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Author Topic: Landmark Theatres to install digital projection Martin Brooks Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 900 From: Forest Hills, NY, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 11-17-2003 06:02 PM                        quote: i'll take your word for it; i never got around to seeing it anyways. You should see Standing In the Shadows of Motown because it's a wonderful flick with a great story and incredible musical performances. This is one of the only films I've ever seen where the audience applauded several times DURING the movie. I doubt you'll find it in a theater at this point, but the DVD is a bargain. But listen with the DVD attached to a good sound system.  |  IP: Logged Carl Martin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1424 From: Oakland, CA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 08-11-2004 05:47 AM                        so the word seems to be that landmark is still going ahead with this thing. all theaters are to have at least one by the end of the year. i don't think that will happen. they want to put one in our smallest booth, where there simply isn't room for it. i won't be sorry when it doesn't work... carl  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 08-11-2004 07:16 AM                    This will be an expensive project that will probably be money wasted. The idea that they'll be able to create a vertically integrated system of filmmaking, distribution, and exhibition isn't any more likely to succeed than anyone else. Just because they can make video movies somewhat cheaper isn't going to be a significant factor. And being able to show other people's video movies is not going to amount to much. In both cases any production which might be able to garner any decent box office is going to need to go to film or is already available on film. Thus there is no saving of the transfer cost; only the cost of a print for a few screens and we already know that at this point in history digital projection offers no savings over film when the comparative costs of the two projection systems is factored over their lives.  |  IP: Logged David Buckley Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 525 From: Oxford, N. Canterbury, New Zealand Registered: Aug 2004 posted 08-11-2004 03:24 PM                        quote: Scott Norwood Could they possibly have chosen a worse technology than Windows Media Player? I particularly like the line about how they intend to provide theatres with "theatre-quality" exhibition Windows media player isnt a bad choice, when you understand that it is no more than a container that allows underlying technologies to do their stuff. It actually has nothing to do with how the quality of the exibition will end up. Think of it as a remote control for a VCR. The remote has no bearing on how well the VCR itself actually performs. And besides, there are a limited number of off-the-shelf options (such as WinAmp) as alternatives. Something would have to be written, and I doubt it would be any better than WMP, just different. Or you could use an alternative platform, such as Mac or Linux, but Bill tries quite hard to ensure this isnt the way things pan out. When you load a file into WMP it basically just transports that file to a codec, which is the real workhorse, and it is the quality of the codec (and thus by implication, the encoding and compression alogorythms used) that determines what the overall quality will be. You cant improve on what comes out of the codec. The codec then delivers what I'll call "visual data" to windows. Windows then hands that "visual data" to video card drivers and out comes video on a socket out the back of the PC. So the key elements that will determine what the playback quality offered to the projector are the codec, the video card drivers and the video card itself. Time was when I would have said - The real question is - do you trust your show to windows? Modern windows now works sufficiently well most of the time that the question is almost moot. But it certainly wasn't always that way. In the same way that Jack has some undesirable qualities, Bill has some world domination aspirations, and has a fair track record of getting what he wants. And Bill has unlimited funds to cover R&D and buying the right people. And will Bill talks, decision-makers listen. However, as has every windows "thing" in history, it'll take three versions to get it right...  |  IP: Logged Jeffry L. Johnson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 809 From: Cleveland, Ohio, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 08-11-2004 03:56 PM                        Digital Cinema Solutions  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 08-11-2004 04:55 PM                    While I don't know about WMP for full blown D-Cinema, certainly for lesser uses WMP9 offers the prospect of HD here and now without waiting for one of the blue light DVD systems to be standardized. You can already put an entire feature on a conventional DVD ROM @ 1080p. Check out Windows Media HD and download some samples of either 1080p or 720p content. All you need to play them is a sufficiently fast computer and the 9 level media player. 720p playback on my 3 chip 1024 x 768 (1024 x 575 widescreen) DLP projector was quite impressive. Not film or even real D-Cinema in quality but not bad for a simple PC and non-D-Cinema projector. Even on a computer monitor you can get an idea.  |  IP: Logged William Hooper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1879 From: Mobile, AL USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-12-2004 02:13 AM                        quote: Steve Kraus at this point in history digital projection offers no savings over film One of its attractions is to provide additional revenue streams & close, immediate programming control. Regal's 2wenty is the experimental ramp-up to what the theatrical movie experience is going to be. Just because it's crap doesn't mean it's going away, it's there to make mo' money & that's why there's the corporate interest in it.  |  IP: Logged Carl Martin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1424 From: Oakland, CA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 08-12-2004 04:23 AM                        the system that was tested out in some landmarks a year or 2 ago used windows media player. that system didn't perform and i don't know if they new system will use that. all i know is they're talking about barco projectors. using these monsters to foist commercials on us is not acceptable to me. i wouldn't put it past them, though. with the first system, bmw commercials had to play before the feature. (we didn't have it at my theater.) carl  |  IP: Logged Carl Martin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1424 From: Oakland, CA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 08-17-2004 03:20 AM                        so... what do you people know about a sony 35/digital projector? that is, one projector doing both 35mm and digital. i've never heard of such a thing. is there a press release out there somewhere? has sony ever made a 35mm projector? how the heck are they making a dual projector like this without some serious "compromises"? is this thing going to fly? or did something get mangled going down the chain of communication? edit: yes, i was told a falsehood. carl [ 08-18-2004, 03:54 AM: Message edited by: Carl Martin ]  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 08-17-2004 10:59 AM                        quote: Carl Martin so... what do you people know about a sony 35/digital projector? that is, one projector doing both 35mm and digital. i've never heard of such a thing. is there a press release out there somewhere? Where do you think you saw this? Although some of the early DLP Cinema projectors mounted to existing 35mm xenon lamphouses, the trend seems to be toward dedicated designs with integral lamps.  |  IP: Logged

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