Can't find it on the pic's, only construction work!

Now how does a Maverick look like?

Yes, I do avert my eyes...

I am little confused by the porthole layout.Are you saying that the 35mm is to project through the large central port?
On large format theatres I have worked on we have always tried to separate the two.
That large piece of glass seems over the top.
The projection port for each of our Imax projectors is only around 20" x 20" with a separate larger viewing port.
Your theatre acoustician is really going to love that large reflective surface on the back wall!

I am also a little confused as to why the pedestal for the 35mm projector is :
a) so far back fom the projection port and
b) so tall.

Definite need for the non vertically challenged variety of projectionist to reach the top roller I think.

As for disabled access through the projection booth this is a bad idea on two counts.
1) The obvious flak you will get from disabled groups about segregation

2) Equally as important is the dust and dirt that non essential traffic brings in to the booth. It's bad in standard theatres , a hundred times worse in large format.
To keep the film clean and in good condition you need good temperature and humidity control,good air filtration and a positive pressure in the room.Coupled with this there is a need to put tack mats outside the doors to the booth and restrict access to essential staff only.Oh yes and anti static carpet on the floor.

At an Imax theatre we recently opened in London we too had challenges with realation to placement of wheelchair spaces.

We had provided 6 permanent spaces at the back centre of the auditorium but were told that in order to not discriminate we had to provide 2 on the front row ,the worst possible poaition for a wheel chair user to view a large format film.

As for the projector does it have a version of the rolling loop or an intermittent system?

What size is the lamp?Is it air or water cooled?
What sound format are you using ,DTS?

Are you installing a silver screen straight away in preparation for conversion to 3D? if so are you spraying it on site or bringing in a prepainted sheet?

Just a suggestion about the public viewing window.Make sure there is a blind installed so that you can close it when/if you have a problem. Nothing worse than Joe Public leering in at you while you're trying to sort out a large format brain wrap!!

I guess I got lucky, my port glass is tilted. I wouldn't want to be looking at 15kW everytime I walked past the projectors, actually it would be 30kW between the two. OUCH!! Might need a pair of these .

1. You made reference to a intermittent 1570 projector. Does anyone make (or made) a 1570 intermittent projector? I have only seen or heard of rolling loop projectors for 1570.

2. You also mentioned a 1570 brain wrap. Does your system have center feed 'brains?' I think I remember hearing about some systems that used center feeds, but I have only worked with 'Reel Units' that feed from the outer edge and have to be rewound.

Just curious.

I know that some locations use a center feed based system for 8-perf, but does anyone use a center feed for 15-perf?

First, as you can see, it is still early in the construction. So there is very little equipment, or even "roughed-in" electrical pipes and fixtures.

The throw is very short, and the screen is large, (the throw is only a little longer than the width of the screen) and that is why the port window is so large. The 15/70 projector will go almost directly in front of the window on the floor level... for servicing, it will not be placed right up to the glass. I don't know if the glass will be tilted; I'm fairly sure that someone has thought of that, ie: if it's not tilted, there was a reason. I have seen a 1 foot square sample of the glass, and it's very thick (about 1/2") and heavy. It's two thinner peices laminated with a safety layer in the center.

The regular 35mm projector will sit on the pedestal. It is located up fairly high so that it's image will clear the 15/70 projector. Since the throw is so short, there would be distortion if either projector was located to the left or right.

So the idea is both projectors are centered on the screen (the 15/70 projector is properly centered, the regular 35mm projector is only a few degrees high, and neither has to be moved to run a show. To keep the angle of the 35mm projector as close to "center" as possible, while not interfering with the 15/70 projector, the pedestal had to be located back aways... and with a short focal length lens, this means a big window.

As I said, this is early in construction; There will be a steel platform next to the pedestal to hold the platter and a place for the operator. The projector itself is heavy, so they made a concrete block pedestal just for it.

As unbelievable as this may sound, our company has actually slowed down the rate of construction. Some elements (HVAC, electrical, etc.) were not getting done in an orderly manner, and they want the place to turn out right. So, some trades on the project have been told to slow down, to allow others to catch up. In 25 years I been doing this, I think this is a first.

There's no doubt there's a large reflective surface with that glass. However, THX has approved a design. I don't know what they will recommend, but they say it can be done.

The 15/70 booth will not have traffic through it. When I mentioned the public viewing window, it will go entirely across the opening seen in pic#1 (top.) However if you look carefully at pic#1, in the background there are two small spotlight and a black rectangle. That is the viewing port for another (regular), theater, and it's floor lever is about 4 feet down from the 15/70 booth floor level. Handicap customers will pass through there to get to the back of other theaters (this theater complex has 19 screens.) And when I say the area is "public" I don't mean open all the time to wander as they please. To get up there, patrons will need to have someone let them in, as it's only for those who want to see the 15/70 booth, or are in wheelchairs.

It's not an ideal solution, but as a company goes through all the requirements set forth by the zoning laws, disability laws, avaiable property size, amount of money you have to spend, etc, etc, your choices get very limited. We could have satisfied our requirements for wheelchair seating by just taking out seats on the main floor(s), but everyone likes to sit in the balcony (or loge) and we thought it would be nice to allow people to do that. (We also added handicap bathrooms in the booth so people don't have go all the way back to the lobby.) But, we could hardly afford to build a theater complex with a seperate hallways, elevators, etc. just so patrons don't have to go through the booth. If that was required, we would have just bagged the idea and pulled out enough seats on the main floor to pass.

Now, as to the 15/70 projector itself, I have talked to the "powers that be," and they have asked me not to say who we are working with. Some contract details still need to be worked on, and until some "i"'s and "t"'s are dotted and crossed they would perfer not to say exact details like screen size, throw, wattage, projector make, 3D or not to 3D, etc. etc. It's not really so much a secret, as they just don't want anything to "jinx" the deal. They were rather amused that: ".... a guy in *England* was asking about it??!!..." To anyone knowledgeable about large format IMAX-type projection, I believe they would find the details only mildly interesting... while it's interesting technology, there's nothing really new and different.

Livin' on Jacks and Queens,
Tim

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Better Projection Pays!

the "secret" is that the projector slides backwards to allow threading /lacing and then forwards to project. In this position the front of the lens almost touches the polarisers.
At our theatre in Bradford the projection throw is about 57'6" ,screen width 65'4".
here we have the SR system with two small rotor projectors which slide diagonally back and apart to thread. there are some good shots of this type of system in the pictures section of the Cinemark Tulsa theatre
If I am correct you have a large rotor twin projector side by side set up that moves apart for threading then together for projection.

At bradford
our 35mm projector is offset by about 6 'from the centreline so keystoning in't too bad.

As for intermittent 1570 machines Cinemeccanica built one a number of years back but it was very unsteady and went through cross boxes at a rapid rate.

As for centre feed ,yes we have a QTRU (Quick Turn Reel Unit) which is a beefed up platter system built for Imax by Kinoton.

John,
the idea of having the 35mm project over the top of the 1570 is interesting. is the operation of the 35mm remoted to by the front wall? Just wondered from the point of focussing up from back there. Also are you installing any blinds/curtains to cut down the light spillage through the port when you are projecting 35?

As to my interest if you look at my profile you will see that i am interested in all projection systems.

Being based at a museum dedicated to the preservation and presentation of all aspects of cinema technology is a definite plus.
For those of you that don't know about us take a look at our website http://www.nmpft.org.uk.

I would love to see that twin rotor machine, I have only read about them. I haven't even seen a picture.

7000 watt air cooled lamp.

Will not be running 3D, but booth is designed to goto it if we want.

The screen is not silver, but it's not matte white either; there is some gain. No one actually knows what it is; the projector company spec'ed it.

It is a Maverick 15/70 projector.

The "secret" really is in the contracts (price, exclusivity to an area, getting prints, etc.) Management couldn't care less about how the projector operates. It's being built now- no one has seen it, yet.

There will regular masking at the screen to trim off IMAX-type, regular flat and regular scope. It is a fairly complicated rigging scheme.

Masking a curved screen that big has got to be a challenge. There are only a handful of Imax theatres with this facility mainly down to cost.