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Author Topic: Projection Room tours are kind of boring now... Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-07-2015 05:30 PM                        Funny how when there was really something interesting in the booth, it was usually hidden behind closed doors but a bunch of boring computer equipment nobody cares about is put on display for all to see.  |  IP: Logged Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 04-07-2015 05:38 PM                     Yea- - projection rooms have become pretty boring. It reminds me of when I when I was working as a broadcast services engineer for "the phone company" and one of my friends kept asking me to give him a tour of a telco central office. The old electro-mechanical switching offices were really something to see, (and hear) with hundreds, if not thousands of relays clacking, the motors of mechanical ringing generators humming, teletype printers and tape-punches banging away and the reels of the 1/2inch computer tape drives, used to record billing data, whirring in their cabinets. But by the time he was asking me to give him a "tour", central offices had become completely digital. And, just like digital projection rooms, - - completely soul-less. I told him he might as well take the back off of his TV set and look at that, and that would be about as interesting to watch as a "modern" telco central office. Yes, digital has killed the joy out of a lot of things.  |  IP: Logged Jason McMillan Film Handler Posts: 68 From: Houston, TX, USA Registered: Dec 2009 posted 04-07-2015 06:54 PM                     When I was a kid, my parents would take me to the Bel Air theatre here in town that had been turned into a 5-plex from a single screen. One of the auditoriums had a giant window in the back of the projection booth where you could see all the booth equipment walking by. I remember looking at it with fascination, but was much too young to remember what any of it was. Sadly, it closed down in 1993 or 1994.  |  IP: Logged Buck Wilson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 894 From: St. Joseph MO, USA Registered: Sep 2010 posted 04-07-2015 08:07 PM                     Putting servers in a display case? WTF?! Remember when projection equipment came in colors?? Our booth now is 50 shades of grey.  |  IP: Logged Rex Oliver Film Handler Posts: 65 From: Greenville, NC. USA Registered: Apr 2013 posted 04-08-2015 01:54 AM                     We have had folks see the transmitter plant I work in.Older tranmsitters have windows so you can see the tubes and such.2 of the new transmitters don't have the windows-so they are kind of boring to see.I remember during college days me and my brother would watch movies at the drive in near Vermillion,S Dak.Remember peaking in one of the projection port windows and seeing a cabinet full of mercury vapor tubes-kinda like a rectifier cabinet in a transmitter!Guess that would power the projector arc lamps?And in commercial stations transmitters and other gear-esp the computer gear is boring to see.I liked the "Chrome&Glass" eras!I used to be excited going on a station tour-now its boring-nothing but touchscreen computers!  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-08-2015 01:05 PM                     quote: Putting servers in a display case? WTF?! Carmike Cinemas started doing that a couple or so years ago when they launched their "Big D" premium big screen concept. They would put the sound racks for every screen and as much server gear on the ground floor near the lobby as they could manage. It would all be contained in a room with floor to ceiling glass windows. It must be a real pain in the ass to run all that wiring from one spot in the movie theater across the rest of the multiplex and keep it organized. Maybe this is why Carmike Cinemas has only one screen equipped for Dolby Atmos and only one equipped for Auro 11.1 in the entire theater chain. I'll get to see what kind of approach they take with the new theater they're building in Lawton. It's still a few months away from opening; there's no word yet whether the premium big screen will be a Big D or IMAX branded house.  |  IP: Logged Donnacha Kenny Film Handler Posts: 8 From: Oak Forest, IL, USA Registered: Jun 2011 posted 04-27-2015 09:16 PM                     I'm glad we still have two 35mm projectors. They're rarely used for exhibition now, but it's much more interesting when giving a tour to fire them up for a minute. Kids love moving things that make lots of noise, after all.  |  IP: Logged Rex Oliver Film Handler Posts: 65 From: Greenville, NC. USA Registered: Apr 2013 posted 04-28-2015 02:57 AM                     Tours--yes,theaters still having 35MM projectors would make it interesting-after all as we say folks like to see things move,turn,make noises,or light up.At transmitter plants with older transmitters-would fire up the older transmitter for them to see-esp if it has mercury vapor tubes in it-they love to see them light up and flash to the modulation-run the Tx into a dummy load.And running the spare projectors or transmitters for interested guests serves another function-they are exercised and tested so they will work when the situatiuon calls!!  |  IP: Logged William Kucharski Expert Film Handler Posts: 244 From: Louisville, Colorado, United States of America Registered: Oct 2012 posted 04-28-2015 03:00 AM                     Personally I'd love to see that array of servers, but I'm a computer geek personally and professionally.  |  IP: Logged

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