Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Dolby 3d glasses washing with a dishwasher.

This is topic Dolby 3d glasses washing with a dishwasher. in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Bijhan Clarke (Member # 8253) on 06-19-2014, 04:14 PM:

ok so im the the new theater manager of the super new amamazingly awesome prospector theater in ridgefield ct. We're a non profit theater thats mission is to employ adults with disabilities it's a one of a kind theater (check us out at prospectortheater.org) we have 4 screens all 3d dci super compliant but we only have enough water flow to run a house hold dish washer to clean 3d glasses! I plan on retro fitting the trays in the dishwasher to fit a marlin 780004 rack, but any advice on how I can run detergent, rinse agent, and sanitizer on one wash?

the dishwasher is a GE GLDA690

any ideas would be greatly appreciate and I'm brand new to the forum so if i posted in the wrong place or did anything wrong sorry in advance

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 06-19-2014, 06:20 PM:

Can't give you a knowledgeable answer, but my gut instinct is that some dishwasher detergents can be pretty caustic, and so personally I'd be worried about what they might do to any coatings on the lenses. Does the manufacturer have any guidelines as to what is and isn't safe to wash them in?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-19-2014, 06:48 PM:

You don't need high water flow to run a commercial dishwasher. We have lousy water pressure here and our washer runs fine.

The commercial washers keep the washing water in a tank and just refill it when needed.

Posted by Bijhan Clarke (Member # 8253) on 06-20-2014, 09:33 AM:

i plan on using Ecolab chemicals not dish washing detergent, the project has gone to far for me to switch washers now.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 06-20-2014, 12:03 PM:

The Ecolab chemicals need to be dispersed at separate times. The amounts are tiny (a few mL) and the run cycle is very short (around 90sec). I don't see how you can do this properly in a household dishwasher.

Also, make sure your water temperature stays above 120F.

Posted by Bijhan Clarke (Member # 8253) on 06-27-2014, 09:14 AM:

could i run 3 cycles each one with a different chemical?

Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 06-27-2014, 10:20 AM:

Better to hack the dishwasher and modify or replace the control board. You want quite short cycles and good temperature control. And no hot drying!
I think the end cost for something that works (a lot of hours will be spent on this) is going to exceed a Dolby approved washing system, and any problems will all be on your head.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 06-27-2014, 05:37 PM:

Whatever happened to doing things the right way? Didn't we used to care about that?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-27-2014, 06:45 PM:

quote: Bijhan Clarke
could i run 3 cycles each one with a different chemical?

Believe me, even if that worked it would get REALLY old, REALLY fast. It's already a lot of work to collect the glasses, rack'em, wash 'em, and (in our case) wipe the water spots off 'em. Plus a home washer with hacked racks probably won't run 48 glasses at a time the way an approved washer will.

Tripling the amount of time you spend washing glasses will either drive you batty or make you decide it's just not worth it.

If I were you, I would fund-raise for a good commercial washer and do it the right way.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 06-27-2014, 07:00 PM:

That's where it's nice to just hand out the Real D glasses. There's nothing to wash or maintain. Whatever gets put into the return box (or picked up off of the floor while cleaning up) is sent back to the depot when the box is full.

And that's all there is to that.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 06-28-2014, 02:25 PM:

Yeah. But, in the meantime, you're stuck with a silver screen. And your customers get to watch 2D movies through that stupid RealD rig, which nobody seems to move out of the way for 2D.

quote: Mike Blakesley
Plus a home washer with hacked racks probably won't run 48 glasses at a time the way an approved washer will.

Correction: The approved washer will wash 120 pairs of glasses in one wash, which takes only 90 seconds.

If you're getting spots, have you tried "deliming" the machine? A pint of distilled white vinegar worked for me.

Also, when was the last time you checked your dispersion amounts?

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 06-28-2014, 02:40 PM:

I can't say what anyone else does, but I always move that screen out of the way for a movie that's not 3D. Why wouldn't you? It takes all of three-and-a-half seconds to do that.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 06-28-2014, 02:50 PM:

Since nobody is in the booth anymore (in most plexes) there is nobody moving it out of the way. All of Manny's points remain valid.

Then there is the fact that you also get to send 50-cents of every ticket to Real-D for your "free" glasses.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-28-2014, 05:34 PM:

quote: Manny Knowles
Correction: The approved washer will wash 120 pairs of glasses in one wash, which takes only 90 seconds.

I was thinking of the smaller size washer which we have....it does one rack (48 glasses) at a time.

quote: Manny Knowles
If you're getting spots, have you tried "deliming" the machine? A pint of distilled white vinegar worked for me.

We have hard water here, so nothing that I've tried works perfect. Sometimes we get lots of spots, sometimes hardly any. I'll have to try that vinegar...I've been using the regular deliming solution.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 06-29-2014, 05:01 AM:

I know this is OT, but since you guys posting here are knowledgeable about Dolby's 3D glasses, let me ask -- I need to get my hands on Dolby 3D glasses. I am working on a dual projection 3D Home Theatre system where we MUST place speakers behind the screen; therefore the screen must be must be acoustically transparent. Thing is, if I am to use polaroid, of course the screen needs to be silverized. So just use a perf silver screen...BUT, not that simple -- we can't use even a microperf silver because of the proximity of the seats and secondly the morie pattern issue.

So let's go with a woven Acoustic Transparant screen. OK, but while there are plenty of companies offereing white AT screen material, there is only one company (that I can find) in Germany offereing a woven AT silverized screen. Only problem is...well, see if you can figure it out; for my 10 width AT silver screen with frame, they want $18,000. As in US dollars.

Plan B.

The other alternative of course is to use a white AT screen and use the Dolby 3D system. Assuming the lenses in a pair of Dolby glasses when removed from the frame can be used in front of the lenses of the projectors, a Dolby system should work to solve this problem. Thing is, where can I purchase Dolby glasses in a very small quantity, like say 8 to 10 pair? Or does Dolby frown on that?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-29-2014, 08:52 AM:

There is a dealer in California who will sell small quantities. I don't have the name but will get it from our booker on Monday if nobody else has any leads by then.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 06-29-2014, 09:45 AM:

Thanks Mike.

The filter lenses in the Dolby 3D glasses look like they may be just a tad small to fully cover the JVC video projector lenses that I will be using. On the other hand, the filter wheel in the synchronizer unit would definitely be more than enough to cover the lenses. I wonder if that filter which obviously consists of a LEFT eye half and a RIGHT eye half is a single piece or do the two halves come apart. If they are one piece, then I would need two of them, using the appropriate LEFT eye filter side and RIGHT eye filter side for each projector. It would be interesting to see if the filter wheel can be purchased independently of the whole mechanism.

However, if the inanimate object gods are with me, the lenses in the 3D glasses might just squeak by and cover the projector lenses fully -- that would be ideal as I am sure that will be a lot less expensive than getting a filter wheel (or two).

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 06-29-2014, 12:43 PM:

You will not be able to use Dolby glasses as your projector filters...they are curved and have a very small sweet spot before the different layers start showing up.

You might be able to use the Color Calibration filters though I've never tried this and I can foresee where this would not work too but that is where I would start. However, you would still have the issue of color correction and I know of no home theatre projectors that deal with that. As for small quantity of glasses. I know the low-cost CAT832s are being sold only in 100s...I'm pretty sure the same applies to the CAT834...naturally, theatres generally order in 100s so it hasn't come up.

I'm thinking that the Panavision system may be a better alternative since one doesn't have the color aspect to it but you'd have to do your own research into how to source anything for it since it is now a defunct system.

Posted by Edward Havens (Member # 4715) on 06-30-2014, 11:34 AM:

The projectors at my new theatre are outfitted with an aparatus that moves the RealD box in and out of place depending on whether we are showing a 2D or 3D presentation. Yay technology!

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-30-2014, 12:28 PM:

I guess Dolby has a similar thing available for some projectors (but not ours yet) that will move the filter in when 3D content is played.

I have mixed feelings about that though...while I like the picture to be as bright as it should be, to me it really emphasizes the lower brightness of the 3D to move the filter in place mid-program. I think it might be better to play the 2D trailers with the filter in place when running a 3D feature.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 06-30-2014, 01:09 PM:

One thing that strikes me is that this is supposed to be a theater that provides job opportunities for disabled people but you are considering to use a piece of equipment that is not user friendly to the potentially disabled people who you are trying to help.

That sounds quite counterproductive to your mission statement,

I think you should equip your theater in a way that is more consistent with your mission,

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 06-30-2014, 07:11 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
I guess Dolby has a similar thing available for some projectors (but not ours yet) that will move the filter in when 3D content is played.

Do you mean your projector does not drop the 3D wheel in place when playing Dolby 3D? NEC right? News to me.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-30-2014, 09:55 PM:

Right, it doesn't. Maybe there's a recent update that adds that feature? But like I said above, not sure I want to use it.

It would be good for when I am gone for a few days though, it'd be one less thing for me to worry about the crew doing!

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 07-01-2014, 10:09 AM:

My experience is entirely with Barco and Christie but the 3D spinning wheel ass'y and deploy feature is the same. So you push the button on DFC 100?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-01-2014, 11:58 AM:

Right. I just push it as part of my nightly turn-stuff-on routine, so it's no big deal.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 07-01-2014, 12:42 PM:

Mike, your're kidding?

- Carsten

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-01-2014, 01:54 PM:

No...I flip a few switches (lights, sound system, vent fan), power up the projector, double-check the schedule and if we have a 3D show I push the button.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 07-01-2014, 10:44 PM:

Even if you have NO automation, you could have one of the GPOs on the projector activate the 3D wheel when a 3D title is selected (or remove it for 2D). With an automation (just about any), it would be darn near childs play.