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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Topic: End Of Production GDC Models
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 12-02-2018 09:21 PM
quote: Steve Guttag
This policy of the digital cinema equipment manufacturers is what I personally think will kill exhibition, not Netflix. It will be a death by a 1000 cuts.
This situation is something many of us in this forum predicted would happen back in the early 2000's. That was when the big movie studios were hard-selling (or rather forcing) digital projection upon commercial movie theaters. By the early 2000's we already had learned how disposable digital technology devices could be. Any device that had a longer than expected life could be turned into a door stop instantly if any component failed. These companies routinely stop making replacement parts for anything more than a few years old. That even goes for expensive devices like digital projectors.
Nevertheless the studios deliberately ram-rodded this stuff for the sole reason of saving millions of dollars on film print costs. They only cared about their bottom line, even if it forced the equivalent of an unfunded mandate upon theaters. This doesn't even get into the very questionable claims that digital had over film in terms of presentation quality.
We saw lots of movie theaters close in the digital conversion process. Many new theaters built for digital projection have their own flaws. Common-width screens are the norm, as if we're living in the 1980's when most movies were framed in 1.85:1 ratio. The problem is the vast majority of movies are framed in 'scope format, which means the movies are letter-boxed in most of these theaters. Worse yet, the industry decided to letter-box the 'scope format in the projectors, making 'scope the lowest resolution format. Add to that the goofs of many theaters who leave the 3D filters in place, softening an already low resolution (yet digital) image.
Aside from all the fundamental technical problems with d-cinema and the financial challenges faced by movie theaters, the streaming services like Netflix are posing their own dire threats to the movie industry. They're helping erode the theatrical release window even more. Conventional 2 hour theatrical releases have to follow the Save The Cat bible. Cable TV and streaming services have more creative freedom with their shows. They can develop less conventional plot lines and show more edgy product. There's no fear about something getting into NC-17 territory. The most fundamental shift is they're getting away from the conventional 2 hour format. A "movie" can now play at the duration needed (as long as the budget can allow it), be it 4 hours or 12 hours. Home viewers seem to love binge-watching these shows.
The commercial theater industry is being threatened with a death of 1000 cuts, but those cuts are coming from multiple culprits from within the theatrical industry and outside of it.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 12-03-2018 05:23 PM
quote: Justin Hamaker
Our theatre in Paradise is likely to not have power for several months after the fire, and likely won't be open for a couple years. I'm guessing we should just assume the ICP boards are going to wind up bricked. As it is the theatre has already been without power for almost a month.
I would be more concerned about the cert batteries in the media blocks than the ICPs. At a training school I went to at one of the major manufacturers, I was told that the cert battery soldered onto the ICP is supposed to last for ten years. When I asked if that was ten years on the shelf or ten years assuming a typical usage pattern (i.e. the ICP has power for about 12 hours out of every 24), the trainer said that he didn't know, but guessed the latter.
So it's really going to depend on how old your ICPs were when the fire happened, and in any case, there is nothing you can do about it. Agreed that it would be prudent to factor in new ICPs into your insurance claim.
IMBs are more of a concern, and there, you can do something. The shortest lived are GDCs: IMHO, on the shelf, you're not safe leaving them for more than a year. Others that I know of have shelf lives claimed at between three and eight years. If you can get access to the building, I would certainly suggest replacing all the media block and/or IMB batteries as soon as you are able to.
Enigma cards are only safe for about a month without power. If you have any of those, all I can suggest there is to get them to another site that uses them, and swap them in and out with the existing ones on a monthly cycle. There is a two-pin header on the boards that you can apply 12v to to charge them outside of a projector, if you can get hold of a connector and hook it to a wall wart 12v power supply.
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