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Topic: I never knew Digital Projection would come to this

Ron Funderburg
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 814
From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA
Registered: Nov 2007

posted 07-11-2016 12:47 PM

quote:
"Sir, It's extremely hot out in the vestibule,

Your customers call you sir? Where do you live I need to move there. Just kidding! A well maintained theater is the duty of the manager but if they don't give you the funds to do the job your not going to be able to so effectively.

One way to reduce a lot of issues is a friendly well trained staff. It is certain that a trained DC Tech needs to check out the picture and sound often. I take care of the theaters Digital Projection for the company I work for, it is easy to see which have staff help things run smooth and which have staff that hinder things.

As to Sony, they make wonderful home entertainment systems and should stick to that.

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Claude S. Ayakawa
Film God

Posts: 2738
From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 07-11-2016 01:46 PM

Thanks Steve for your support. Carsten, I do not need to have my HDTV color calibrated. to know I have a set that is outputting images with perfect color. My set is a forty six inch Samsung that came that way from the factory and I am extremely pleased with it. As Steve said, I have years of color rendition experience as a professional photographer with a PPA Master of Photography and Photographic Craftsmen degrees (51 years and & 1 month to be exact) and a Brooks Institute oF Photography education. On top of that, I have been a devoted movie theatre attendee almost all my life and have seen almost all of the original classic three strip Technicolor movies when they were first released and that is the way I became appreciative of good color at the cinema.

-Claude

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-11-2016 03:16 PM

quote: Claude S. Ayakawa
I called and spoke to an assistant manager at the Regal Pearl Highland after I had started this thread and he told me how sorry he was that I was not happy with the picture quality at their theatre and when I asked, he told me I was the the person to complain about the poor picture quality

One possibility that hasn't been brought up: Given the turnover of employees at many theaters, it's entirely possible that Claude was the first person THAT MANAGER had heard a complaint from. If I were Claude I would write a letter to the company directly and maybe include a printout of this Film-Tech thread.

It just blows me away that exhibition companies are short-changing the very thing people go to the movies for.

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-11-2016 03:25 PM

Mike,

The chains sloppiness is why so many independents do so well. Look at your theater. No one has anything like yours in the entire State. Not till you get to Lovell, WY is there a comparable sound system. Indies do it better and they have the customer base that keeps coming back too because of it.

Mark

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-11-2016 03:29 PM

Well to be fair, I've been to several major theaters in the past few years (AMC, Regal, Cinemark are the ones that come to mind) and they've all had what I thought were very good images -- seemed bright and clear to me. So maybe, just like in the film days, the decline in quality is a regional thing...? My wife goes to the Carmike in Billings every now and then and she says the pictures there still look good, bright and crisp.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 07-11-2016 03:57 PM

quote: Marco Giustini
35mm projectors needed daily attention.
Digital projectors need a specialised visit every 12 months. That will keep the picture in good shape.

What?! The projectors in our two large houses are probably only running and lit for around 15 hours a week, and even they need a xenon bulb replacement more than annually (typically every six months or so in one, and nine months in the other). Having been trained as an old school projectionist I can replace bulbs, clean reflectors, replace air filters etc. etc., myself, but am guessing that many of the megachain 'plexes no longer have anyone on the regular payroll who can. And projectors that are operating with the bulb on for 50-60 hours a week are going to go through them a lot more quickly.

quote: Mike Blakesley
Given the turnover of employees at many theaters, it's entirely possible that Claude was the first person THAT MANAGER had heard a complaint from.

Even in HI? I'd have thought that the turnover of management level staff, even working for the local branches of national and multinational companies, would be much lower there (and possibly in AK as well) than in the Lower 48, simply because of the cost of relocating people in and out.

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Buck Wilson
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 894
From: St. Joseph MO, USA
Registered: Sep 2010

posted 07-11-2016 05:22 PM

I'd have a real hard time believing Regal pays for relocation for any theater position. MAYBE corporate office but even then I kinda doubt it.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-11-2016 06:43 PM

Yeah certainly not "assistant managers." That sounds like a college kid-type job, or at least it is at the Carmikes around here.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 07-11-2016 11:17 PM

It's what you get with these cinemas now days: Major changeover in new hires that simply don't know what a bad presentation really looks like, or even care since it's beyond that person's pay grade to even do anything about it...and along with instructions that the company tech adjusts this equipment, not the suits.

It's just us with the experience that knows the difference, and that's the simple key statement in the situation.

I bet if a cinema chain, or owner trains a suit to be a technician and teach him what good is, then that cinema might be better operated...as with the case with Claude: if REG trained that suit what good should look like and how to take care of the situation, he would have prob corrected it long before Claude went into that house to see that feature.

-Monte

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Marco Giustini
Film God

Posts: 2713
From: Reading, UK
Registered: Nov 2007

posted 07-13-2016 01:23 AM

quote: Leo Enticknap
What?! The projectors in our two large houses are probably only running and lit for around 15 hours a week, and even they need a xenon bulb replacement more than annually

Clearly lamp change and filter change/cleaning should be performed by the cinema staff.

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Tony Bandiera Jr
Film God

Posts: 3067
From: Moreland Idaho
Registered: Apr 2004

posted 07-13-2016 12:12 PM

quote: Marco Giustini
Clearly lamp change and filter change/cleaning should be performed by the cinema staff.

Absolutely.

But, just as in the film days, management neither cares enough to hire people who can be taught how to do so, or often has the policy in place that it its strictly hands-off, only the chains' tech can do it. Often both.

And having worked film at a certain chain where my title was "booth usher" I can say that most if not all of the others in the location with the same title could barely handle threading the machines, much less doing ANY maintenance. While I was there our location was the ONLY exception to the "no staff touches the machines" rule, and that was because the chain president was the one who got me the job to go "clean house" and fix the horrid presentation and breakdown record.. (under 10 screens and averaging over 20-25 lost shows per WEEK.) The only thing I didn't do there was full "B" chain...(didn't have the test gear.)

Seems that in the digital era (and no this is not an anti-digital slam) there is a greater probability that the "booth staff" (if one exists) would be even less capable of understanding how to change bulbs or filters without screwing something up....

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Marco Giustini
Film God

Posts: 2713
From: Reading, UK
Registered: Nov 2007

posted 07-13-2016 02:56 PM

Hi Tony

I understand and I know how things work in the real world. But my point is:

35mm: a team of projectionists constantly on site plus an engineer every now and then for major breakdowns or for A-Chain etc.

Digital: One person trained to clean filters and change lamps (very little time every month per machine, shall we say 2 hours PER MONTH?) plus ONE specialised visit every 12 MONTHS to clean optics, do colours, upgrade software etc.

You then need to consider film scheduling which could be done remotely by anybody. Content these days arrive mostly via internet/satellite.

It seems very reasonable to me. If companies want to save even more money, it's their problem and if things go wrong we can't really blame the equipment. My 2p opinion of course.

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Carsten Kurz
Film God

Posts: 4340
From: Cologne, NRW, Germany
Registered: Aug 2009

posted 07-13-2016 03:56 PM

Nope, Marco. They now buy phosphor lasers in the hope that no one is needed to visit the booth for years.

- Carsten

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Marco Giustini
Film God

Posts: 2713
From: Reading, UK
Registered: Nov 2007

posted 07-13-2016 05:44 PM

they will still require filters, cleaning and updates. The main advantage of lasers/phosphors would be that brightness will stay constant, no ups and downs due to Xenon aging, no training, no misaligned lamps, no explosions etc.

That said if you are smart enough and you have micro-filtered air in the booth (or use AC units to cool down the air) filters will stay in very good condition for a long time.

Still, those guys forget how expensive 35mm was (from printing to exibition) but no matter what they keep trying saving money.

They won't be happy until they manufacture machines which are capable of self-clean the filters automatically.
And don't forget gold coins coming out of the ICP every month.

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Claude S. Ayakawa
Film God

Posts: 2738
From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 10-06-2016 06:18 PM

I finally stopped going to Regal's Pearl Highland Theatres a few weeks ago and I now frequent the Pearlridge 16 operated by Consolidated Theatres and the difference in picture quality is amazing with perfect color and brightness. The Tuesday only admission price is also cheaper. At the Pearl Highland, the price is $7.50 and the Pearlridge is $6.00. Hotdogs and a small popcorn are $2.00 each at the snack bar so for $1.50 more at the Pearlridge, I get a movie and nice snacks.

The Pearlridge projectors are Barco and the Pearl Highland is Sony. It is amazing the people at Regal cannot see the difference between good and bad color picture quality and when they said the customers are not complaining about it, I think they are lying
.

-Claude

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