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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Author
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Topic: Major Digital Roll Out Under Way
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Edward Havens
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 614
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Mar 2008
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posted 09-12-2010 07:54 AM
The plain and simple truth of the matter is... there are some on these boards that will hate digital no matter what, based on personal biases, biases that will never be altered no matter how hard anyone else tries to explain how faulty those biases are. They will latch on to any problem, perceived or real, based on mechanical failure or human mistake, and use that as a way to push their bias.
I recently went from a 13 screen house with one Digital house and 12 35mm houses, to a 14 screen all digital house. To be completely honest, I love being all digital. Whatever problems the digital haters in this forum use to rip digital apart, I do not have. In the two years my current location has been in operation, we have lost a grand total of ZERO shows. Why? Because all of the managers and those trusted to ne in the booth have been properly trained on how to problem solve, and what few problems we have had in two years, we have been able to solve in a matter of a couple minutes.
Digital also opens up a world of possibility to audiences. In our small town located about an hour and a half drive away from a major metropolitan city, we don't get a whole lot of world class events like the New York Metropolitan Opera coming to town, but we can and do bring events like this to our neighbors, and they love us for it. If a local business wants to do a PowerPoint presentation for their employees, we can set that up almost instantly. Someone wants to rent a screen to have a private gaming tournament? No problem. We can cater to the wants and needs of our community much more effectively with digital than with 35mm.
The only honest drawback to digital that I can see right now is the lack of classic movies remastered for 2K or 4K DLP. But let's face it, most of the 35mm prints of Harold and Maude or Taxi Driver that are available to theatres are in pretty well worn by now.
Part of me is hoping in five or ten years that most repertory titles have been converted to DLP, if only because I want to open a rep house in my home town. Introduce a new generation to the likes of The King of Hearts or The Ruling Class.
But getting back on topic for a second, it is true that demand is outpacing supply when it comes to digital projectors. Digital projection, whether one likes it or not, is here to stay, and those who refuse to join us in the present and the future will be relegated to the past.
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 09-12-2010 09:36 AM
quote: Edward Havens
The plain and simple truth of the matter is... there are some on these boards that will hate digital no matter what, based on personal biases, biases that will never be altered no matter how hard anyone else tries to explain how faulty those biases are. They will latch on to any problem, perceived or real, based on mechanical failure or human mistake, and use that as a way to push their bias.
Hmmm, and your observations eschew this....how?
Your experience is based on one specific theatre and in one specific location, yet on that experience you are making judgements about how the technology will work everywhere. Heed you own criticism.
Many people on this board have been working for decades in the industry and just because they have a broad background and knowledge to be able to point out problems they seen with a new technology doesn't mean they "hate" digital. You seem to "love" digital based solely on your single experience. You also seem to ignore the fact that you are basing your comparison on older film equipment that has been running in that booth for probably longer than you've been alive. To compare all the variables that affect booth operational such as maintenance costs, operation costs and the potential for lost shows based on digital equipment that is literally new out of the box with film equipment that's been running for decades is seriously flawed.
And BTW, the "truth," as you say, Edward, is never plain and it's never simple.
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Tony Bandiera Jr
Film God
Posts: 3067
From: Moreland Idaho
Registered: Apr 2004
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posted 09-12-2010 01:17 PM
Thank you Frank, you saved me from having to shoot Edward down myself. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
I have 29 years experience in this industry and have worked on everything from tube amps and carbon arcs to today's digital amps, crossovers and xenon lamps.
I have also encountered a fair number of D-Crapema installs and have seen and experienced the problems (and the plusses) first-hand. I can say and will admit that DLP, when things are working, can do a great job. But even the current state of the art digital projection has visible artifacts that are very distracting, (bear in mind I am one of those who can see individual FRAMES stepping in film projection) and as already pointed out in numerous threads, breakdowns frequently result in TOTAL loss of a show, where short of major mechanical or electrical failure, breakdowns in film can usually be resolved quickly or inexpensively.
quote: Edward Havens
...The only honest drawback to digital that I can see right now is the lack of classic movies remastered for 2K or 4K DLP..... (and) ....Part of me is hoping in five or ten years that most repertory titles have been converted to DLP,
And I wouldn't hold my breath on that. I have clients that are in the same boat and wishing to get rep content on dlp. But as of now it isn't gonna happen any time soon. There is simply NO economic motivation to master the classics for DLP. And seeing as the whole D-Crapema caper is motivated by the studio's greed and desire to save money, do you honestly believe that they will shell out the money to master the rep classics for the very limited market share? ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
I am all for technology when it advances the cause and is applied properly and with due diligence, neither of which is true about D-Crapema so far.
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Bruce Hansen
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 847
From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 09-12-2010 06:57 PM
I could see how in a "small" theater, if the 35MM projector had been left in place, if the digital PJ crapped out, and it was going to cost say $4000.00 to fix it, the managment might tell the leasing company to come get that digital piece of curd, and they would go back to film. If the theater told the studios that they need film prints from now on, the studios WILL send them film prints. After all, this is all about money. The studios have an option, send film, or loose the money from showing their movies at that location.
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Edward Havens
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 614
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Mar 2008
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posted 09-13-2010 03:31 PM
quote: Frank Angel
Your experience is based on one specific theatre and in one specific location, yet on that experience you are making judgements about how the technology will work everywhere. Heed you own criticism.
Thank you for making my point for me, Frank. My posting clearly states I have experience with Digital Cinema in more than one location, but in the rush to make your point based on your prejudices and biases, you ignore this fact. You also jump to conclusions that this is my only experience with Digital Cinema, when it is not. In the past 24 years, I have worked with 16 and 35 and 70mm, I have worked with Christie and NEC and Barco digital projectors, I have worked with Doremi and Dolby Digital servers, and I have worked with RealD and Dolby Digital 3D. In the six years I have been working with Digital Cinema, the theatres I have worked at have easily run tens of thousands of shows digitally, without one single major interruption in service.
Next time, fact check before going on a spiel.
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deserved to be hated. The 1280 X 1024 native resolution and lack of compression standards made the first generation of digital cinema pretty crappy. 2K made things much better, but not better than film done right. Of course the tyranny of 2K-based digital intermediates in post production placed an image quality bottleneck on 35mm print production.
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in all my life.
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