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Author Topic: Major Digital Roll Out Under Way Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 09-10-2010 02:15 PM                    Frank, if I recall correctly, the industry was on the verge of starting a "roll-out" ever since Episode II came out in 2002. Nice to see they're finally getting around to it!  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-10-2010 06:39 PM                        Dim pictures and dirty lenses aren't exactly insignificant issues and are pretty much what makes a theatre a grindhouse for me. Not to mention all the other non-booth stuff like an overall dirty house and nasty staff, and all the other the stuff that makes people complain about going to the theatre. My point being, digital won't do much to positively impact such vile places. People will still hate to go to them. And as for the houses that Do Film Right, where there are NO scratches, and NO dirt and steady, well maintained projection, and excellent sound without blown voicecoils -- digital won't do very much to make a substantial impact on patron satisfaction there because film that's done right has looked and sounded damn good all along. As for the speed of the CinemaScope conversion, I think it was very much dependent on the physical structure of each theatre. In my area of Queens, the single screens that I frequented as a youngster were such that they needed to do lots of construction to install the new process; it wasn't just a matter of putting in a wider screen in the same proscenium. I remember going by the Century Fresh Meadows Theatre which was one of their flagship houses (about 800 seats) in my neighborhood and peering in one of the open side doors; no question there was major reconstruction being done. I recall seeing lots of scaffolding and guys with wheelbarrows with cement. Theatres of this caliber of course used curtains which meant they had put in new track, extend curtain warmers, valances, possibly entire new curtains had to be installed, and where there was no moving masking before, new motorized masking tracks had to be installed and wired back to the booth, and then speakers and all that additional wiring. My recollection was that they were closed for weeks, but then again, I was an awe-struck kid and whereas it many not have taken them two weeks, they certainly didn't do on the overnight either. As a kid I knew something BIG was going to happen for a theatre to be closed. They had "Closed to install CinemaSope for THE ROBE" on the marquee. The switch to digital, so far as I have seen, seems to be done on the down-low as they say. It's done without a hint of hype. What's THAT about? That is about as un-Hollywood as burning the flag is un-American!  |  IP: Logged Bruce Hansen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 847 From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-10-2010 08:45 PM                     A lot more can go wrong with a video projector then with film. Missing a color or colors, missing bits causing posterization in one of more colors, stuck pixels, problems in the decoder and decompression causing jumping, jerking, stuttering, and screwy color, server freeze. Don't forget you can still have a missaligned lamp, or the projector knocked off center, and no one sees it because no one cares.  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 09-10-2010 11:00 PM                     Right you are Bruce. And as Frank pointed out, the slackers who couldn't do film right are in for some very nasty and expensive surprises with . Give it time, it will come crashing down around everyone and a mad rush will be on to go BACK to 35mm film.  |  IP: Logged Anslem Rayburn Master Film Handler Posts: 476 From: Yuma, AZ, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 09-11-2010 06:02 AM                     Digital is here. It's not going away. Nobody is going to rush back to 35mm. I enjoy film, but the reality is it's run it's course. Records sounded better than tapes, tapes sounded better than CDs, and CDs sounded better than MP3s. Not enough people care about it to make an economic difference. For an industry worried about DVD windows, it seems silly that there would be a debate about which format is better.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 09-11-2010 08:27 AM                    For an industry worried about DVD windows, moving your presentation closer to a DVD quality experience seems like the most colossal mistake in Hollywood history, but maybe that's just me. Time will tell, I guess.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-11-2010 09:34 AM                     While I agree, nobody is going to be rushing back to 35mm film...the "records sounded better than tapes" statement above was FALSE...nobody (or very few freaks) ever thought records sounded better than tapes. And by tapes, I don't mean the cassette type...which were designed for dictation. I mean the open-reel type...you know...the ones that made the masters...FOR THE RECORDS (Since WWII, at least). However, you point is taken...as cassettes displaced open-reel machines at the consumer level (for the most part and definitely at the pre-recorded level), despite open-reel always sounding better than the cassette counterpart (I've done many a blind testing on that one...I NEVER had the reel-to-reel lose to the cassette and I used pretty high-end cassettes against middle-of-the-road reel-to-reels). I don't know if I would call it a roll out or transition or what...the bulk for us remains 3D oriented and that bubble seems to be bursting. I think that if 4K production through DI becomes the norm, while it will improve film's look over the crappy 2K DI...it will give digital a much more legitimate claim on being a successor...at that point, you are are at least on par, resolution wise with film's 1.85 format...while color/contrast may not be there...on a release print, you aren't there anyway. -Steve  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 09-11-2010 01:11 PM                     Steve, I'm guessing you never used the YAMAHA K-1020 deck? It is what I used back in high school and the results were literally unbelieveable. I could dupe cds to that thing and only under direct A-B comparisons could anyone tell a difference and all agreed it was soooooo minor it just didn't matter. I literally never thought that silly "compact cassette" format could ever produce any good sound...but it did on that machine. http://www.vintagecassette.com/Yamaha/K-1020 Manual I forget the Nakamichi model that most people raved over, but in a direct comparison this Yamaha took it down. Other than this one model cassette deck, it was open reel all the way though.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 09-11-2010 01:29 PM                        A digital show with those kinds of obvious malfunctions will result in far more walkouts & refunds than a 35mm show with dirt or scratches. A theater operator can't let digital degrade to the point where it's obviously completely hosed. Let's be realistic here.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-11-2010 02:02 PM                     One thing is for sure on the DCinema front...failures will almost always result in lost shows...with film systems...SOME failures results in lost shows...others limp along, in some fashion. As for the K-1020...yes it is a bit of a famous deck (and I want to say there was a Kenwood out there too that had a good rep). The Nakamichi decks of fame were the Dragon (I have one), the 1000 (probably their best), the 700 (too expensive for what it was...just get the 1000) and the 680ZX (not the ZXL). As to Nakamichi being all perfect (in some eyes), I had my Pioneer CT-F1250, out record/playback the Dragon (both tweaked). And without exception, a Teac A3300-SX or an Akai (640, I think) out recorded them all... took all takers on that challenge...there was not statistical evidence that people could tell the original from the open-reel but they could always tell the cassette. I think the Cassette did very well given its small size and slow speed but one can only push it but so far...it is like 35mm versus 70mm or 24fps versus 60fps. Steve  |  IP: Logged Bruce Hansen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 847 From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-11-2010 08:36 PM                     film tech topic - problem with digital PJ Case in point. Does anybody at the theater care?  |  IP: Logged Jeremy Weigel Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1062 From: Edmond, OK, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 09-11-2010 09:15 PM                     So far I've only had one lost show with our digitals. The touchscreen went out on one of our GDC's and hooking up an external monitor didn't help. It was a corrupted video driver or something. Anyway, most other problems have been solved by rebooting the server and then being able to fast forward to where the movie left off has kept all patrons happy. Can't say that's easily done with platters.  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 09-11-2010 09:27 PM                     quote: ...... Anyway, most other problems have been solved by rebooting the server and then being able to fast forward to where the movie left off has kept all patrons happy. Can't say that's easily done with platters. I call "yeah, right" on that last (in bold) statement. After thinking it through and unfortunately having to do it a few times when things went south, I gaurandamntee you that I can recover on a platter faster than the time it takes to reboot a server and fast forward to where the crash happened. Is it easy? Not really, but still less time than server reboot time and with greater possibility of success...if a server crashes, how do you KNOW it isn't gonna crash again at the same point when you try to restart? Steve hit it on the head with this: quote: Steve Guttag ...with film systems...SOME failures results in lost shows...others limp along, in some fashion. And the thread Bruce pointed out is a prime example of the kind of crap that's gonna discredit the whole idea that D-Crapema is the cure-all end-all to exhibition's woes. Wake up people. It's gonna crash, and crash big time.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 09-11-2010 09:52 PM                        I agree that people won't be rushing back to film. I also agree that most issues with a film show can be solved quickly and the show resumed. However I do not agree that compact cassette ever sounded better than CDs. Not that it isn't possible... but you would lose transportability. By that I mean the tape would have to be recorded and played back on the same deck, otherwise the quality would drop. Hell, you could have 5.1 super high resolution SACD quality audio on a compact cassette, granted playback would be limited to about 2 or 3 minutes or so.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 09-11-2010 10:29 PM                    Yeah, you guys have it wrong... it's LPs that sound better than CDs.  |  IP: Logged

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