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This topic comprises 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
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Author
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Topic: Showplace Cinemas, Evansville, IN. Going Digital
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David Zylstra
Master Film Handler
Posts: 432
From: Novi, MI, USA
Registered: Mar 2007
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posted 08-03-2007 12:40 PM
No, lenses are extra as well as a playback server and automation . . . . nothing else comes to mind that you would need besides a TMS system if you want one.
The image quality is the same since Christie uses the same DLP light engine as the CP200H, NEC and Barco are using the smaller .98" DLP chip, but the pixel count and color reproduction on those are the same.
I was told that Christie's new ZX projector costs 20% less to manufacture, so if list for the CP200H was $100,000 then this one should be $80,000 . . . . . as I understand it they went with a single phase 220 lamp power supply which allowed them to fit all the components in the lamphouse body so the base is just a projector stand . . . . I recently found out that they came up with another 3K lamp that is brighter than the CDXL-30 and that is the real source of the higher lumen output . . . . the only reason the new lamphouse cannot take a 4K+ lamp is the power supply limitation and lamps larger than 4K won't physically fit (I originally thought they were using the smaller DLP chip, but they stuck with the larger one that is in the H lamphouse).
As a sidenote I heard that the Sony's are going for $85,000 . . .
As for still needing film - since early spring we have rarely had to build a print at our 2 18 screen locations (mostly limited release films) and our 10 screen has run almost 100% digital so a new cinema would theoretically only need a few 35mm systems to accomodate the rare film only releases . . . . of course we'll see how many 35mm prints get dumped on us this fall (last year we ended up with about 50% film for the fall releases after an almost 100% digital summer).
As for buying a "DCI compliant" system - don't buy yet unless you have a garauntee from the manufacturer that they will give you all future components necessary to bring your hardware up to be 100% DCI compliant -- currently there is NO DCI compliant system out there, nothing can be truly compliant until SMPTE publishes all the standards.
Installation costs shouldn't be more than anyone pays now for 35mm - i.e. the work required to align the projector and set up the server is not much more than setting up a 35mm system - i.e. platter alignment, rollers, aperture filing, etc turns into aiming, sizing the picture if the lenses are variable focal length, setting up the input files, setting the cropping files, etc. . . . . only snafu may be having to replace DOA parts . . . .
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Brad Allen
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 688
From: Evansville, IN, USA
Registered: May 2000
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posted 11-24-2007 04:26 PM
Showplace Cinemas Upgrades to Digital
Showplace Cinemas upgrade to digital movie projectors
By Kate Braser
Saturday, November 24, 2007
As holiday crowds flock to the 18-screen Showplace Cinemas East theater in Evansville this weekend, they probably won't notice projectionist Ben Knapp or the recent, major change behind how the pictures make it onto their movie screens.
Audiences won't notice because that's the point: Knapp, 25, is the man behind the scenes.
As the Morgan Avenue theater's last remaining projectionist, it's always been his job to make sure the films run smoothly, since a glitch can ruin a swiftly moving plot.
Six weeks ago — just in time for the busy holiday movie season — Knapp's job got easier. For that, he credits the recent replacement of the theater's 35mm projection machines with digital equipment.
Previously the theater had 18, 35mm projectors. Now it has only one.
It's a result of Showplace Cinemas' recent conversion, at a cost of several million dollars, of its 39 first-run screens in Evansville and Newburgh to digital. IMAX movies are still produced on the larger 70mm film.
It seems the iconic image of film running through a movie projector is becoming something of the past.
Showplace Cinemas East manager Aaron Smith, 35, said in the 17 years he has worked there, the addition of digital projectors is the biggest change he's seen in the industry.
"In 10 years, you won't be able to watch 35mm film," he said. "I was old school. I thought the quality of 35mm would be impossible to duplicate, but I have no doubt now digital is better. The vibrance of color is definitely better."
One morning this week, Knapp prepared the theater's last 35mm projector to run "Bella," a lower budget, independent film. Theater managers decided to keep the 35mm projector on site because some independent films produced by smaller companies are still done using 35mm technology.
"I don't think (digital) is good different or bad different, it's just different," Knapp said. "I like 35mm because it's so real, but the digital picture is so crisp."
As Knapp walked into the narrow, second-floor projection booth, he cupped his ear.
"Hear that?" he said.
The room was filled with the quiet hum of the new digital machines. Each digital system stood about five feet tall, and looked like a giant computer hard drive.
"It was weird coming up here the first week," Knapp said. "It was silence."
Knapp explained the 35mm machines made a loud, clattering, whirring noise.
Knapp said although it's more time consuming, he still enjoys working with the theater's remaining 35mm system.
"This is so real," he said, connecting the 35mm film comprising "Bella" from a platter the size of a tire to the projector.
He turned to point toward a digital system a few feet away. "This isn't as real," he said. "Sitting in the theater, you could hear the hum of the 35mm through the window. And up here, I could touch it."
From his perch inside the projection booth, Knapp came to recognize the cues embedded in 35mm film that would signal it was time for him to switch film. A small light known as a cigarette burn in the upper corner of the screen — usually unnoticed by the audience — would tell Knapp it was time.
"My job is a lot easier now," Knapp said. "I basically carry a clipboard around and make sure everything starts as it should. Before, if the 35mm film messed up, it would take forever to fix it. But with the digital, it just takes a few touches on the computer screen."
Saving time
The digital system saves Smith time, too. He said each digital movie is 150 to 200 gigabytes — far more than the average personal computer could contain. Despite that, each movie arrives in a small case.
"Before, the 35mm films would arrive here in two big, 50-pound cans," Smith said, adding they would come separated into several rolls. Staff would put the film together, splice it and do a complete run through. The process took more than three hours. With digital, it takes less than two hours.
"Now I just copy and paste from my keyboard," Smith said. "It doesn't take nearly as much time or space."
With that time savings comes a perk: Smith said in a normal week, Showplace East receives two or three new movies. But in the midst of a rush of holiday releases this week, they are showing eight new movies — a number Smith says might not have been possible with 35mm.
"Now that we've switched to digital it helps when we get that many new movies," he said. "Because now it's really pretty easy to set them up."
And with this week amounting to one of the theater's busiest, Knapp said he'll be able to use his new free time to help busy co-workers behind the counter or running to the bank for change.
"That's weird because it's been seven years since I worked downstairs," he said.
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