Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Anyone else have problems with NCM?

This is topic Anyone else have problems with NCM? in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Tyler Potts (Member # 4952) on 11-17-2008, 12:14 PM:

I think this is the right forum for this... but Regal contracts out its digital preshow to National Cinemedia. For the most part, things work great, every now and then I call support to say something's frozen or starting early and they reset the projector.

But if its anything other than that, they type out what's wrong and send our tech out. I feel bad because sometimes its something simple and he's just driven 3 hours to fix a plug or press a button. There seems to be a very limited amount to what support can do then its just "Well, I'll write a ticket for this and send your tech out."

I'm just glad our theatre doesn't run open caption shows.

Posted by Robert LaValley (Member # 4319) on 11-17-2008, 01:24 PM:

I don't have "technical" problems per-se with NCM pre-show as much as content. There's this lego ad that is just terrible as for its resolution so it looks like it is out of focus. I contacted NCM but they say that is the best that the producer of the content provides. Bleh.. other then that though I have no problems.

Posted by Galen Murphy-Fahlgren (Member # 4535) on 11-17-2008, 02:24 PM:

My experiences with them were underwhelming. They continually resized the image of their DLPs, and it was always wrong. There was a recurring issue with sound lagging behind picture during the preshow as well as during an alternative content event (the event had to be restarted, and still did not play correctly; a whole theater of people had to be refunded), as well as a few other issues. I mostly like their content, but was never really satisfied with the technical end of their operations.

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 11-17-2008, 04:21 PM:

No major problems in my experience. All the techs in the field and at the NOC have been generally friendly and helpful.

Sure, the content freezes sometimes, and a lot of times they will send out a tech to do something easy like replacing a cable. But, as a former Regal employee myself, let me recommend that you not step outside your regular duties and attempt to fix the NCM equiptment yourself.

The Cinemedia techs and the Regal techs wont look kindly on your "tinkering". If there's a problem, call the NOC, log it, and if it effects your ability to advertise in an auditorium, put it in the daily overview. That's all you need to do, and your covered.

Posted by Ryan Thomas (Member # 5080) on 01-20-2009, 10:28 AM:

[ 01-23-2009, 04:58 PM: Message edited by: Ryan Thomas ]

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 01-20-2009, 11:31 AM:

Good for you! [thumbsup]

Commercials before the feature suck anyway.

[Smile]