This is topic Break Downs Happen Every????? in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Andrew McCrea (Member # 674) on 12-30-2000, 10:21 AM:
Hey,
I was wondering how often/common it is that a projector breaks down at a theatre. According to Famous Players, it's becoming a thing of the past.How often does it happen at your multi-plex and what do you do about it... SilverCity gave us green emergency exchange vouchers, worth 1 free admission to any film.. Valid for a year.
Andrew McCrea
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 12-30-2000, 10:45 AM:
I've never seen this happen, personally. I've only lost two shows ever, and that was the result of a dead Dolby power supply. I have heard of a few other problems, but losing an entire show is probably quite rare.
This is why I think it's so funny that, in the latest issue of Boxoffice, the TI people are boasting that, with DLP, they've lost less than 1% of all shows. To me, losing one out of a hundred shows is a really terrible level of reliability. That's one show a month if you run three shows a day at your theatre, times the number of screens. If you have a 30-plex, for example, that 1% failure rate would result in a lost show once every three days, which would be unacceptible to the majority of theatre owners...
Posted by Andrew McCrea (Member # 674) on 12-30-2000, 02:05 PM:
No... I wasn't talking about an entire show exacty... I was talking about all break-downs... And We didn't have to leave. After 5 minutes, we had settled back down and were ready for our show.
Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 12-30-2000, 02:34 PM:
Usualy unless you lose an entire show they are not considered projector breakdowns. I have had diodes go out and had the problem fixed and the show restarted in fifteen minutes. But with any incident projector or film related we usualy give the customer a raincheck for a free movie on their next visit. I try to keep these problems to a minimum. keeping the equipment well maintained and being aware of any print problems (static) keeps these incidents down to a minimum. do not venture to far from the booth and keep checking your machines every 20 minutes or so. Sometimes you can catch a problem before it becomes one. In most projection booths static is the major cause of these problems. As far as the T.I. claims who knows who is being fully honest. Remeber they are trying to sell these things.
Posted by Jon Bartow (Member # 241) on 12-30-2000, 04:27 PM:
I service about 140 screens. Some are state of the art and some have been around for quite a while. I get maybe 2 calls a month that a screen is "down" (i.e. unplayable) Usually we find any problems during routine maintenance or a problem will start out small and get worse over time so that we can catch it before it becomes unwatchable.
A screen actually being down for more than a couple of shows is very rare. Occasionally we will have to wait on parts for an extra 24 hours or so. (i.e. call comes in at 10pm "show is down" order parts in the morning, install parts next morning)
Posted by Erik Schill (Member # 675) on 12-30-2000, 08:42 PM:
We lose full shows every now and them, about once every few months, but that is because of film crashes, due to our crappy layout, in the 3+ years I've been at my theatre there is only 2 times that I can remember having to cancel shows because of projector breakdowns, and both times we called in the Tech. in our area Dave Blake *my hero*, there was one time we were on the clock hardcore, trying not to cancel shows, and he came in, after 3 hours of us standing around not being able to figure out the problem, and he came in and after about 2 hours got everything fixed, no more them 30 seconds before the show had to start....I was impressed
Posted by Scott D. Neff (Member # 185) on 12-30-2000, 08:55 PM:
Whenever I've had to cancel a show it was usually because I had a bad platter... CFS or AW2 or some low-rate POS like the same.When I moved to a theatre with AW3's -- it was usually because a lamphouse wouldn't strike.
But aside from those -- I think the only breakdowns that we had were from ill-trained projectionists.
Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-30-2000, 10:10 PM:
I've got about 100 screens in 4 states. I have one, maybe 2 "projector down" calls per month. I get calls for "projector in trouble but not down" about every week. Half of them can be handled by phone or by e-mail.A good number of calls were unnecessary, such as messing up a diode change or not knowing how to handle "contingiencies". (ie: What do I do when I change a lamp and it still won't strike?) Usually I don't try to help them over the phone unless I know exactly what the problem is. I just hop in the car and go there. If somebody is having trouble routine problems like diodes I don't wan't to tell them to put a meter across the 3-phase contactor unless I know that guy personally and I know he can do it without killing himself.
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 12-31-2000, 01:06 AM:
From 1991 to 1996 in Southsound Cinemas at Port Orchard, I did not lose any shows due to mechanical breakdown of the projectors or related equipment.From 1985 to 1991, I lost one show when the damn thing fell out of my trunk of the car and landed in a BIG puddle of water.
A little preventative maintenance on the machinery and a drop of oil or two now and then does wonders.... 
I was running a drive-in theater in the 70's when the water cooler lines plugged up for the water cooled jaws in the arc lamp. I got water to it via garden hose stretched across the concession stand floor, outside, and through the booth window to the lamphouse. After a big cloud of steam, we were running again, and I didn't lose the show. As was said in Apollo 13, "Failure is not an option". To me, losing a show because of a mechanical failure is likewise "NOT AN OPTION". In my experiences in the booth for 33 years, the machines will give you warnings of impending failures. Pay attention to detail, and abnormal sounds that develope. It'll save your day! 
Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-31-2000, 09:38 AM:
When I was working on the "front line" in the booth, we rarely ever lost a show in 4-plus years. I'd say you could count them on one hand.Three that I can remember were because the projector motor "smoked" itself. We had to order another motor and that's why we lost a show. I can remember one where the platter smoked itself. I was up until 5am soldering it back together. It was running for the next day. (Then I came back in to open at 11am!)
I know that there are times when nothing can be done and you HAVE to go down but I really think that people are forgetting... The show MUST go on!
Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 12-31-2000, 11:18 AM:
I know the old saying is "The show must go on..." but the money for repairs does not go on. Obviously, it's better to allow a $10 part to be destroyed than refund a 600 seat house. But if there are 100 people in the house and (say) the lamphouse blower dies, they can all go home. If the lamp explodes, it going to cost more than what we would make to repair it.It just depends on how many people there are and what the problem is.
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 12-31-2000, 12:52 PM:
Randy and John - I had a spare backup lamp and a power supply in event of a lamp failure. All my setups were conventional, so I simply plopped the lamp on the pedistal and plugged it in. For burned out motor start windings, I started the motor like a chain saw (wind a rope around your shaft, or what have you, and give 'er a nice yank!) This is quite effective on the motors that the RCA and Simplex sound heads use. The older Ballentyne Pro-35's can be started with a good swift pull on the motor drive belt. For exciter power supply failures, a 5-volt video game power supply is mighty handy. There are all sorts of things one can do to validate the term, "The show must go on" without causing damage to the equipment or the product.
Posted by Paul Konen (Member # 41) on 12-31-2000, 12:53 PM:
Before I get slammed, I am providing my results on the TI projector. We have not experienced one breakdown of the projector in the year that we have had it. During its run of Toy Story or recently with Dalmations or Emperors, it has been fine. And no, the TI guys aren't around constantly, in fact, hardly at all.
There was only one day that we had to run the backup (Film) print at the same time but that was because of a QuBit Player configuration problem. (It didn't switch to the mirror set fast enough and caused a freeze, similar to DSS in a storm, to appear on the screen).
Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 12-31-2000, 02:07 PM:
It has been my personal pollicy to do whatever it takes to save a show. I don't care how many people are in the theater. A couple of months ago I saved a show for two people by replacing diodes in fifteen minutes. People come to the movies to watch the movie not to be sent home disapointed. I have had exhaust blowers on the roof go out and to save the show I pull off the vent cover and slap a spare exhauste fan on top and blow the air in the booth. The booth may get a little warm but the show goes on.
Posted by George Roher (Member # 91) on 12-31-2000, 02:58 PM:
I have lost maybe 5 or 6 shows total (still too many). One was due to a lamp blower dying, another time the shutter gear box crapped out on a Victoria 5, the rest were due to rectifiers failing. I have had several breakdowns that didn't result in losing the show. These mostly happened a couple years ago when polyester film stock was at it's worst and I was sharing a booth with certain people who caused a lot of problems and headaches for me. Breakdowns are pretty rare now, although last week an automation unit went dead on me and shut down the show (had to run manual the rest of the day).
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 12-31-2000, 04:04 PM:
Usually, (depending on what type of platter system being used,) the make-up table will get you out of trouble if you have a platter failure. I have had to power up the pay-out platter with the make-up table on several occassions. It may require a little extra baby sitting, but it does work!
Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-31-2000, 04:27 PM:
We had to do the make-up table thing on our theatre's opening night when the variac in one of the Speco platters bit the big one. Then, right after the show was over we vivisected the table and put its variac into the platter. When the platter itself bought the farm it was because some BUTT HEAD blew the fuse in the base of the tree and decided to replace it with a "rigged" fuse. Of course that'll last indefinately... right up until the next time something goes wrong. Then it's "ZAP!"... bye-bye platter!
If I ever get my hands one th sunuvabitch that did that.....
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 12-31-2000, 04:35 PM:
Randy, I know the feeling...... 
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 12-31-2000, 04:44 PM:
Paul, pardon my stupidity, but what is a Qubit player? I probably might know what it is, but by another name maybe.
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 12-31-2000, 04:50 PM:
The Qubit player is what the DLP-equipped cinemas are currently using as the data-storage device. It appears to be a RAID array with some sort of proprietary data compression device built into it. It's actually a pretty neat device. In the past, D5 videotape and a Pluto RAID array were used as the data sources.For more info: http://www.quvis.com/
Here's a pic of the equipment rack used for the current DLP setups. The Qubit is the device in the middle of this rack, right below the cooling fans. As you can see, it has a DVD-ROM drive, a touchpad thing, and an LCD.
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 12-31-2000, 04:58 PM:
Thank you, Scott. Geeze, I must be getting old. I am an old vacuum tube dude and black stick carbon arc man. This new fangled digital crap is above my ape intelligence.
Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-31-2000, 05:24 PM:
Yes, Paul. I haven't been in the business nearly as long as you have but, frankly, I tend to be a "closet Luddite".I like the new digital sound players and such but when it comes to all of the computerized junk that people are putting into projectors, nowadays I cringe. When you are using mechanical stuff you can put your finger on a part and say, "This is broken".
I'm STARTING to get handy with the CP-500 and the DSP-60 but only because I HAVE to. I'd much rather work on a USL JS-1000 or a Dolby CP-65. I can open the front panel of one of those and tell if it's working right just by LOOKING inside. Not so with that DSP-60, and MAYBE when I get up to speed on the CP-500 I'll be able to do that but I doubt it.
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 12-31-2000, 05:43 PM:
Scott, I used RAID on my armpits once - it worked good. One of the vendettes asked me if I was wearing a new cologne or if it was insect repellent. Apparently, she didn't know the difference. Trichloroethane Technical works well, too....but extreme caution must be used so that you don't get it on your private parts....
Posted by John T. Mellor (Member # 468) on 01-02-2001, 08:11 PM:
I've been in this crazybussiness oner thirty years and when I started we were taught the SHOW MUST AND WILL GO ON .One of the ways I found to cope with some of the equipment I had to run was the philosiphy that Everthing will break tonight , and when it dosen't you had a great day.The best way to stop problems is to make sure they don't start . I service 140 screens in the Philadelphia area, an I try to do at least 3 P.M.Calls in each booth every year.and even after that I run into the problem that withall of the expansion we don't have enough qualified personel in the booth and those that are there need a lot of training. I have always looked at movies as being an extention of live theatre , they always have an understudy ready to step in to take someones place we all should prepare in our booths the same way.
Hey , hope everyone has a Great New Year
John