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Topic: CBG-NATO Selects AccessIT

Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 05-25-2008 11:26 PM

quote: Frank Angel
It is a bit disingenuous to compare maintenance and service costs of a digital install to film projection equipment that has been in service for years if not decades.

Frankie,

David Z. more or less agreed and his gear IS at least several years old now. If you lived out west where projection is still as wild as the west used to be you'd be praying for that Digivangelest to come convert all over to digital!

Personally I don't see alternative programming going anywhere until they have really great alternative programming to offer.

Mark

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Tristan Lane
Master Film Handler

Posts: 444
From: Nampa, Idaho
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 05-26-2008 04:09 AM

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
Personally I don't see alternative programming going anywhere until they have really great alternative programming to offer.

It's not an issue of what there is to offer. It's the ability to put on the big screen anything that the customer wants. The ability to display anything from xbox, blu-ray, powerpoint, or home-made video is one of the selling points of digital cinema. I've seen private events involving client supplied content increase dramatically since the installation of d-cinema projectors. We had a charity organization organize a Halo 3 tournament at the theater using 4 sreens and a total of 16 xboxes all networked together. This took place on a Wednesday night and produced revenue far greater than we would have seen by using those 4 screens to play the current titles.

In addition, we were able to rent out our entire multiplex from 9:00am to 12:00pm to host a film festival using many older titles presented using HDDVD and Blu-ray. The royalties paid for presenting via a home-grade format were less expensive than film, and the customer was educated on the quality reduction, but chose this because the film rental was cost-prohibitive for the one-time showing. The theater would have been closed during this time, and instead we were able to generate revenue on an otherwise lackluster Thursday morning.

The fact that we can offer this service to potential event customers sets us apart from the film-based theaters since we are much more flexible with what we can present in-house.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 05-26-2008 05:19 AM

Tristan,

Not to rain on your parade, but a cheap $2500 (or less) video projector currently accomplishes that same goal you just wrote about. For running DVDs and such, a low end video projector does most people just fine.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 05-26-2008 11:40 AM

A low end video projector, or even a pretty good video projector costing a few thousand dollars, doesn't have the brightness or lens quality of a Christie CP2000.

That difference is easily seen in quite a few commercial theaters on a daily basis. Just check out the digital pre-shows at a Cinemark theater or any other theater using a small video projector. It sucks. Consumer projectors are simply not designed to throw images as large as those found in a commercial movie theater.

Our local Carmike theater had a system installed a couple or so months back that uses the CP2000 for pre show tasks. It looks a LOT better than any image a consumer grade projector can throw.

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 05-26-2008 11:56 AM

Actually, we have been in the alternative content projector market for quite a few years. I disagree that a $2500 projector does an adquate job. I don't doubt that some people use them.

However, I also don't agree that a CP2000 is at all required for virtually all alternative content and in fact would likely be worse for some types of events.

PowerPoint, for example, it is ideal to have a projector that truely hits a pixel for pixel image. So long as computers primarily have 1024x768 as their most popular output, having a projector that recognizes that and will put out a "True" image that is pixel for pixel, will always look sharper. LCDs normally beat DLPs for PP shows too since DLPs tend to have a shimmer to their pixels versus the rather static LCD.

As far as DVD movies, getting the image scaled well is key to the display...either LCD or DLP can work well here and neither need be a Dcinema grade projector. The medium is the limiting factor here so getting good whites and blacks will be the trick, not resolution. Note, LCD and DLP projectors have been constantly getting brighter while lowering their costs.

How big is the image going to be? If the image will be 15.5' or less tall, then a 6000 lumen projector on a matte-white screen will be sufficient to hit 14fL (the DCinema standard). One of the services we have supplied projectors for only provides 720p content...a 1080 projector isn't going to get anymore out of it so why spend the HUGE difference in price on a 2K projector? Better to buy and use a 1.3K projector now (we sell primarily 1366x768 or 1366x800 projectors) that are really good for Power Point and also look pretty decent for the MET and other alternative live broadcasts.

As technology marches on and 2K source material becomes more previlent, I'll bet 2K projectors will come down to more like the 1.3K projector prices we currently have. With a long-throw lens, 6000 lumens, HDCP complient (can handle 1080p, including 24p varieties) is on the order of $10K for an LCD or 50-70% more for a similar DLP. A 4000 lumen machine is $2000-$3000 less. They just are not that expensive.

Now if you have a DCinema projector already...by all means take advantage of it for alternative content...but if you don't and all you want is alternative content, the are cheaper solutions that will perform every bit as well.

Steve

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Jack Ondracek
Film God

Posts: 2348
From: Port Orchard, WA, USA
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 05-26-2008 12:06 PM

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
If you lived out west where projection is still as wild as the west used to be

Huh?

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Tristan Lane
Master Film Handler

Posts: 444
From: Nampa, Idaho
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 05-26-2008 08:46 PM

quote: Brad Miller
Not to rain on your parade, but a cheap $2500 (or less) video projector currently accomplishes that same goal you just wrote about.

Wow, Brad. For someone who insists on the best possible presentation, I'm surprised you made the comparison between an off the shelf video projector and a cinema grade projector. That comparison is like pitting a B&H 16mm projector against a Kinoton.

Oh well, not everyone sees eye to eye on this subject.

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 05-26-2008 08:53 PM

quote: Steve Guttag
PowerPoint, for example, it is ideal to have a projector that truely hits a pixel for pixel image. So long as computers primarily have 1024x768 as their most popular output, having a projector that recognizes that and will put out a "True" image that is pixel for pixel, will always look sharper.

Actually we run Power Point presentations through the Geffen box into the Christie ZX DVI input in our shop for training and it looks exceptionally good. No pixel mismatch, creeping or artifact problem what so ever.

quote: Jack Ondracek
Huh?

Jack... Remember you don't live in the West... you live in the Northwest... So you probably haven't been privy to the inside joke!

Mark

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Tristan Lane
Master Film Handler

Posts: 444
From: Nampa, Idaho
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 05-26-2008 08:59 PM

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
through the Geffen box

Not too shabby of a box is it?? I hope they keep making them.

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 05-27-2008 03:36 PM

quote: Tristan Lane
Not too shabby of a box is it??

Excellent products! Geffen isn't going anywhere, just expanding the product line. The nice part is these individual dedicated boxes can cover a myriad of different inputs for far less than one "all in one" conversion box can and these seperate boxes do a much better job at what they do.

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Richard Fowler
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 05-27-2008 07:51 PM

Gefen.......I have a small trunk full of their "blue" widgets for rentals [Smile]

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