Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Coming soon - WWE at your local Drive-in

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Posted by Peter Berrett (Member # 672) on 04-20-2003, 09:15 PM:

Hi all

Whilst in the snack bar at Coburg drive-in last night I noticed an advertisment for a screening of the WWE wrestling at Coburg on a forthcoming Monday night.

It appears that Village is have special sessions at its cinemas including the Coburg drive-in, whereby the latest WWE special is aired up on the big screen. Unbelievably, they are charging $A25 per head (yes per head) for people to go and watch this.

I presume that Village are using some form of DLP projector to put the show up on the big screen. This makes me wonder about a few things

1. Do they get good luminosity on the Drive-in screen?

2. Is the feed they are using a standard PAL 625 x 625 image or is it a widescreen feed?

3. Are drive-ins in the USA doing similar things with DLP projectors? What are you showing? Do you get good luminosity?

cheers Peter

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 04-20-2003, 10:47 PM:

We show WWF events on our CDS/TI DLP indoors at $30CDN a head.

I hope the Coburg drive-in has a small screen, or they use a half-dozen projectors, or they have the sense not to try and fill it.

Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 04-21-2003, 12:14 AM:

Wow for 30 bucks you can pretty much buy the program at home and have the added benefit of taping it. When I want to watch a WWE PPV event I go to Buffalo Wild Wings and watch for free. Well not exacly free where I pretty much spend the 30 dollars on food and drinks anyway but I am still coming out ahead.

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 04-21-2003, 12:52 AM:

I guess you could really say that about the people that buy a ticket to see it in person.

The events invariably sell out an auditorium that holds well over 350 people. I guess the big screen, big sound sells it.

Posted by Peter Berrett (Member # 672) on 04-22-2003, 10:00 PM:

My sources within Village Cinemas have told me that the broadcast will be shown on screen two (a smaller screen) using the Barco ELM in the 4:3 or std 1.34:1 aspect ratio. It will fill the screen top and bottom but leave almost 50% on the sides blank due to the aspect ratio. It will run on Field Two that has a 30 meter width so not quite as large as Field One.

In a way it seems we have come full circle. As I recall, initially drive-in theatres showed films in a 4:3 aspect ratio - that why the screens on those old photographs look so square.

It will be interesting to see how the broadcast goes. I have the impression that this is Coburg's first try at broadcasting WWE onto a Drive-in screen. Will the luminosity be enough, one wonders, to fill a 30m screen? Will patrons be prepared to pay $25 a head to see a half full (or half empty) screen?

cheers Peter

[ 04-29-2003, 03:53 AM: Message edited by: Peter Berrett ]

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 04-25-2003, 10:23 AM:

At the Grandview drive-in, we used an Ashcraft Super Cinex burning 11mm rotating positive carbons at 65 volts and 120 amperes (7800 watts). For the scope aperture, the total light output was about 34,000 lumens without a shutter, and over 17,000 lumens with the shutter. We put up a reasonably bright 4-footlambert image on a 42 x 100 foot freshly painted matte white screen.

I know of no currently available digital projector capable of that kind of light output. The output of several digital projectors could be superimposed ("stacked" or "ganged") to increase light output, at proportionately greater cost.

Since they are showing it in 4:3 aspect ratio, it appears they may not even be using HD cameras. Ugh! [Frown]

Posted by Peter Berrett (Member # 672) on 04-29-2003, 03:35 AM:

Hi all again

My spy (who will remain nameless - let's just call him/her
'DEEP THROAT') has reported back to me about the WWE showing last Monday night:

quote:
A good night at Coburg with over 100 cars and an average of 4 people per car for Backlash. They were sitting outside, drinking and honking the horns all night. The other fields were divided down the centre to keep the non-payers at bay. In any case there were hardly any patrons for the other fields.

Picture was bright and sharp with sound excellent. The Barco ELM (10,000 ansi lumens) projector was run from the back of a truck with a 3 phase feed from the projection room. Picture was a full 18m x 15m approx.

Deep Throat's comment about the other fields being divided down the middle reflects the fact that technically one could have bought a ticket (at half the price) and watched the field 2 WWE show from either field 1 or field 3. Even with the fields divided this would probably still have been possible as fields 1,2,3 were created out of the site of a single screen drive-in and one would be sufficiently close to screen 2 to watch the WWE screening.

I concur with John Pytlak. Seems like an expensive way to watch tv to me. It would have been interesting to get a light meter reading of the show.

cheers Peter

PS Given that Village will probably be screening WWE in the future, maybe they should extend the screen both up and down (and thus make it square) so that the full width of the screen can be used [Razz]

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 04-30-2003, 02:35 PM:

WWE at the drive-in Down Under must be more or less equivalent to WWE on pay-per-view Stateside. Does Australia have the same penetration level for satellite/cable TV as the US?

Posted by David Kilderry (Member # 142) on 05-01-2003, 06:07 AM:

Alright, I'll come clean. I am Deep Throat - the mystery informer Peter refers to above, nothing to do with the 1970's porno! (Which was very successful at drive-ins).

The WWE Backlash event was very successful at Coburg Triple drive-in. The 4:3 image was brighter than either scope 35mm feature running on the other screens. The c/s light on the Coburg screens is from 4.5 fl on screen 1 to 5.5fl on screens 2 and 3. Screen 1 is 33 meters in width, the others are 30. The image did only fill 50% of the screen width ways.

Cable penetration is high in Australia, but the WWE and Foxtel (Main Event) have parted ways. With no more PPV the opportunity to do what Famous Players in Canada have done for some time arose. The WWE events have been running for several months on screens across Australia. This was the first time for the drive-in even though we do run WWE on our 28 meter wide indoor screen - std image meeting masking top and bottom.

The big audiences really get into it with big sound and big pictures.

David Kilderry

Posted by Peter Berrett (Member # 672) on 05-01-2003, 09:07 AM:

Thanks David

Actually the 'Deep Throat' that sprung to mind was not the film but rather the informant (who was never identified) in the Watergate scandal.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/deept.htm

I'll keep an eye out for the next WWE screening at Coburg but you'll find me watching from one of the other fields. My car will be the one pointed at right angles to the screen!

[Smile]

cheers Peter

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 05-01-2003, 10:25 AM:

Some speculation:

http://deepthroatuncovered.com/story/

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/04/07/watergate.papers.ap/

http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/897230.asp?cp1=1

http://www.dailyillini.com/apr03/apr24/news/stories/news_story01.shtml

http://www.dailyillini.com/apr03/apr28/opinions/stories/edit.shtml