Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Pre-Show ads on DLP

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Posted by Dan Chilton (Member # 2288) on 06-28-2004, 02:11 PM:

The last two films I've seen at AMC have moved their NCN pre-show ads onto their DLP projector. Is this a growing trend, or is just AMC? I don't think it worked very well, b/c the projectionist had to turn off the DLP, lower the house lights, and then kick on the projector... very poor presentation. Is anyone else doing this?

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 06-28-2004, 04:41 PM:

Regal Entertainment has had their digital pre show for over a year now... AMC is behind in the times. [Razz]

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 06-28-2004, 07:24 PM:

Um...are we talking about a DLP cinema projector or a common business presentation projector? Has anyone observed commercials ahead of a film presention being played from one of the big machines?

The typical Regal house is equipped with a basic 3 chip LCD projector, not DLP.

Are you saying DLP when you simply mean a video projector in general of undetermined technology?

Posted by Dan Chilton (Member # 2288) on 06-28-2004, 07:37 PM:

I'm talking about your standard, run-of-the-mill, leave-all-kinds-of-digital-artifacts, business-class, powerpoint-lovin' projector. Maybe a little better, but it certainly wasn't a three chip LCD, 20,000 lumen powerhouse, that's for sure. It looked terrible.

I didn't think the Fantanas could get any worse until I saw them coming from that crappy digital projector... ugh.

Posted by Bryan Fournier (Member # 264) on 06-28-2004, 09:48 PM:

I'm pretty sure Regal uses the Christie L6, a 5200 ANSI lumen LCD projector. Maybe the Regal people can verify this. Does anyone know what kind of video projector AMC is utilizing for their pre-show advertising and alternative content?

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-28-2004, 10:18 PM:

AMC is using Sanyo LCD projectors. I want to say the model is XT41, but that's just from memory.

Posted by Christopher Duvall (Member # 284) on 06-28-2004, 10:44 PM:

Regal is using the Christie L6.

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 06-29-2004, 12:33 AM:

There are a couple of photos of the Regal/Christie setup in this photo set.

Posted by Bevan Wright (Member # 1884) on 06-29-2004, 07:13 AM:

I think Dan is confusing DLP and LCD. LCD is the lower-end which is what Regal and AMC are using for pre-feature. Regal using the Christie L6 (dual lamp) and AMC the Sanyo XP46 (single lamp) - both are XGA being letter-boxed to 576x1024.

Posted by Dan Chilton (Member # 2288) on 06-29-2004, 07:27 AM:

I've since spoken to the manager at this particular AMC, and he informed me that there were some automation problems with the new LCD projectors this weekend, but everything is hunky-dory now.

How does one go about setting up automation with a LCD?

[ 06-29-2004, 10:16 AM: Message edited by: Dan Chilton ]

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 06-29-2004, 10:18 AM:

I don't think there is an automation hooked up to the LCD projector. At the Regals, I've seen shows start RIGHT when the 20 ends, at other times, we were sitting in silence to a frozen image, "Your feature presentation will begin shortly..." for up to 5 minutes. It's all up to the operator.

Regal! Are you listening?!? Animate that last frame and add some cheezy background music to it to ease the tension! [thumbsup]

=TMP=

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 06-29-2004, 08:00 PM:

The "up to 5 minute wait" is usually the result of more than one show starting at the same time. Once I had to start 5 show at 7:00. By the time the last show got on screen, it was 7:07 and the two 7:05 shows were late! I had to literally run between projectors1 Recently, the people who select the showtimes have gotten better at this, and I rarely see more than two starts at a given time now.

The 2wenty is not conected to the automation in a way wich would allow it to interact with the film based portion of the show. It is, however, connected in such a way that when the operator presses start, The 2wenty puts the L6 into "sleep" mode and the computer logs the actual start time.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 06-30-2004, 11:20 AM:

What's the use of the computer logging the start time? To adjust the 20 accordingly automatically, or to have reasons to fire projectionists for starting the movie(s) late? [Big Grin]

=TMP=

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 06-30-2004, 12:14 PM:

Good question. And wouldn't it make more sense just to have the computer start the film automation by itself?

Better yet, it could check the position of the failsafe (say) five minutes before the scheduled start time and sound a "not threaded" alarm to alert the operator. At showtime, it would then use some sort of serial interface to close a relay which would start the film.

In any case, I still haven't seen one of these setups. All the theatres around here either show curtains/blank screen (the "good" ones) or 35mm slides (the "corporate" ones).

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 06-30-2004, 02:44 PM:

1) The logger exist for exactly the opposite reason. It is there to ensure that the projectionnist doesn't start the show early, cutting off advertisrs. They have not, AFAIK, ever used the log to terminate someone for being o late. The worst that could happen is that someon could get written up if they make a habbit out of starting the show early.

2) Nooooo! I completely dissagree with the idea that the twenty should ever have any control over the film portion. The projectionist should always be around when the show starts. Even though I thread in frame, and always have good focus without needing to adjust after starting, I think not being able to run the show yourself is just bad showmanship. Initially, they wanted to hook in the 2wenty to the lighting, so that the lights could be dimmed for the 2wenty. I also did not like this idea. When I'm in the booth, I want maximum control over everything. I'll dim the lights. I'll open out the masking. I'm in control of the presentation.

Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 06-30-2004, 09:05 PM:

We had a Christie L6 running the 2wenty in our IMAX auditorium (like we have in all the rest of the auditoriums), but it couldn't be connected to the system such that starting the IMAX projector put the L6 into sleep mode. So we had to manually hit the kill switch every show. The problem was, sometimes the schedule the L6 ran from wasn't updated some shows, and it would start up in the middle of a presentation. Of course we wouldn't hear it from the booth, the sound not being in non-sync ... but we WOULD hear people banging on the booth door in the middle of Ghosts of the Abyss screaming "Hey, why are we watching the FRIENDS commercial again, on top of the ocean!?! ... and why isn't it in 3D like the rest of the movie?"

The IMAX's L6 has since been removed, and now we astonishingly get complaints "Hey, where's the 2wenty in IMAX?"

As for our DLP, it's just feature trailers and then the feature. All pre-show garbage is on that auditorium's own L6. And the difference in quality is UNMISTAKABLE between the two!

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 06-30-2004, 10:04 PM:

With a DTAC sound system it is incredibly easy to automate video projector control and even a dowser in front of the L6 lens to prevent it from doing stupid things during a show.

Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 07-01-2004, 12:59 AM:

Oh, I'm sure it's possible. When our L6 was installed, it was basically a "Hurry, get it in, we have this live-feed event blah, blah, tomorrow night that we need it up and running for ... hurry, rush, hurry ... it's working? Great! Run! Oh, it's not hooked up properly? Who cares, it runs for the most part, so it's good enough, see ya later!"

Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 07-01-2004, 01:30 AM:

One thing I have always enjoyed about Imax is the lack of preshow. I hope this doesnt catch on.

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 07-01-2004, 12:31 PM:

quote: Brian Michael Weidemann
The IMAX's L6 has since been removed, and now we astonishingly get complaints "Hey, where's the 2wenty in IMAX?"

You're kidding, right? People actually want to watch The 2wenty?

Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 07-01-2004, 02:34 PM:

Yes. I was asked this directly when giving live announcements for Harry Potter's opening weekend. Astonishing, indeed.

Posted by Emma Tomiak (Member # 1862) on 07-01-2004, 07:11 PM:

I've seen people come in looking rushed about 20 minutes before showtime, and run to the first employee they see and ask "Did we miss any of the 2wenty?!?"

Sheesh. [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 07-02-2004, 05:56 AM:

Glasgow Science Centre IMAX has preshow (Pearl and Dean) adverts (From VHS or something similar) which looks nice and small comparied with the size of the imax screen.
The trailers are then shown on a full width 3 projector setup in a cross between Powerpoint and Cinerama.

One of the local Edinburgh cinemas has a Powerpoint style pre film-advert show which is nausiating to look at since it overuses transition effects (and has very little content at present).

[ 07-09-2004, 08:30 AM: Message edited by: Mark Hajducki ]

Posted by Brent Neal Jones (Member # 1048) on 07-07-2004, 08:38 AM:

"I'll dim the lights. I'll open out the masking. I'm in control of the presentation."

couldn't agree more, Mike! After all, what the hell are we here for unless we run the show? Where would all the fun be? [Smile]