Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Video: The Digital revolution in Suffolk, UK!

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Posted by Mike Wright (Member # 5040) on 08-28-2012, 08:22 AM:

I though you guys might be interested to see the video we shot whilst replacing our 35mm Vic-5 with a shiny new Christie CP2220 digital projector.

We are a relatively small (266 seats) independent in Woodbridge, Suffolk called The Riverside Theatre and I am lucky enough to be one of the projectionists.

One of our number is an amateur film-maker and I think he did a great job documenting the changeover. We collected many of our projectionists past and present on the day we removed the old projector. We showed "The Smallest Show on Earth" as our last film and then set to work!

Anyway - the short film is on Youtube if you would like to see it. Any and all comments welcome.

Riverside Video

Regards

Posted by Philip Jones (Member # 6677) on 08-28-2012, 08:34 AM:

Very nice video you've put together there. Give my regards to Tom if he is still there. He and his partner visited us here at The Kinema in Woodhall Spa last year.

We actually showed The Smallest Show On Earth on 35mm this weekend as part of our 90th Birthday Celebrations - a very fitting film! It was the first 35mm film we've shown since we had digital installed in November last year.

Hope you enjoy continued success with the new equipment!

Posted by Brian Guckian (Member # 1678) on 08-28-2012, 09:15 AM:

Shouldn't this be in the Digital Cinema Forum?

Posted by Jarod Reddig (Member # 6363) on 08-28-2012, 11:28 AM:

Very nice video Mike!

Posted by Mike Wright (Member # 5040) on 08-28-2012, 11:46 AM:

I think the video worked out really well.

I had setup two cameras doing timelapse, but one failed after about an hour! Luckily the other one kept going and I actually have about 4 hours of frames off that one.

Fred did a great job putting it all together and, I think, the end result is a great record of our changeover.

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 08-28-2012, 12:17 PM:

where's the "like" button? [Smile]

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 08-28-2012, 03:43 PM:

Looks like a lovely place to see a film, it's the wrong side of Ipswich for me to go on a 'competitor visit' unfortunately!

It's fantastic that people are commemorating film heritage like this. One of my cinemas in Edinburgh has a vic 5 in a glass box next to their box office with a sign showing the dates of operation (only ten years but better than nothing) and a short piece about 35mm.

Posted by Mike Wright (Member # 5040) on 08-28-2012, 05:06 PM:

quote: Caleb Johnstone-Cowan
It's fantastic that people are commemorating film heritage like this. One of my cinemas in Edinburgh has a vic 5 in a glass box next to their box office with a sign showing the dates of operation (only ten years but better than nothing) and a short piece about 35mm.

The current plan is to put the Vic on display in the foyer probably with a digital picture frame showing information about the history etc.

Posted by Pete Naples (Member # 761) on 08-29-2012, 03:06 PM:

I see couple of weel ken't faces in that. Little and large would be a fair description.

Posted by Mike Wright (Member # 5040) on 08-30-2012, 10:39 AM:

quote: Pete Naples
I see couple of weel ken't faces in that. Little and large would be a fair description.

Not sure if I should be pleased or cross?

Posted by Alan Plester (Member # 852) on 08-30-2012, 02:21 PM:

Thats a very nice video, only an hours drive from me, might have to have a look, pllllllllllease [Wink]

Posted by Pete Naples (Member # 761) on 08-30-2012, 04:19 PM:

not you Mike, I was referring to the installers

Posted by Cameron Glendinning (Member # 3516) on 08-30-2012, 08:40 PM:

Lovely Theatre and video, thank you for sharing.

Posted by Mike Wright (Member # 5040) on 09-18-2012, 04:20 AM:

Well the transition has not gone completely without glitches!

We had a relay (or something) overheat inside the projector - took us off-screen for a day and a half.

Had a few problems showing a DVD via a laptop - not sure that was the wisest decision. Is it better to use a good DVD/Blu-ray player or a laptop with HDMI output?

Not related - but last night our screen curtains stopped working!

Anyway - on with the show :-)

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 09-18-2012, 06:26 AM:

quote: Mike Wright
Had a few problems showing a DVD via a laptop - not sure that was the wisest decision. Is it better to use a good DVD/Blu-ray player or a laptop with HDMI output?

It definitly is the better idea to use a dedicated BluRay Player.

Setting up a PC or Laptop for decent playback is a nightmare, even for the educated.

- Carsten

Posted by Yinghong Wu (Member # 6908) on 09-18-2012, 09:02 PM:

Very nice Mike,I like this short film,Thanks for your share^_^

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 10-09-2012, 07:58 AM:

Nice video!

I've never seen one of those Y-shaped dual feed spool brackets on the Vic before - was it originally something to do with a sepmag follower positioned close to the picture head?

quote: Carsten Kurz
Setting up a PC or Laptop for decent playback is a nightmare, even for the educated.

It's never given me too much trouble, as long as you remember to disable the timeout to screen saver, turn off display after X minutes settings etc. The only real operational gotcha is that slimline laptop drives (in my experience) tend to be less tolerant of dirty or scratched discs than full sized ones, and so I tend to rip the disc to the hard drive and then play out from that. A PC with a decent graphics card in it will upscale from a PAL or NTSC DVD to give you a better result than a cheap, no-name set top player, to my eyes at any rate.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 10-09-2012, 04:44 PM:

Did you ever care about proper audio/video sync, surround sound, framerate matching and the like?

- Carsten

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 10-10-2012, 01:52 AM:

Not a problem if you use a computer with good enough graphics and sound cards, a properly configured operating system (try running a DVD or BD on a seven year-old laptop with not much memory, a slow processor and umpteen unnecessary background processes loaded at startup and you're going to have problems) and decent playback software, configured properly.

Bottom line - both cheap and nasty set-top players and cheap and nasty computer-based playback will result in the problems you mention.

Posted by Mike Wright (Member # 5040) on 10-10-2012, 03:43 AM:

quote: Leo Enticknap
I've never seen one of those Y-shaped dual feed spool brackets on the Vic before - was it originally something to do with a sepmag follower positioned close to the picture head?

Sorry - didn't understand most of that! The only time I have used it is to show a short film on a 2000ft reel without having to use the long player mech.