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Author Topic: Lack of Concern for DLP? John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 06-16-2003 04:29 PM                        Hey, I've traveled from Rochester to New York City, Secaucus, Atlantic City, Dallas, Orlando, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas to see DLP-Cinema presentations! I haven't always been totally pleased with presentation quality, and have even encountered "Digital Done Wrong" at a few theatres.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-16-2003 09:58 PM                     Today we heard from a major DLP manufacturer that there are 94, or was it 96, or 98 screens worldwide equipped with . WOW! Thats a huge amount! I bet the T.I. guys have a huge get drunk party when number 100 hits the streets. John P., Does this total include all the Kodak ILA projectors too? So there are still about 100,000, perhaps more than that to go. Brad, We need a special Graemlin for the Kodak verson of digital projection. Perhaps a bit larger TV set with John P. on the screen.......or a good cartoon running At least we know its going to be "Digital Done Right"....or at least as right as it might be in this infant stage...... Mark @ CLACO  |  IP: Logged Charles Everett Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: New Jersey Registered: May 2001 posted 06-17-2003 04:56 PM                     quote: All venues showing DLP should take down all identification, posters, mylars or whatever that trumpet the word DIGITAL. No can do -- the "Digital" tag might be required under the booking contract. Stack ads in New York-area newspapers highlight the DLP theaters in a special box. Fandango listings for the UA Union Square (via the UA/Regal website) clearly identify the DLP shows. quote: When a DLP auditorium gets the same promotion as a similar-sized nondigital one showing the same movie (in a cinema where film is "done right), and outgrosses it, then we can believe that audiences seek out digital screenings. The UA Union Square is Finding Nemo in 2 DLP halls and 1 35mm hall. On Friday (6/20) the 35mm print gets doubled up with their 2nd print of Hollywood Homicide.  |  IP: Logged Mark Lensenmayer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1605 From: Upper Arlington, OH Registered: Sep 1999 posted 06-17-2003 05:41 PM                     I recently had my first experience with DLP, and I'm very grateful that the theatre listed the Digital engagement separately in their ads. I drove 100+ miles to see this, and I only went because I could clearly see what time I needed to be there. This theatre was running 3 35mm prints of NEMO, so I could have been waiting a long time. I went to see just what DLP looked like. I was very impressed with the picture...as long as I stayed back least 1.5 screen widths. At 1 screen width, it started to "pixel" up. At .5 screen widths, it was quite annoying. This is a good start, but I'm looking forward to seeing further developments before making any more judgements.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 06-17-2003 06:21 PM                        While many of you at various part of the country and the world have an opportunity to choose between a DLP and 35mm film presentation none of the theatres in Honolulu and other parts of the state have digital projection - yet. One of my friends at Consolidated told me there is a good chance the Ward 16 might get DLP if George Lucas is serious about limiting the theatrical showings of Episode III in only digital cinemas. As far as I am concerned, I could care less if the picture did not play in our local theatres in DLP because I can go to my friend's high end video store and watch the DVD a few months later for free in his screening room equipped with the latest state of the art video projector and awesome sound system which is just as good as the Waikiki Twin's sound when they were still in operation. -Claude  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 06-18-2003 06:59 AM                        Mark Lensenmayer wrote: quote: I went to see just what DLP looked like. I was very impressed with the picture...as long as I stayed back least 1.5 screen widths. At 1 screen width, it started to "pixel" up. At .5 screen widths, it was quite annoying. Pretty much in line with my experience with the current DLP-Cinema technology. I find that I am distracted by the pixel stucture and "jaggies" when I sit closer than about 2 screen heights, or in your terms for a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, a little more than one screen width. The current 2K D-ILA projectors and prototype 2K DLP-Cinema technology have much less visible pixel structure than the present 1280 x 1024 pixel technology.  |  IP: Logged Matt Hale Expert Film Handler Posts: 123 From: Vancouver, Canada Registered: Dec 2002 posted 06-18-2003 12:55 PM                        On Monday I had a chance to see one of the newer D-ILA projectors in action. The screen was rather small, only about 12 feet wide, but even when standing right next to it I had a very hard time discerning individual pixels. There was absolutely no grid effect. Areas of similar brightness and colour blended perfectly. There were signs of some jaggies along sharp edges when sitting closer than about 1.5 screen heights, but I was considerably more impressed than I have been with other digital projectors I have worked with.  |  IP: Logged Mark Lensenmayer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1605 From: Upper Arlington, OH Registered: Sep 1999 posted 06-18-2003 03:26 PM                     John, I used "widths" as that is easy to calculate from ceiling tiles. It's hard to calculate the vertical in the dark. Besides, it was my only day off for awhile, and I didn't feel like working .  |  IP: Logged Ted Costas Expert Film Handler Posts: 119 From: Hollywood, CA, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 06-19-2003 08:23 PM                     Any studio that releases a movie in Digital Cinema is losing money on every site they go to. Currently, the model doesn't work financially, but down the road it will. With less than 100 Domestic sites, the costs per site can be higher than that of a print. That's a nice way of saying, the Studios must be supporting this effort or they wouldn't be throwing money away with every D-Cinema site. When we get over 1000 screens, then you'll start seeing the hype machine get into gear... but right now... there's not a lot of folks that want to drive 100 miles to see something that is not "better than film." Yet. Digital promises long term quality. And I hate to say it, but not every theatre has operators that care about a quality presentation like those on this web site. Hence, prints get scratched, mangled, and it's the audience that suffers, or as Mark G. says, it's the audience that accepts it. Also, yes, there will be cost savings to the content owners as well... once there are a good number of D-Cinema screens. Timetable: It's funny, I have an old e-mail I sent a friend that said. "It'll take 5 years for D-Cinema to take over 5% of the domestic market, so don't bother me 'till 2004." That was an aggressive prediction in 1999. But I have a feeling that this ShoWest in 2004 will be a big one for D-Cinema. There is a lot brewing out there, and maybe some of the issues you all are 100% correct about, the high cost of projectors, blink-of-an-eye technology upgrades, visible pixels for those sitting up front, will be addressed within the next year... Then again, I may have to change the date on my quote to read, "don't bother me 'till 2006." We'll see. Yours, Ted  |  IP: Logged Mark Lensenmayer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1605 From: Upper Arlington, OH Registered: Sep 1999 posted 06-19-2003 08:56 PM                     There is an excellent article on Digital Cinema in the Circuits section of the NY Times. You can find it at the NY Times website, but it is only available free for a few days, and it does require registration. Article was very fair, emphasizing that research is still being done, and that it will not replace film in the near future. It was not a "If its digital, its better" article.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Haney Master Film Handler Posts: 265 From: Cupertino, CA, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 06-20-2003 03:09 AM                     Mark, here is the NY Times article you referred to: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/19/technology/circuits/19cine.html Also of note is this DigitalCinemaMag article from February: http://www.uemedia.com/CPC/article_5092.shtml Both articles focus mainly on the Digital Cinema Initiatives consortium and its efforts to establish a standard. I am particularly encouraged by the DigitalCinemaMag article, which says the group has already decided HDTV quality isn't good enough.  |  IP: Logged Bruce Hansen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 847 From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-20-2003 05:05 PM                     Everyone talks about what a pop corn jockey can do to film, what do you think he will do to a DLP, and it's server. "Gee, I wonder what this knob does; gee, I wonder if I can get onto ebay on this baby? The theaters may end up hireing someone who knows video projection, AND someone who knows servers. That is going to cost a good bit more than a pop corn jockey.  |  IP: Logged Alan Gouger Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 501 From: Bradenton, FL, USA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 06-21-2003 04:07 PM                        Hello John Pytlak We live in the "Imaging Capital " of the world butI find it depressing how far behind we are here in Rochester in regards to complete lack of any digital presentation ( other than what takes place behind closed doors at Kodak) also just as depressing is the fact every other city including Buffalo is broadcasting some form of High Definition TV but us. While other cities are going HD our local channel 13 just went stereo. Very sad Have there been any local digital presentations I have missed that you are aware of or do they not see Rochester as a major market worth the effort?  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 06-22-2003 12:13 PM                        No local Digital Cinema presentations in Rochester, other than the ones internal to Kodak. The Kodak Digital Cinema team did fill the huge screen in the 2000- seat "Theater on the Ridge" a few months ago, open to all Kodak employees. Impressive. The local theatre circuits like Cinemark, Regal, and Loews have a few dozen Digital Cinema sites in other cities, but are likely waiting for the technology to mature, and a workable business case to be proposed by the Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) committee. Guess you'll have to travel to Toronto, NYC, Boston, or Cleveland to see the few close theatres that have it. Rochester DOES have both 8-perf 70mm (the Strasenburgh Planetarium) and 15-perf 70mm 3D (Cinemark IMAX) theatres. http://www.bigmoviezone.com/txshows/theaters/?uniq=554 http://www.bigmoviezone.com/txshows/theaters/index.html?uniq=548 And the Theatre on the Ridge can still show 5-perf 70mm on that huge screen.  |  IP: Logged Charles Everett Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: New Jersey Registered: May 2001 posted 06-28-2003 10:34 AM                     The UA Union Square is opening Terminator 3 in DLP. Add the ongoing run of Finding Nemo and Union Square will have 2 titles in DLP for the 4th. Instead of hyping Ah-nold Warner Bros. should have pushed the DLP runs -- "See T3 in DLP!"  |  IP: Logged

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