Then there's the question of software upgrades. There may come a time when an older DLP system can't run a new "film" because the older system doesn't have the latest decompression software or a fast enough processor. Maybe we'll see something like this: "Star Wars Episode 3: Minimum system requirements--Pentium XI/2.2GHz processor, DLP projection system version 5.4.12 or greater. Minimum 560GB hard disk space."
At least with film, it didn't matter whether you were running an old Powers hand-crank projector or the latest Christie--you still got the maximum performance possible with the given equipment.

I don't know, but these DLP units are expensive. I don't see the theater that doesn't even spend money for xenon lamps or good splicing tape shelling out lots of money for short-lived DLP systems that will have to be replaced every couple of years.

I really hate to see yet another facet of technology go the way of computers for these reasons. Maybe I'm just being wishful, but the future of film may be better than I thought.

Unless the DLP people address the product lifecycle issue, DLP may commit suicide. And maybe that's not so bad after all!
 

--Chris
 

Of course, the digital folks will say "Film is a 100 year-old old-fashioned technology, and the time is now to have digital cinema. Hell, why not, everything else is digital, so why not films?" I repair digital cell phones for a living (though I'd rather be a projectionist), and I can tell you with all certainty that digital call quality is LESS than analog sound quality. Digital's only advantage is an economic one; more cellular users in a system. Same for digital cinema. Of course all "prints" will exist in virtual reality only; they can be wiped out much easier than a physical print. Anyone think of that yet? But you can have all the "prints" available with the click of a mouse. No need to spend $$$$ for 35mm prints, some of which come back in poor shape from lousy booth practice.

Don't think for a moment that digital "prints" can't be stolen!! In fact, I believe they're much easier to steal than actual film. It's hard to sneak off with 10000 feet of film; it's easy to run off with a few DVD-Rs or better yet, download them to your home computer! The enterprising hacker will never quit trying to outsmart whatever system is used to "safeguard" these "prints" against being stolen.

In the modern hasty rush to "go digital" in every area of life, seldom does anyone stop to consider what the potential drawbacks may be. No, everyone seems to be sold on the "digital is better" axiom.
 

I don't see them building a new DLP Theatre for it!

------------------

Scott

 

I'll have to keep on top of that one. There's a Regal IMAX theater only a few miles from me. One of these days, I'll see a DLP presentation in my area as well, and I'll be able to compare that to the films I've seen recently.
 

Of course, I was kind of upset, because we were trying to hook a Nintendo 64 up to it (which is the only real advantage to DLP that I see), but it wouldn't work...
 

Ha! Really! And since the Internet will probably used for delivery/authentication, don't forget to read RFC 17576 - "Avoiding Real-Time Movie Denial-of-Service with IPv12"

Someone (Scott?) pointed out that with only a few grand (well, maybe about 12G), a person could already have "HiDef" at home by just buying a 35mm projector and a used stereo processor.

Now of course, a homeowner is not going to do that, but for a regular theater, it's still going to be quite a while before e-cinema is practable.

To compaire cost: our company bulit an 8-plex 5 years ago. The cost of one, 300 seat, THX approved auditorium cost $60,000 (no digital.)

Yet, let's say they get the cost of an e-cinema projector to half of what it is today. That still $50,000 just for the projector.

I don't think we have to worry about new jobs just yet.
 

But what could Digital Projection really do for a movie like THE HORSE WHISPERER? And when will a studio have the nerve to show us a movie like THE HORSE WHISPERER in a digital presentation in order to get an honest evaluation of its potential?
 

Yes the Cinemark policy trailer was indeed transferred badly. Too much red. This was referred to the TI technician.

Also, a technician came out from QuBit and made parameter changes in the player to IMMEDIATELY transfer control to the mirror drive if it cannot read from the set it is on. What was happening was the following:

Mirror set A is reading the disk.
Mirror set A has a problem.
Mirror set A continued to retry for 3 seconds.
Projector head only had 1/2 second of output; hence 2 1/2 seconds of lockup.

The technician made the following change

Mirror set A is reading the disk.
Mirror set A has a problem.
Mirror set B takes over. IMMEDIATELY.

No loss of picture.

There will be more discussion of this come Friday when we start Bicentenial Man on DLP.
 

Also, when you sit too close to video screens you always see pixels, but seeing film grain always looks better (in my opinion) than video pixels. How dense does a DLP array have to be so that you see the film grain rather than the video pixels?
 

Acutally its not as complex as it seems. Just about all controll of the operation is hardware based, so there is not much to configure. And I think Scott is right, the future "projectionist" is going to have alot of network engineering involved. If Cisco was smart they'd jump all over this... I wonder what OS they're currently using. I can see a setup with a centralized server, Terabytes of storage (Ok maybe that's overkill)... hmmm maybe annother new logo for the booth door... Compaq Inside? Wow the cost of operating this just keeps going up and up, an MCSE tech is FAR more expensive than some kid earning minimum wage... looks like I better start working on that Cisco cert....