Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: digital nightmare

This is topic digital nightmare in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 01-27-2012, 08:58 AM:

I look forward to nights like this:
http://astortheatreblog.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/what-happened-last-night/

Posted by Philip Jones (Member # 6677) on 01-27-2012, 09:42 AM:

Why did they only find out 10 minutes before the show that the KDM didn't work?

Are there instances where the 'future' licence will corrupt or something when it gets to the time it is going to unlock?

Sounds like it was someone's fault for not checking the KDM before they tried to start the show to me

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-27-2012, 11:00 AM:

This article is full of exaggerations and misinformation. I hate stuff like this:

quote:
(The KDM) is time sensitive and often is only valid from around 10 minutes prior to the screening time and expiring as close to 5 minutes after the scheduled time. (snip)...the projectionist can’t test to see if the KDM works or that the quality of the film is right before show time.

I've never seen a key that wasn't valid for at least 24 HOURS ahaed of the first screening time. And they never expire until something like 4 AM the morning after the last day of the booking...at the earliest.

And this:

quote:
There are thousands upon thousands of screenings at cinemas just like us all over the world constantly experiencing these same issues.

I would like to know how many cinemas experience digital projection related problems "constantly." I'm betting it's very few.

And the whole rigamarole of the process they went through to get themselves a new KDM. It sounds like it took two phone calls, which is one more than it should have taken, but still. Not that big a deal and should have been taken care of long before "10 minutes" before showtime.

Then she makes it sound like a huge big process to ingest a KDM ("5 - 10 minutes"). Uh, no. If it's in my email, I can have it downloaded, unzipped and ingested in about 60 seconds. I could do it faster if I didn't have to take a flight of stairs to get to the machine.

Sorry for the rant but I just hate over-exaggeration on things like this. She put more of a black-eye on the industry with this article than their delayed showtime ever did.

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 01-27-2012, 11:13 AM:

I've had some KDMs kick in Thursday night at 6PM or 8PM, but usually it's 00:01 Thursday.
I learned to check the KDM for which specific version of the feature it's unlocking. I placed a 7.1 version of a movie on the playlist only to have one of my fellow assistants discover, about an hour before it's maiden midnight showing, that the KDM was for the 5.1. He replaced the file on the playlist with the 5.1 and sent it to that house and it made it with moments to spare.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-27-2012, 12:00 PM:

Obviously one big advantage of 35mm over digital is you could inspect the print, build it and screen it to make sure there were no problems and even do so days before opening day. Normally any movie theater should be able to preview the show to make sure everything is set properly and working properly. The paranoia from content providers (the movie studios) are making this much harder to do with digital projection.

Plenty of things can go wrong in a digital projection setup. When 3D is added there's another possibility of technical problems. If there is a last minute problem with the KDM it just raises the risk level even higher.

IMHO, the movie studios and digital projection service providers should have IT crews working and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for digital projection equipped commercial movie theaters. It's a global business. No matter the time of day, hundreds or thousands of digital projection equipped theaters are playing movies somewhere in the world. It's ridiculous to think a theater in Australia has to deal with people working normal office hours in the United States and then bounce calls to London, etc. to salvage a show. If the studios are going to play games with a KDM, making it unable to work until the last minute then they ought to be immediately available, not just available during office hours, to solve any problems that could arise.

quote: Mike Blakesley
I've never seen a key that wasn't valid for at least 24 HOURS ahaed of the first screening time. And they never expire until something like 4 AM the morning after the last day of the booking...at the earliest.

Given the theater is located in Australia, I wonder if this theater's KDMs are configured in a different manner.

I'm not going to name names to risk getting any friends in trouble, but I have heard of some releases that didn't unlock until Friday, opening day with only an hour or two to spare before the first afternoon showing. Sometimes a service provider (like AccessIT) would have to log into the theater's network and deliver the keys remotely. This may not be happening now, but it has happened in the past at a certain digital projection equipped theater. Normally their keys would arrive and be valid days before opening day. Every once in awhile a studio would get funny with the KDM. Add to this the potential for a KDM to get delayed or lost in the mail.

To me, I think the system of shipping KDMs on USB flash memory sticks is stupid. I think the content providers should either e-mail them or have the service providers drop them into the systems remotely. Isn't every digital projection equipped theater connected to the Internet? Don't these systems "phone home" so to speak when a movie is shown? I guess I just don't see the point in snail-mailing a KDM. Snail mail makes sense for a 500GB hard disc holding a 250GB movie that would otherwise take a long time to download.

quote: James Westbrook
I've had some KDMs kick in Thursday night at 6PM or 8PM, but usually it's 00:01 Thursday.

This brings up another issue of those Thursday at midnight screenings going into Friday morning. It's another opportunity for DCP keys to be delayed until the last minute.

Posted by Edward Havens (Member # 4715) on 01-27-2012, 12:12 PM:

One film we recently ran a sneak preview of, the KDM unlock the file one hour before showtime and actually expired while the show was still on. I guess as long as you start the show before the KDM expires, you're good to go. But that's a rare instance. 99.45% of the KDMs we get unlock the file at least 24hrs prior to showtime. Disney is even nice enough to let KDMs unlock a file as much as five days before opening.

Clearly the onus of this incident is on the person or persons in charge of acquiring, loading and verifying the KDMs. At my theatre, the KDMs go to every manager at the theatre, and every manager has been trained on how to load them and verify them.

And why the manager or owner would allow a blog that says to the world "Our team is not very well trained," I have no idea.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 01-27-2012, 02:43 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
Obviously one big advantage of 35mm over digital is you could inspect the print, build it and screen it to make sure there were no problems and even do so days before opening day.

..where the big disadvantage is that it's on DVD the next week in pirated form...

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 01-27-2012, 03:16 PM:

Monte -

Most of the films that are available for download on the Internet are from Studio screener copies (go to any bit torrent site and you will see this). The bottom line is 35mm or digital - they will make a copy if they want - all this digital security stuff is smoke and mirrors anyways...

Posted by Bernie Anderson Jr (Member # 410) on 01-27-2012, 03:38 PM:

Oh, I've had keys for screenings and special events that wouldn't work until 2 hours before (which in that case, another movie is playing prior to the screening and your only chance to test it would be 30-45 min prior to showtime) and then key actually expire during the film run. "We Bought A Zoo" 1st sneak preview had a key that expired at 9pm and the film ended at 930pm. If the projector went down, you lost your show. I also had a screening of "New Years eve" on the thursday before opening where that DCP was different then Friday's DCP which was showing at 12:01. Two DCPs, two different KDMs. The KDMs are a nightmare and usually my biggest problem.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 01-27-2012, 05:24 PM:

quote: Dennis Benjamin
all this digital security stuff is smoke and mirrors anyways...

Thx..good to know - but won't go there on "why then......" [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-27-2012, 05:45 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
Obviously one big advantage of 35mm over digital is you could inspect the print, build it and screen it to make sure there were no problems and even do so days before opening day. Normally any movie theater should be able to preview the show to make sure everything is set properly and working properly.

That's true, if you could get a print ahead of time. More often that not we would get our film prints on Thursday, or sometimes on Friday, leaving inadequate time for a screening and no time at all for a replacement in case of problems.

With digital we almost always get our hard drives on Wednesday, or even Tuesday sometimes. We got our drive for "War Horse" a full 7 days before we opened it. The keys almost always show up on Wednesday. So I have a couple of days to get the content ingested, and then I can take 10 minutes on Thursday to verify everything's working. So actually with digital I have MORE time to prepare than I usually ever had with film.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 01-27-2012, 06:31 PM:

...and when you have a LS/TMS to do your builds for the assigned houses in your complex, that really shortens the length down to minutes when one had the entire evening and night to build the same amount of film prints.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 01-27-2012, 07:43 PM:

The problem with video, as I see it, is not that things will go wrong any more or any less than they will when you play the real thing but, when they do go wrong, you can often come up with a workaround when using film.

I've had problems with movie projectors that could literally be fixed with duct tape and coat hanger wire. I have done it. I'm sure everybody here has done it. These "Yankee Ingenuity" type fixes are undoubtedly temporary just to save the show and get you through until you can make the correct repairs. But, when showing programs on video, if there is a problem, it is very likely that there will be no way to fix it without ordering expensive replacement parts which will take at least 24 hours to arrive.

This begs the question that it's a problem that even can be repaired. What if the digital file is corrupted or if the blu-ray disc is scratched? You might not know until the program is well under way and, when it happens, you probably won't be able to diagnose and repair the problem in a reasonable amount of time to save the show.

Just this week, I had to present a movie from Blu-Ray and the disc would not recognize in the player. This was not a problem with a scratched, dirty, damaged or corrupt disc. I have other discs that will successfully play in the machine, as well, thus ruling out a damaged machine. Turns out the disc was incorrectly formatted when it was made.

I had to run out to Best Buy, with the disc in hand, and try it in every player in the store until I found one that would recognize and play the disc. I finally did at 5:00 pm on the evening before the show.

What's worse is this whole digital video thing is done, ostensibly, to save on labor costs. Well, if I hadn't been there and INSISTED on a test screening before the show, nobody would have known that the disc wouldn't play until it was too late. Everybody just assumes that a Blu-Ray is a Blu-Ray and that you just put it into the machine and press "PLAY." Well, that ain't necessarily so but most people don't even understand that.

Like Bobby said, you can't actually inspect a digital video the way you can inspect film. You don't have reasonable assurance that the show will play as planned until you actually attempt to play the show and, when video goes wrong, you can't fix the problem with ordinary methods like you can film.

I have had two video programs that failed in the middle of the show. In both cases, the disc played perfectly for the screening and the first show but, on the second, the disc failed.
I never took the disc out of the player. I simply powered it off. If I could show a movie two times in a row without problems, shouldn't I be able to assume that it will play the third time, too?

I can tell you from experience that one of the worst sounds you can ever hear is the collective moan that goes up in a theater when the video stops playing! It feels even worse when you realize that there's probably nothing you can do to prevent it.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-27-2012, 08:46 PM:

Obviously the high-tech term "mission critical" has not made its way into movie studio parlance just yet.

Plenty other high tech businesses fully understand the concept of "mission critical" and realize that even mere seconds of down time equal much lost dollars. If Hollywood wants to really get jiggy with embracing the whole "digital" thang they and their technology partners need to step it up a few notches on the mission critical idea. If "digital" is really supposed to be as great as they insist it is then there should be no such thing as a movie theater going dark for a screening over something as simple as a damned invalid KDM or corrupted hard disc file.

Posted by Paer Hoegberg (Member # 3133) on 01-28-2012, 02:02 AM:

I've had some KDMs valid only 10-20 minutes before the show start, and the expire 15 minutes after the last show, and more the once.

But usually the valid time are a couple hours before the start, and expire by one or two hours after.

And then, some does not expire at all (i have only seen this on European films).

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 01-28-2012, 03:03 AM:

This blog post is blaming the issue on digital, when it is really with the studios not unlocking the content. This is not very much different from the Paramount cans that would come in padlocked until the morning before the opening. This often prevented the print from being built up prior to opening, and in the case of a midnight show, nearly impossible to test run prior to opening.

Furthermore, even if you did have a bad reel, you may have been forced to run the first few shows with the bad reel while you waited for the new reel to be delivered.

Going a step further: unless you are running some kind of exclusive engagement, you have the ability to borrow a hard drive from a near by theatre should you have a bad drive. It would be kind of difficult to borrow a reel from a near by theatre.

The point being that this is an issue easily resolve by getting the studio deliver the keys in a more timely manner. This isn't a problem with digital so much as it is a problem with the studios trying to exert too much control.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-28-2012, 03:24 AM:

quote: Justin Hamaker
The point being that this is an issue easily resolve by getting the studio deliver the keys in a more timely manner. This isn't a problem with digital so much as it is a problem with the studios trying to exert too much control.

That pretty much sums the whole problem with digital right up. Case in point, why must some studios issue a new key each week? That is ridiculous. If any piracy is going to actually happen at a theater (vs the real source...studio screeners and post houses), then it would happen the first weekend. Once the first week has passed, the KDM shouldn't be so much of an issue. When a theater is booked for the movie, just give them a damn key good for 16 weeks. If the movie actually does well, THEN give them an extension key. Most movies will play out within those 16 weeks and further keys simply won't be an issue once loaded initially for that complex.

Similarly, there should be keys sent for all formats. Don't make us chase you down to get the 7.1 version, then the OC version, etc. Just send them all. [Roll Eyes]

What is even more annoying are rep titles. This stuff is already on blu-ray! Keys shouldn't even be needed. That's paranoia in overdrive.

Posted by Christopher Crouch (Member # 3784) on 01-28-2012, 03:55 AM:

quote: Brad Miller
What is even more annoying are rep titles. This stuff is already on blu-ray! Keys shouldn't even be needed. That's paranoia in overdrive.

It's pretty annoying at discount theatres too.

Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 01-28-2012, 03:58 AM:

quote: Brad Miller
What is even more annoying are rep titles. This stuff is already on blu-ray! Keys shouldn't even be needed. That's paranoia in overdrive.

Guess what?

The Astor is a rep house. Different double feature almost every night.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 01-28-2012, 09:08 AM:

Mike,

I think others have hit it...you are comparing US practices to other countries/localities. The other think you miss is the traditional 1st run release versus a screening or another 1-off. Even on screenings of movies in release I often get a KDM that is timed just long enough for a screening. I had a studio screening where I got a red flashing warning about expired KDM while the show was running! Fortunately, if the show had failed, it would have been the offending studio with egg on their face for their own security preventing the show from continuing.

I've seen KDMs with about a month on them so not all are 1-week things but the reason, Brad is control and that is a BIG part of the DCinema thing (not as big as the money aspect but it is still big). If you don't send the studio its money, they can shut the spigot off on you.

As for KDM delivery...with theatres with VPF programs, then there is a NOC and definitely the ability for an entity to send KDMs in electronically. In fact, Film-Tech's DCS service will do just that...THEY will ensure you have KDMs loaded in before you need them. Depending on your system, you need not unzip them either. The VPF systems like Cinedigm, KDM distribution can be greatly automated. Even non VPF systems like Dolby's DSL100, one can make KDM distribution automatic to the point you can put an FTP folder on the manager's computer, drop the zip file in and it will ingest/distribute to the various players without the need of a thumb drive.

This is all nice and all but if the KDM doesn't work or the DCP has a problem...it won't save a show. I agree with most about this paranoia. It is over the top and I don't believe the studio's bottom line is being affected by piracy in a measurable way. Mind you, I don't condone theft of any type...including movies and music and have no problem with the prosecution of those that practice it and knowingly obtain it. I just don't see them as a loss that would otherwise be turned into a gain...I think the majority of those that steal in this manner would not buy it by legitimate means. The real losses are those that unknowingly get a fake.

-Steve

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-28-2012, 10:44 AM:

Oh I know its all about control, but I think the studios are missing the bigger picture. Any theater that burns them on a payment will simply be cut off, and any theater that doesn't pay their bills will in all likelihood be one that is not a good grossing theater anyway, so the studios won't have any issue pulling the plug. It is clear they don't want the smaller grossing theaters surviving anyway. Need proof? Look at the VPF structure!

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 01-28-2012, 01:17 PM:

VPF structure? You mean that that is hid behind NDAs?

Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 01-28-2012, 09:01 PM:

"I can have it downloaded, unzipped and ingested in about 60 seconds."...that's what she said.

I couldn't resist. Sorry, Mike.

I've had keys that don't go active until an hour before showtime or less and the exciting part being that they were incorrect.
Last DCI upgrade (thanks, guys. Pick a standard, will ya?) forced a change of serial number for the Sony media blocks when they swapped out boards. Even after numerous calls and e-mail we received incorrectly serial'd keys for weeks from both Deluxe and Tech...

To be fair, a lot of the pirated copies of movies I see out on torrent and such call them selves "telesync" or "tele" or some dumbass word they don't fully understand the meaning of that just means "video camera'd" and is shot in a theater.

Whether these are from advance screenings, public screenings, or employee screenings is really irrelevant.

If the studios have the ability to track CAP code and digital watermarks WHY is this even a problem?

Why can't the SOP simply be this:
I'm an exhibitor -- I know if my print is found online as a source of a pirated copy I will face x% penalty for the first time, y% for the second time, z% the third, and may lose good standing with the studio for future first run blockbuster films.
Oh but then, I guess the studios would have to admit when they screw up and it gets pirated via other means.

And I suppose it would be bad for business because they would have a harder time justifying the film rental %'s creeping up...

And while we're on the subject, riddle me this: why isn't anyone making dupes from DCP's yet?

I mean with tools like FFMPEG and imagemagick one can rip an unencrypted DCP and convert it to any consumer-friendly format already.

Aside from the fact that it would be very blatantly wrong in a moral sense and thus hard to justify in their own minds and the fact that MPAA would castrate you with a broken coke bottle, I'm kind of surprised someone hasn't written a pseudo media block that creates a fake serial, fake certificates, and fake keys to decode encrypted content.
The DCP itself doesn't carry much info and the meta data can be stripped once it's decoded. It's the KDM's that control all that jazz.

Just wondering.

/end rant.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-28-2012, 11:10 PM:

quote: Dominic Espinosa
...that's what she said.

Good one!

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 01-29-2012, 01:43 AM:

As studios like to exert control over the cinemas, what would keep them from dictating which auditoriums the movie plays in within the complex by using the KDM?
I can't recall which 3D feature, but Technicolor or Deluxe sent 8 KDMs. My building is a 16 screen. I discovered the 3D houses were the ones that the KDM authorized, which I will admit is logical as no one SHOULD be trying to run 3D content in a 2D only house...

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-29-2012, 02:49 AM:

There is nothing preventing it. For example, if George Lucas wanted, he really could follow through with his "my movie plays in the big house for 6 months" threat.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 01-29-2012, 06:23 AM:

Why not limit the use of KDMs only until the subject matter is available on the net from the pirates?

Once it is gone, it is gone. There is no need to "protect" what is already not secure.

KDM administration is an extremely high profit area for the KDM supervisor. Louis

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 01-29-2012, 10:11 AM:

quote:
..our steps began with calling a 24 hour help line in the US.

WoW! They found a 24hr help line in the US? !!!
Every time I've ever called one I get connected to
someone in India or Singapore or someplace. [Roll Eyes]

Celluloid over silicon!

Posted by Jock Blakley (Member # 6552) on 02-06-2012, 09:41 AM:

As a projectionist at the theatre in question here, I’d like to take a moment to explain the situation in a little more detail for the more technically-minded readership here.

The blog post, I should point out, was written by a fantastically competent and very passionate staff member. However she has no day-to-day involvement in projection and very little technical knowledge on the subject, and that has lead to parts of the post containing inaccuracies or incomplete explanations. I offer my apologies and the following explanation.

As Bobby, Ian, and Steve have noted, we’re not a multiplex. Nor do we belong to any chain. We’re a 1160-seat repertory house in Melbourne that’s been under the same independent management for thirty years. With the exception of special seasons we show one or two different features each night and one or two matinees on Sundays, and we installed D-Cinema to complement our existing 35mm and 70mm installation.

We don’t have an IT department or “content managers” or even a basic TMS. We don’t even have a permanent internet connection at the theatre.

I’m perfectly happy to agree that the buck in this matter stops with us, because the issue was one we could have and should have noticed. I didn’t notice it because I was on vacation a thousand miles away and obviously neither the manager nor the duty projectionist caught it either – though whether that is because they simply didn’t check or didn’t know to check is beyond me. Either way it’s our responsibility in the end.

There are some extenuating circumstances, though.

The most obvious is that we’re not a first-run house and so we don’t open new films in three auditoria on a Friday and play them for a fortnight. One film – one night is the general rule here. 4am on the morning after the last day of the booking is in the vast majority of the time 4am on the morning after the first day of the booking. We rarely get drives a week in advance and we rarely get KDMs with twenty-four-hours pre-validity. In fact, one studio that is of paramount importance to this example has twice issued us KDMs (for the same feature, no less) that were active for only THIRTY MINUTES EITHER SIDE of the scheduled start time.

Further to that, there are times when even having the drive early is of no use to us because of space limitations on the server. In the week leading up to this incident we had DCPs for nine different features, and eight more different digital features in the following five days, in addition to the handful that are kept on the server because the hard drives have to be shipped from the UK at our expense.

We were therefore having at that time to delete features immediately after the screening and then return in the early afternoon to ingest the next set – via USB 2.0, as the Doremi Showvault that was specified for us by our installers lacks both E-SATA and CRU docks.

On that specific Wednesday the evening’s double was TAKE SHELTER followed by MONEYBALL. This would be irrelevant if not for the fact that the booked 35mm print of MONEYBALL didn’t show at its scheduled delivery on Monday. It was replaced with a 4K DCP that then required hasty ingestion at a time when the KDM issue with TAKE SHELTER may otherwise have been detected.

(At this point however Deluxe Media Logistics are to be commended for organising and providing the KDM for MONEYBALL without us needing to ask).

As to the KDM ingest time, I agree completely with Mike’s assessment of the time actually taken to perform this task. I’d suggest thought that the 5 to 10 minute estimate comes from including a few more processes – mostly the fact that the only computer with an internet connection is in the theatre office, four flights of stairs and two foyers away from the bio-box. While this may not take ten minutes even if you include a few small delays in issuing and downloading the KDM, neither is it the work of sixty seconds.

In any case, the night has passed and we’ve learnt some lessons. Three days after the TAKE SHELTER incident we screened HARRY POTTER 7.2 in 2K... and we were sent the wrong KDM. It turns out that two versions of that feature were distributed in Australia – one masted by Technicolor LA and the other by Dolby UK. This is not externally indicated on the drive and seems to be a crapshoot.

This is just one of the frustrations we’ve endured with digital cinema and though we are at fault here we haven’t necessarily been so in other cases. Our very first screening with the new Barco was the Blu-Ray of the 2010 reconstruction of METROPOLIS (the distributor decided not to get a DCP after promising us one). After six seconds on screen the scaler dropped the HDCP link and thus the picture, and needed to be rebooted.

A week later during a screening of OF GODS AND MEN a problem either with the DCP or with our equipment caused subtitles to display sporadically, and often not at all. We were unable to resolve the problem despite calling Deluxe’s 24-hour hotline and speaking to very helpful fellow in Burbank at 3am, and while we didn’t actually lose the show we may as well have. Eventually Deluxe UK and Laboratoires Eclair were also involved.

(and yes, Deluxe made us call a 24-hour help-line IN ANOTHER COUNTRY because the Deluxe D-Cinema Australia office is only open during normal business hours. Technicolor at least have a local dial-in number so that we’re spared the international call cost).

Happily we’re seeing some positive things too. The new 4K DCP of BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S is unencrypted, and Park Circus (who supply us with Columbia/Sony rep and soon also UA content) are now issuing us one-year KDMs regardless of the number of booked screenings.

I couldn’t agree more with Brad though – this sort of rigmarole is bad enough for second-run; for rep its pathetic paranoia. Some of these titles have been out on some form of home video for more than TWENTY YEARS! Heck, THE WIZARD OF OZ first hit home-video shelves in 1980.

Part of our intransience here on the whole digital issue is that it’s being used as pretext to destroy film as a viable distribution medium – to the extent that it’s justifying the junking of perfectly useable prints.

Anyway, I hope I’ve been able to shed a little more light on the whole situation. Thank you all for your patience and understanding.

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 02-06-2012, 10:19 AM:

Jock, thanks for the post and a preview of what those of us on the art/rep side have to look forward to. Sounds like a great theatre.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 02-06-2012, 08:54 PM:

As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. Just because a system or piece of equipment is the cheapest, or sells the most, in no way makes it the best or proper solution.

It sounds like those guys are doing every bit as much work putting on digital shows as they did with 35mm.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 02-07-2012, 02:09 PM:

Good work, Jock. The Astor is a national treasure.

The idea that your KDM's are becoming operational 30 minutes before a show is pathetic. Get whomever is doing this to come out and see you sweating on the key to open and see if it works while 1200 people are waiting for the show. Then direct them to how ridiculous that nonsense is by having them Google the movie's title with the word 'torrent' next to it.

[Roll Eyes]

Posted by Jock Blakley (Member # 6552) on 02-11-2012, 08:20 AM:

Thanks John. Happily for our Friday night screening of the feature with the stupidly-short KDMs we were issued an 8am-to-midnight one. It's a start.