Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Can you translate Auditorium # from AMC online showtimes?

This is topic Can you translate Auditorium # from AMC online showtimes? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 06-29-2007, 06:14 PM:

Basically the subject says it all. I like to see event movies in Auditorium 1 or 2 at AMC Pleasure Island. I always have to call (and hope somebody answers) to find out the show times in those auditoriums. Is there any way to figure out based on the perfomance ID on movietickets.com what auditorium a show is in?

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 06-29-2007, 08:12 PM:

This is not possible.

Not to mention - with Interlock, auditorium switching, an random weird stuff - it would be best to call anyway. Movietickets.com remains the same regardless of what auditorium the film is in. I am sure somewhere 'in the code' the info is in there - but you would have to know the UNIX computer language to decipher it.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-29-2007, 11:41 PM:

And isn't one of the big "plusses" of digital cinema, the ability to instantly move a show from one screen to another? Therefore you might buy a ticket to Super Blockbuster III, but they only sold 12 tickets to it, so it's been moved into dinky auditorium #24 and the big house is being used to accommodate the unexpectedly large crowd that showed up for Mega Film Event IV.

Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 06-30-2007, 09:54 AM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
And isn't one of the big "plusses" of digital cinema, the ability to instantly move a show from one screen to another?

It takes roughly the length of the film to ingest into the player. I'm no expert (cue Sisemore!) but unless there's a configuration that lets you ingest-as-you-go (which would be supper dangerous on a new drive you haven't screened yet) you'd have to wait hours for the xfer.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 06-30-2007, 10:47 AM:

One of the plans is not to have the server by the projector but more of a server room. The signal can then be routed to any of the theatres' projectors. This would require that the key allow a set of projector serial numbers to be acceptable. It is no less secure to do it this way since even on the HDSDI cables, the picture still isn't viewable as the last form of decryption happens in the projector itself.

Actually storing the film at the screen it is going to play is totally unnecessary but it is more traditional...heck Brad isn't even doing that with film based platter systems anymore [Wink]

Posted by Geoff Jones (Member # 3668) on 06-30-2007, 01:03 PM:

Lyle, this is a complaint of mine as well. It's frustrating that the same $9 can get you a 50' screen or a 20' one, and you may have no way of knowing what you'll get until you walk into the theatre. (Bravo to the theatres that DO list which showtimes are on their large screens.)

The only thing I can think of is to keep calling and asking. The more you tie up the staff answering this question, the more likely they are to post the information.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 06-30-2007, 02:05 PM:

quote: Dennis Benjamin
I am sure somewhere 'in the code' the info is in there - but you would have to know the UNIX computer language to decipher it.

First, even if the servers do store that information that information isn't being sent as any part of the webpage's source. I took at look at the source for a listing of a local AMC on movietickets.com and all I could see in the webpage source was references to exactly what was being displayed. So there's really nothing you'd be able to go on.

And secondly, there is no such thing as the "UNIX computer language." Unix is an operating system. But I know what you meant; I'm just a computer nerd.

So if that information is stored on the movietickets.com servers (I suspect it's not at all), the only way to find it would be to essentially hack their computers.

Posted by Scott Jentsch (Member # 1681) on 07-02-2007, 10:39 PM:

I can't speak for movietickets.com, but as a customer of the data service that is part of the same company, there is no indication of the specific screen number for a particular set of showtimes.

While I agree that this would be a very cool thing to have available, it's not currently available to me. In order for it to be truly useful, however, it would have to be updated in real time from the POS, and I doubt that there is enough of a demand for them to put such an added feature in place.

The best way to find this information is if the theater you are interested in has some special attribute that theater does supply. In the case of the new Marcus Majestic in Waukesha, WI (and Marcus' other UltraScreen locations), they indicate which shows are in their UltraScreens:

http://www.bigscreen.com/Marquee.php?theater=brookfieldmajestic

Theaters are able to supply information like this in their "Notes" field, so if they take the time to do so (or their systems are set up to do so), it can be shown on their showtimes. Whether theaters supply this information is up to them. We provide for displaying digital sound indications, stadium seating, and THX, but we often have a hard time getting theaters to supply that information as well.

In the case of the Pleasure Island 24, some of their shows are marked as being in Digital Cinema, so that may help you identify which screens a movie might be playing in:

http://www.bigscreen.com/Marquee.php?theater=3509

Does that help at all?