couplers are a plastic joke, the odds of that conventional intermittent still running 20 years down the road is FAR better than an electronic intermittent. This is also why people in the US are better off holding onto their Century and Simplex projectors as opposed to any other brand. So even IF I actually agreed with you that the Kinoton platter was better than the Christie, it's all a moot point in 2014 anyway.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-24-2014 09:12 AM                     Watch out every body! There goes Brad's new common this years statement. "It's a Moot Point Anyway in 20XX"... Getting back to VPF's Brad and Cinedigm vs. GDC it's not really a moot point yet because South America is now just getting going on VPF's. And it appears that GDC pretty much has the hand hold down there. What happened to Cinedigm? Were they too expensive or something? Mark  |  IP: Logged Tim Asten Film Handler Posts: 98 From: Brighton, United Kingdom Registered: Nov 2006 posted 01-24-2014 10:02 AM                     Er,..I thought this thread was about platters? Anyway, if any body wants to know how good Kinoton "E" series platters are, ask us Europeans, we have been using them for years. The platter of choice.  |  IP: Logged Sam D. Chavez Film God Posts: 2153 From: Martinez, CA USA Registered: Aug 2003 posted 01-24-2014 10:18 AM                       We on Film Tech do tend to be USA centric forgetting we have lots of international members. Makes sense Kinoton is top choice in Europe. For one, Cinemeccanica platters seemed to resemble our "agricultural" platters and Christie platters were not poupular except for US based chains building in UK and Europe.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 01-24-2014 12:03 PM                     Mark, keep it on topic. Fabricate whatever bs you want about VPFs in a suitable thread. Everyone seems to be missing the (not-made-quite-clear) question of Don's. Don is setting up a private system. It's not for theatrical use. Don is also a resident of the US. Don needs to know what platter is best for him. Since all used platters are essentially worth about nothing, price isn't the issue here. Availability of parts on this continent and overall known reliability for his choice along with film care is the real question. He just didn't make his question totally clear.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-24-2014 02:52 PM                     All kidding aside... Kinoton is still manufactured. No lie, Kinoton is far more reliable in terms of breakdowns and consumable parts. If I were to own a platter (the horror!) at home, it would be an ST200E. There is nothing to do to it but supply power. Sam, as to platter design of the "E" versus the others. Why should the platter be just a reactionary device that always seems to be caught off guard when the projector starts or stops? Look at how an ST200E starts (or stops)...there is none of this...film wrapping about trying to catch up...overshooting...etc. Stop the projector, even mid-way through the show...it all stops as a team...and when you restart...it all starts as a team. Ever heard of a ST200E throwing film? Care to compare that to Christie or any others?  |  IP: Logged Sean Weitzel Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 619 From: Vacaville, CA (1790 miles west of Rockwall) Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-24-2014 05:31 PM                     So I guess the 1st gen Autowind with the white formica decks I found at a salvage yard is right out am I correct? (no I didn't buy it I have an AW3R)  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 01-24-2014 08:28 PM                     Steve, an AW3 doesn't sit there and wrap film back and forth around the brain on startup like a Strong or a SPECO. I've never had issues with prints throwing. Yes the AW3 needs to be calibrated, but since when have you taken the lazy stance of "I'm just going to plug it in and walk away"? Spending a few minutes calibrating the AW3 and then it's awesome is no different than spending time tuning a sound system, aligning lenses, carefully cutting aperture plates, etc. Sure Kinoton is still manufactured TODAY, but probably not for much longer. Still in the US it's just not the proper choice for a private screening room like Don's application.  |  IP: Logged Sam D. Chavez Film God Posts: 2153 From: Martinez, CA USA Registered: Aug 2003 posted 01-25-2014 03:23 AM                       I never had any Kinoton throw a print as the film was very well controlled. It's just an analog servo. Why add a software interface to something that doesn't really need it? Just to look high tech?  |  IP: Logged Allan Riddelll Film Handler Posts: 33 From: msida , malta, europe Registered: Jan 2009 posted 01-25-2014 07:19 AM                     Agree with Tim. We have been using the ST200E for 14 years and apart from the occasional motor brush replacement and , just recently, replacement of a control board they have been the Rolls Royce of platters.  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 01-26-2014 02:18 PM                     I have two AW3s in my two-screener and they perform flawlessly. And I get all the tech support I want from Christie (but not for much longer).  |  IP: Logged Buck Wilson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 894 From: St. Joseph MO, USA Registered: Sep 2010 posted 01-26-2014 05:59 PM                     My personal favorite is the Strong AP-3, but lets be honest- I haven't handled anything other than nearly new AP3s and the 30+ year old never-been-maintained Speco LP-270s I am currently "working with"(AKA killing myself over). Oh, and the Big Sky platter tree I use strictly for build-up, and have never run a feature on. The one time I even tried to pay out from the big sky for Ss&Gs, the payout arm seems to do the opposite of what it should. Spins the deck in the arms stop position and vise versa. Cant use it like that.... With the E series Kinoton, I'm curious... If it needs a motor on signal, how do you thread? I'm sure there's something silly I don't know about it seeing how I've never touched one, was just curious. I have to say I like the idea of a less passive platter tree, but again, not that any of this matters in 2014.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 01-26-2014 07:29 PM                        We had looked at the AW3 and found it really good, but electrically complicated. Our change was to run normally on startup, then digitally store the motor speed after 45 seconds. The motor then could not run faster than that. this number would be updated every 5 minutes until the end. Voltage at zero reset the system. The advantage is that wraps could not increase the speed of the platter and would self clear. louis  |  IP: Logged Sam D. Chavez Film God Posts: 2153 From: Martinez, CA USA Registered: Aug 2003 posted 01-26-2014 07:46 PM                       So Louis, I'm unclear. This was an idea you had or something actually implemented? I never heard of it, but I learn something new every day.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-26-2014 08:11 PM                     Hmm that sounds alot like the kinoton system with the motor driven autotransformer  |  IP: Logged

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