Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The Advanced Projection Manual

This is topic The Advanced Projection Manual in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=008935

Posted by Jeffry L. Johnson (Member # 453) on 09-27-2007, 06:28 PM:

Now available in the USA from George Eastman House.

Just received my copy today.

ISBN 2-9600296-1-5

quote:
The Advanced Projection Manual -
Presenting Classic Films in a Modern Projection Environment
By Torkell Sætervadet

$80.00
The first authoritative publication of the 21st century to address the important technical issues relating to establishing and maintaining professional standards for film projection and sound systems in archives, museums, cinematheques, repertory theaters and other institutions committed to the authentic exhibition of archivally preserved motion pictures. An essential volume for the library of every audio-visual archivist, and a valuable ready-reference for every projection booth and theatrical venue where serious attention is paid to high quality film exhibition.

Norwegian Film Institute

in70mm.com

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 09-27-2007, 07:55 PM:

And just in time to see film out.... What on earth took them so long? The last book of this type was I believe done by SMPTE in the late 70's...

Mark

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 09-27-2007, 09:22 PM:

quote: Jeffry L. Johnson
Just received my copy today.

We anxiously await your book report

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-28-2007, 06:52 AM:

Mark has a point. After all, how in touch could Torkell Sætervadet be, since he's never shown his face around here!

Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 09-28-2007, 07:18 AM:

So anyone who doesn't post on this forum is not in touch with this industry? Wow, that's scary.

Posted by Robert Throop (Member # 61) on 09-28-2007, 10:08 AM:

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
The last book of this type was I believe done by SMPTE in the late 70's...

BKSTS published a manual in 1997 and SMPTE came out with a new manual based on the BKSTS book a couple of years later.
Bob

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-28-2007, 04:29 PM:

quote: Ken Lackner
So anyone who doesn't post on this forum is not in touch with this industry?

C'mon, Ken!! Everyone who is anyone... IS HERE. You know that. [Razz]

You gotta admit this guy's timing indicates a lack of foresight... 'specially since classics are some of the first product going 100% Digital Cinema (as reported elsewhere on this forum). [Wink]

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 09-28-2007, 05:30 PM:

...which seems utterly stupid to me, if true. The types of places that have installed [dlp]

aren't likely to be showing repertory programming, and the DCI spec is pretty wanting when it comes to older films (no support for variable frame rates, no native support for Academy-ratio films, etc., etc.). Never mind that the cost savings won't be realized on small print runs.

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 09-29-2007, 03:40 AM:

i tried to buy that book a while ago... no answer to my email to norway. now i'll try eastman.

there's a copy in the pacific film archive library that i perused briefly. the information in it was good, though there were some omissions. i didn't find any reference to filmguard.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 09-29-2007, 05:59 AM:

quote:
...which seems utterly stupid to me, if true. The types of places that have installed aren't likely to be showing repertory programming,

...stupid and very, VERY sad. Not to worry, Scott studios are loath to strike new prints of all but the very top pop titles. So if they won't bite the bullet and spend a couple of grand to strike a new print, you KNOW beyond any reasonable doubt that they will never spend the much higher price tag to author a DCI compliant virtual print for an arthouse, even if per the very unlikely chance they were to actually have a Christie or Barco DCI compliant projector.

And the most sad part of all is that what I see happening is that when film prints of the classics just aren't available any longer because they have just been worn out and not replaced, and the art house just can't spring for a DCI compliant projector, they will resort to a much cheaper, high def/top-of-the-line very UN-DCI compliant preshow variety projector.

Bottom line -- future generations may get to see our film heritage only as good as a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc can reproduce.

I see this happening now. As hard as I try to fight them, when I can't book a 35mm print -- which now happens allot more often that it used to -- the Professors (who should know better) insist with increasing aggressivness, that I "just rent the DVD and show it with the video projector." It gets harder and harder to convince them that they are wrong when they say that running a video is better than the students not seeing it at all. Not necessarily, Professori.

I can give you an example of it happening right now -- the English Department comes to us and wants us to run THE SEARCHERS and TOTAL RECALL for all incoming freshmen at Brooklyn College (why, I don't know....none of my business). Well, forget about THE SEARCHERS....no prints, period. TOTAL RECALL you would think would be a piece of cake. Seems MGM has done some major reorganization and no one over there seems to know where anything is. The Swank booker says he's been trying for a month to get them to find a print; no luck.

So even if we had a DCI compliant projector, what studio is going to get me a hard drive with a DCI-compliant THE SEARCHERS in it? And ask Swank which orgs book licenses to show DVDs? It's not just movie night in the dorm -- even the art houses and museums are booking video. And that will happen more and more often as the libraries inventories slowly deteriorate into oblivion.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-29-2007, 06:37 AM:

quote: Frank Angel
even if per the very unlikely chance they were to actually have a Christie or Barco DCI compliant projector

...or an NEC. [Wink]

FWIW, I know of at least one circuit that is running summer kid's shows on HD OSA projectors. I was actually quite surprised at the quality of such a (physically) small projector. The machines fit inside the operator's porthole.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 09-29-2007, 08:01 AM:

Humm... It seems to me that a whole bunch of "classics" have been playing circuits in England and Scotland.... in D-Cinema or was Stephen Furley pulling our leg? I also believe that DTS did the mastering on those D-Cinema transfers.... I remember them mentioning it at the Show Worst breakfast last year...

Tim... On the NEC thing its interesting to note that Christie shipped twice as many film projectors as did Strong last year... looks to be the same this year... Ditto on the Christie digital projectors except Chsistie shipped about 5 times as many CP-2000's as all NEC's shipped by Strong. I wonder how long Strong will last???

Mark

Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 09-29-2007, 12:55 PM:

Mark

that's right we ran the British Cinema Classics on our Christie CP2000 over August ,early September.
I'll get the list together on Monday.

They looked great I have to say. Especially enjoyed seeing The Dambusters and Billy Liar again on the big screen.

Torkell is a real enthusaist and a regular attendee at our Widescreen Weekend here in Bradford.

He was also a SDDS engineer , but before you can say it Mark, no one's perfect [Wink]

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 09-29-2007, 05:06 PM:

quote: Dick Vaughan
Especially enjoyed seeing The Dambusters and Billy Liar again on the big screen.

One of my favorite war period films!!!

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-29-2007, 08:05 PM:

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
its interesting to note that Christie shipped twice as many film projectors as did Strong last year

Not from where I stand. [Razz]

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 09-30-2007, 10:22 AM:

Tim,

Check the US Department Of Commerce Statistic Records ... thats whats shown there.

Mark

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 09-30-2007, 03:30 PM:

From experience, Department of Commerce figures, are at best, a good sticking your finger in the wind estimate [Razz]

Christie and Strong have good and bad points; it depends what the end user considers good for their situation.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 09-30-2007, 07:41 PM:

Well Richard... thats kind of a duh thing in reality. Of course differing points are generally why people choose different things. In the projection world though projectors and systems are many times sold because they are the lowest price equipment... not because some technical folks get to actually decide on two brands good or bad points. The market is and always has been price driven except in high end installations. Christie has obviously kept their proices lower(that I can attest to by experience!). The P-35 is ALOT less expensive to build than an X-L/5-star or Apogee.... and is certainly an equal to and many times better performer on screen. Christie continues to improve on it while Stong has been stuck in the muck... well... well pretty much for ever.

Mark

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 10-01-2007, 12:43 PM:

I bought a copy at GEH at the AMIA conference last week. I've only had a chance to skim-read it so far. My first impressions are that it offers very comprehensive coverage of the issues and problems involved in archival print handling, setting up a booth for legacy format presentation and the operations and maintenance stuff which comes with that. It would be perfect for an advanced projectionist or tech who is moving into a well-equipped booth and/or a job that will involve handling legacy format prints or physically problematic (e.g. shrunk) ones on a regular basis. I suspect that it's pitched at too high a level for someone with less than 5-10 years of experience.

It doesn't cover the basic theory or operations at all - for example, the book assumes that you know the theory behind the operation of the intermittent or shutter, or how analogue optical sound is recorded and reproduced. The emphasis of the book is completely on the things you need to know to handle and present archival, special format and other non-standard prints, which you probably don't need to know in a mainstream/multiplex environment.

Strengths

The chapter on bench handling techniques gives a thorough account of what you need to look for when getting an archive print ready for projection.
The chapter on 35mm aspect ratios is great, with excellent frame scans as examples and a good 'how to make an educated guess at the correct ratio if the print doesn't tell you' section.
There's a very good discussion of the different types of optical mono track and how these affect playback on modern cinema processors.
The chapter on video projection has very a clear and effective discussion of the signals theory, TV standards and other background knowledge needed to understand how electronic projection actually works.
The standard of illustrations - both photos and diagrams - is good throughout.

Weaknesses

Some issues are covered in great depth, while others are brushed over or just aren't there. For example there's a big chapter on 3-D projection and short-lived sound formats which even rep projectionists are unlikely to ever encounter (e.g. 70mm CDS), but nothing whatsoever on nitrate projection.
There is no reasoning or explanation for many of the book's recommended practices. For example, why does the author regard the DP-75 as suitable but the Vic 8 as an unsuitable projector for use in archival projector?
The chapter on booth equipment doesn't cover automation and non-rewind systems (i.e. platters, double-MUTs and towers) at all - not even to say 'don't use them'. For something claiming to be an advanced projection manual in general rather than an archival projection manual specifically, leaving this out is a major problem.
The chapter on small gauge projection doesn't really work. It offers no comparative discussion of the different theatre-scale 16mm machines in the way that the book does for 35/70 (though there are few brief paragraphs on this in an earlier section), and nor does it offer much in the way of practical pointers for optimising the quality of 16mm projection. Given that many archival projection prints in circulation are 16mm, I felt that more space needed to be given to this topic.
The chapter on digital projection will very quickly go out of date, but I guess that can't be helped.
At 55 euros or $80, it probably costs more than many individuals or smaller theatres are willing to pay (though in my opinion, almost all of FIAF's publications are overpriced, relative to what they offer).

In short, my initial reaction is that this book does a lot of very good things, and understandably concentrates on the areas that the BKSTS manual either doesn't cover at all or only very briefly. But some of the 'recommendations' really need to be explained and justified (given that this claims to be 'advanced', it should cover fors and againsts rather than just say 'do this' or 'don't do that') and I get the impression of some problematic gaps in its coverage. I'd guess this is because (according to his bio on in70mm.com), Mr. Sætervadet's background is exclusively as a theatre tech and projectionist, and therefore probably isn't bringing in the archivist's perspective to the discussion. Hopefully, sales will be good enough to be able to think about a second edition which could enlarge this aspect of the book a bit.

Posted by Oliver Pasch (Member # 1335) on 10-02-2007, 01:56 AM:

I've ordered this book some month ago directly from Norway without any problems - shipping was reliable and fast.

@Leo: i do agree on some points of your strength & weaknesses list, however, there's absolutely no way of being comprehensive when it comes to this subject. Still, i truely believe that this is

by far the best book on cinema technology ever .

And about pricing: you might want to realise that the print run isn't as huge as with the latest Harry Potter - have a look at other "special interest" publications and you'll see that it's almost a bargain.

Oliver

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 10-02-2007, 02:53 AM:

If you look at the typical range of books published by, say, Focal Press or Routledge on technical topics (which also sell comparatively short print runs, of usually well under a thousand copies), you'll see that almost all titles are also available in paperback and that the prices rarely exceed £20 (35 euros or $40). And these are produced by for-profit publishers! FIAF is supposed to be a non-profit professional body and advocacy organisation, and so either they're raking in a big profit on book sales or their production practices are inefficient. Their costs will be slightly higher than those of the big publishers, but not that much. My point is that the price is high enough to deter people who are interested but not that interested from buying it, or who simply don't earn enough to be able to spend nearly $100 on a book.

I agree that the book achieves a lot of very good things, and covers aspects of projection installation, operation and training which no similar manual published in the last 30 years does. But the coverage is too patchy (something which could have been addressed by consulting with archive technicians and access officers more than I suspect the author did) and contains too many unsubstantiated opinions for me to consider it definitive or the last word.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 10-02-2007, 06:03 AM:

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
The P-35 is ALOT less expensive to build than an X-L/5-star or Apogee.... and is certainly an equal to and many times better performer on screen.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-02-2007, 08:51 AM:

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
The P-35 is ALOT less expensive to build than an X-L/5-star or Apogee.... and is certainly an equal to and many times better performer on screen.

And at least with the few parts orders we have had to do we also get the right parts instead of someone elses order [thumbsup]

.

Mark

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 10-02-2007, 10:22 AM:

The Chinese clone of the P-35 is even cheaper to build....but the cast iron casting makes it a little heavy [Razz]

Our $$$ buying power will probably make all brands make some price changes....but then again, how many film projectors are being sold lately [Confused]

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-02-2007, 12:59 PM:

quote: Richard Fowler
but then again, how many film projectors are being sold lately

The Christie line can do about 40 projectors a day and is still going full blast... sometimes running with two shifts when its really busy. You do the math.

Mark

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 10-02-2007, 01:02 PM:

Still selling film machines in 100% of our new construction at Hadden. Louis

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-02-2007, 02:05 PM:

Our last two were... still in the middle of the second one... All Christie/Dolby/JBL Schneider/(some ISCO) of course... Chineese seating which we have sold and installed now on over a a dozen jobs and not one seat problem. We have another 12 plex comming up thats supposed to be all DP-70 but we'll see if that one holds true or not. I can live with either film or digital... both are good methods of presentation.

Mark

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 10-02-2007, 04:52 PM:

Using "Christie" math....who needs digital projectors when you can get a new film projector every three years to re-equip the entire U.S. market...no service, no repair, just have them last long enough to be replaced. [Smile]

It will give them time to build a 100 digital machines a day. [Big Grin]

One manufacturer I know dropped a model due to the "bottleneck" regarding intermittents...better to sell a more expensive projector than a cheap model using the identical time/labor/materials to make the heart of the machine. [Cool]

Glad you had no problems with the chairs....I was dealing with that manufacturer in 2001 and their game plan and product was solid.........
I love film and have been doing more custom jobs and rentals since there is less of us old Phil - Louis guys in the field. [Razz]

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-02-2007, 06:21 PM:

quote: Richard Fowler
since there is less of us old Phil - Louis guys in the field.

Oh come on now... I'm every bit as old.... [Eek!]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-02-2007, 06:33 PM:

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
Chineese seating which we have sold and installed now on over a a dozen jobs and not one seat problem.

Hey, you told me those seats weren't any good. (Bet the bottoms aren't falling off of them though.)

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 10-03-2007, 02:53 AM:

They're not too bad, unless your patrons happen to eat the lead paint! [Razz]

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-03-2007, 03:06 AM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
Hey, you told me those seats weren't any good.

They are no comparison to the seats you have. There are at least two Chineese seat companies selling in the States... One of them is very definately a dud!!

EDIT: I almost forgot... Didn't you let the general public pick which seat out they wanted you to buy of the samples we sent you to put in your lobby?

Mark

[ 10-03-2007, 09:55 AM: Message edited by: Mark Gulbrandsen ]

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 10-03-2007, 03:36 PM:

quote: Leo Enticknap
If you look at the typical range of books published by, say, Focal Press or Routledge on technical topics (which also sell comparatively short print runs, of usually well under a thousand copies), you'll see that almost all titles are also available in paperback and that the prices rarely exceed £20 (35 euros or $40). And these are produced by for-profit publishers! FIAF is supposed to be a non-profit professional body and advocacy organisation, and so either they're raking in a big profit on book sales or their production practices are inefficient. Their costs will be slightly higher than those of the big publishers, but not that much. My point is that the price is high enough to deter people who are interested but not that interested from buying it, or who simply don't earn enough to be able to spend nearly $100 on a book.

I agree that the book achieves a lot of very good things, and covers aspects of projection installation, operation and training which no similar manual published in the last 30 years does. But the coverage is too patchy (something which could have been addressed by consulting with archive technicians and access officers more than I suspect the author did) and contains too many unsubstantiated opinions for me to consider it definitive or the last word.

Like Oliver said, there is no "complete" and "definitive" book about anything, that's why we typically have several books about any given subject. We don't have that many about cinema technology and history of cinema technology though, so I would think that any well researched publication, however "complete" or not, should be highly welcome.
If you feel there are gaps that need to be closed, then it's time for you to write your own book, Dr. Leo! When is the publishing date? [Wink]

I don't understand the fuss about the price either. This is obviously the result of many years of research, $40, $50, $80, who cares? I will gladly spend the money for all the information contained in the book. Especially since no one else offers an alternative to it.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 10-03-2007, 03:59 PM:

quote: Leo Enticknap
Some issues are covered in great depth, while others are brushed over or just aren't there. For example there's a big chapter on 3-D projection and short-lived sound formats which even rep projectionists are unlikely to ever encounter (e.g. 70mm CDS), but nothing whatsoever on nitrate projection.

To be honest, there are probably no more cinemas that are still able to project nitrate prints than there are ones that could run 70mm DTS; I suspect that quite a few of the CDS systems are still in store, and could be got to work again if needed. Very few cinemas could run nitrate, and very few projectionists will ever run a nitrate print again. Maybe they thought it was so unlikely that a cinema would have to deal with it that it wasn't worth including. Or maybe they thought that any projectionist working at a venue that still ran nitrate would already have been properly trained in handling it.

A section on how to recognise a nitrate print would not have been out of place though. Just out of interest, is anybody here still able, i.e. equipped and licenced, to run nitrate? There was something in recent 'Cinema Technology' magazine about running it at the NFT, so it looks like they still can, but that was only a few minutes which was run at a special event; I've no idea when they last ran a complete nitrate feature. One of the preview theatres at the NFTVA could still run it the last time I was there, but that's not open to the public of course. The last time I saw a nitrate print at any other public cinema was at the old news theatre at Victoria station, on it's closing night; I think that was in about 1982.

Is this book available in the UK, or can it be ordered from GEH for delivery here? It sounds like it would be worth having a copy on the shelf.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 10-03-2007, 04:59 PM:

quote: Michael Schaffer
If you feel there are gaps that need to be closed, then it's time for you to write your own book, Dr. Leo! When is the publishing date?

Just over two years ago - and yours for only $24!

quote: Michael Schaffer
I will gladly spend the money for all the information contained in the book. Especially since no one else offers an alternative to it.

You're right in that there is no direct alternative. For one thing, the potential market is probably too small to support one. The Projection and Presentation Group within AMIA did consider producing an archival projection guide a couple of years ago, but when we heard that FIAF had a similar project already underway, decided that there'd be no point in reinventing the wheel. What we're trying to do instead is to develop a set of materials (e.g. Powerpoints, film print samples to handle and project, etc.) to support a 'live' training day, which could be offered anywhere that can provide a suitable venue and someone to deliver the training. The idea would be to pitch it at projectionists who know the basics but no more than that, e.g. someone who has worked for a year or two in a multiplex but is about to change jobs to a single-screen arthouse which runs legacy formats and changeovers. At a projection workshop we held at last week's conference there was a lot of support for the idea, and we hope to pick up on the development work over the coming weeks.

quote: Stephen Furley
Is this book available in the UK, or can it be ordered from GEH for delivery here? It sounds like it would be worth having a copy on the shelf.

You can also buy it directly from the publishers, FIAF in Brussels: but given that the dollar is weaker than the euro relative to the pound, it would probably be cheaper to order it from GEH, regardless of shipping costs (though that having been said, it's a big and heavy book - around a kilo I'd guess).

AFAIK, NFT2 is still licensed to run nitrate, and occasionally does so.

I seem to remember that the price issue came up before in relation to BKSTS membership. Michael is right: a hard core of true enthusiasts who have a real stake in the book/organisation/resource will buy it, whatever the cost. But surely the point of a project like this is to extend knowledge to people who might not be motivated to buy something at abnormally high prices (relative to those of equivalent products), rather than just preach to the converted? What will almost certainly happen here is that many of us will buy it, as will major archives and rep/arthouse cinemas. It tells us very little that we don't know already, but we want it out of curiosity and professional interest. However, many people who could potentially benefit from it in terms of finding out things they don't know already will probably never set eyes on a copy. For a small, independent theatre which shows the occasional print in a non-standard format and needs to be told that (for example), early sound ratio films shouldn't be projected in Academy, $80 is a lot for what they might see as a non-essential item.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 10-03-2007, 05:32 PM:

Looks like I need to order two books, though the $80 one will have to wait until next pay day.

This year I have been given responsibility for certain aspects of the telephone system at work, something like 500 extensions, about 40% of them IP, the rest analogue. My last experience with such things was with mechanical Strowger equipment, many years ago, so I bought a book. There don't seem to be any on the system we have, Mitel 3300, so I had to get a general one. It's a proper bound paperback book, but I was surprised to find that it was digitally printed direct from the computer, avoiding the need to make litho plates, and set up the press. I don't know how common this is for short run books now.

Posted by Joel N. Weber II (Member # 3530) on 10-03-2007, 10:04 PM:

quote: Frank Angel
Bottom line -- future generations may get to see our film heritage only as good as a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc can reproduce.

I doubt that, at least if you're talking about what those formats can do today.

A decade or so from now, we'll probably have something better than 1080i/1080p available (which might still be blu-ray, perhaps with more than two layers).

The resolution and probably contrast ratio a consumer gets for buying a $200-$500 display will probably continue to increase with time, with a very real possibility that several decades from now, that display will exceed the capabilities of 5/70.

Film scanners also ought to gradually get cheaper with time.

I won't be surprised if my grandchildren will be able to buy a 65mm-equivalent camcorder for less than $200 adjusted for inflation.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 10-04-2007, 01:36 AM:

quote: Stephen Furley
It's a proper bound paperback book, but I was surprised to find that it was digitally printed direct from the computer, avoiding the need to make litho plates, and set up the press. I don't know how common this is for short run books now.

I've noticed that this is starting to come in. Earlier this year I bought Read and Mayer's Restoration of Motion Picture Film for £30 from an Amazon sub-retailer which said that the book was 'printed direct to order'. The cover was a slightly different shade of red to that of the copy in the university library (I know, how sad can I be to notice such things?), suggesting to me that this was certainly a different print run. When it first came out the book cost over £100. It's an excellent book - as with the Advanced Projection Manual, there's nothing else on the market which explains the nuts-and-bolts process of a major photochemical feature film restoration, with lots of technical information and detailed case studies. But its original price was far more than I could afford. Hopefully as this technology becomes more widespread it should make short-run books more widespread (just as, for example, CD-Rs have enabled local bands to publish their own albums) and, copyright issues notwithstanding, make it possible to bring out-of-print but in demand books back into circulation. For example, if it was possible to do a reprinting of Cornwell-Clyne's Colour Cinematography, you could probably sell 100 copies tomorrow, but not much more than that. With conventional printing and binding technology the sums simply don't add up, but hopefully 'print on demand' might make this sort of thing possible.

quote: Frank Angel
Bottom line -- future generations may get to see our film heritage only as good as a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc can reproduce.

In the long term you're probably right. Once the big theatre chains go digital the economies of scale of print film manufacture will start to tip over, and then the writing really is on the wall for film. But I suspect that there'll be a very long tail, especially for archives which are sitting on vast collections of 16mm and 35mm viewing prints. Digitising this material to d-cinema quality is time consuming and expensive if done right, and even if Moore's Law brings the price of hardware right down, you'll still need a properly trained colourist doing the grading/timing. In the meantime these prints continue to be sent out to rep cinemas, film societies, universities etc., and will do for the foreseeable future. My guess is that film projection in these places will continue for a long time after it's effectively gone from the high street or the multiplex.