First D-Cinema in Dallas, Denver and Seattle

[Michael Coate]

Do any members who are/were a projectionist, theater manager, installer/tech or presentation-savvy moviegoer recall (or wiling to research) what was the first DIGITAL PROJECTION installation/presentation in the following markets:

Dallas
Denver
Portland
Seattle

[Ed Gordon]

Seattle might now be the best place in the world to watch a movie if you’re into high-def screens.

The Paul-Allen owned Cinerama Theater is set to install a digital laser projector that has light output of up to 60,000 lumens — in simple terms, movies will be crystal clear with super-vibrant colors.

Christie, a digital cinema projector manufacturer, will supply the 4K projector and calls it the world’s first commercial digital laser projector. Christie just received approval for the device the FDA, which regulates laser-emitting products.

From Geekwire, August 26, 2013. Link: https://www.geekwire.com/2013/paul-a...ser-projector/

Also found this:

Press Release

AMC Entertainment^® Reveals State-of-the-Art Entertainment Experience to the Emerald City on July 18


All guests will receive one free small popcorn for each ticket purchased July 18-24

Tukwila, Wash. (July 14, 2008) - AMC Entertainment Inc. (AMC), a worldwide leader in theatrical exhibition and out-of-home entertainment, announces today that AMC Southcenter 16 at Westfield Southcenter will open to the public on July 18. This newest AMC theatre will bring the best possible out-of-home entertainment experience to the Seattle area in celebration of the summer blockbuster season. To commemorate the grand opening, all guests who visit AMC Southcenter 16 between July 18-24, will receive one free small popcorn with each ticket purchased.

Link: https://www.bigscreen.com/j/Seattle-...heater-at/1232

It appears that Cinerama got laser projection first, but AMC was first to open with digital projection.

[Michael Coate]

Thank you, Ed, but those Seattle examples appear to have been later iterations. I’m asking about the first generation of digital projection installations, circa late 1990s/early 2000s.

[Ed Gordon]

Micheal, The guy who would know is Robert Horton. Mr. Horton was a film critic for the Everett Herald newspaper for many years and he curated the MOHAI (Museum of History & Industry) exhibit Celluloid Seattle: A City at the Movies (see: https://mohai.org/exhibit/celluloid-seattle/). I have access to the Seattle Times newspaper online archive (https://seattletimes.newsbank.com), which may have an article on the first commercial digital presentation in Seattle. If you can provide a few more key words to search for that would help narrow down the search.

[Marcel Birgelen]

There were some public D-Cinema trials as far back as 1999, with the release of The Phantom Menace and later, in 2000 with Toy Story 2. Don't know if there was a setup in the regions you mentioned. Barco started to roll-out permanent installations with their Kinoton-based 1,3K machines back in 2003. The first movie I remember seeing in this format was Finding Nemo.

The first pre-DCI 2K installs started to appear around 2005, that's also the year the venerable Barco DP100 was released. From 2006 to 2009, a lot of cinemas all over the world started to install digital projectors, most in a select few of their rooms, mainly to follow the 3D trend. I still remember Kinepolis announcing to go full-digital in all their rooms within a year in 2008, by then most of their rooms had already been digitized. With the success of Avatar, almost everybody ended up installing at least one digital projector at their venues. I guess by then it was clear that the future trend would be digital-only...

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

There were some public D-Cinema trials as far back as 1999, with the release of The Phantom Menace and later, in 2000 with Toy Story 2. Don't know if there was a setup in the regions you mentioned. Barco started to roll-out permanent installations with their Kinoton-based 1,3K machines back in 2003. The first movie I remember seeing in this format was Finding Nemo.

The first pre-DCI 2K installs started to appear around 2005, that's also the year the venerable Barco DP100 was released. From 2006 to 2009, a lot of cinemas all over the world started to install digital projectors, most in a select few of their rooms, mainly to follow the 3D trend. I still remember Kinepolis announcing to go full-digital in all their rooms within a year in 2008, by then most of their rooms had already been digitized. With the success of Avatar, almost everybody ended up installing at least one digital projector at their venues. I guess by then it was clear that the future trend would be digital-only...

Indeed, all my pre-series 2 installs were strictly for 3-D. The first one was a used Barco DP-100 that came from the Seattle area, the rest were Christie ZX and SB projectors. The DP-100 was so old I had to replace the back plane in the card cage just to get a 3-D sync signal out of it. But I warned the customers to hold off for Series 2 gear via VPF's once I knew it was coming out. Then it seemed like almost everyone wanted to convert all at once. The small twins and singles who could not get VPF's held out till last since they had to pay out of pocket for the gear. I also did a service call in Seattle for Landmark to install a Master IMage system and when I got there the DP-100 was still non DCI and all the updates had to be done. But it all ran just fine and being a later DP-100, it did not require a new back plane.

[Ed Gordon]

Here is an article from a local Seattle newspaper, The Stranger, published July 29, 1999:

DIGITAL CINEMA

The Future: Bugs and All

by Charles Mudede

THIS SUMMER, DURING A PARTY thrown for Atom Films (an up-and-coming Internet company that distributes short films on the web) at the Alibi Room, it was announced by the president of Atom Films that they had finally attracted venture capital from four sources (one of which was, of course, our city prince Paul Allen). What this achievement represented was an acknowledgment from those at the top--those who felt certain that Atom Films was a legitimate financial endeavor.

It is not hard to imagine (with investors or otherwise) that in the near future, we will access not only short films, but also feature-length films through the Net. Video stores will disappear, and most of Hollywood's output will be digital and download-able. The only thing preventing this from happening today is simply the current state of Internet technology, which has yet to offer fast downloads, high resolution, and clear sound.

On July 30th, 911 Media Arts Center will have a screening and discussion called WebFlicks, which will focus on the "current state" of this promising technology and offer the public a chance to see what is available now, what can be done with it, and how you can participate in the next Big Entertainment Revolution.

Working with six content partners (Atom Films, D.film.com, Ifilm.net, Bijou.com, Mountainzone.com, and Albion Productions), they have gathered a number of film shorts and--using a powerful Mac G3 computer and a digital video projector--are screening them for free. I saw all of the shorts, and must confess that so far everything is still rudimentary, and the content of most of these shorts is simple. Nevertheless, this show is worth watching because 911 is in possession of excellent computer equipment, which enables one to see what the current possibilities are with this new medium.

There is still a lot of open space in digital filmmaking and Internet distribution, and those who have just a basic understanding of it (they will have experts at the presentation to offer insights and advice) will have a head start on the rest of the world. Get there early, because this free event is sure to fill up fast.

[Michael Coate]

I’m actually asking about mainstream studio releases and what was commonly referred to at the time as DLP (or “DLP Cinema” — known today generically as “D-Cinema”). What you just posted, Ed, is about something else entirely.

To clarify and to provide some context...

I’m aware Seattle had digital projection for “Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones” at the Cinerama...but I do not know if it was Seattle’s first. Seattle did *not* have digital projection for the initial digital projection titles in summer 1999 (“Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace” and “Tarzan”). So... from that we can conclude the Seattle install was between late 1999 (“Toy Story 2”) and spring 2002 (“Attack of the Clones”). There were a dozen or so other digital projection releases in that ‘99-‘02 timeframe, most of them from Disney.

Does the NewsBank service you’re accessing provide the Seattle Times issues in their original published form? Or is it just “Text Only” articles?

*****

I’ve since confirmed Dallas (which I understand was in late ‘99 at the Cinemark in Plano for “Toy Story 2”).

Portland I’m unsure. Seems they got it later than most other large markets.

For Denver I have conflicting info as to whether the initial install — at UA Pavilions— was in spring/summer ‘02 for “Attack of the Clones” or if it occurred earlier (possibly in late ‘01 for “Monsters, Inc.” or even an earlier release).

[Ed Gordon]

Here is what I found in the Seattle Times archive:

The Force is with digital

By Nancy Gohring
May 16, 2002
Publication: Seattle Times, The (WA)
Page: E1
Word Count: 948


THE NEWEST "Star Wars" movie, opening today, was created digitally, without film. In Washington state, it is being shown in that format only at the Cinerama in Seattle.


The Cinerama may have retro décor, but today's opening of "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" puts the downtown Seattle theater into the future.The Cinerama is the only movie theater in the state with a digital projector, which means it can digitally display the George Lucas film, the first major movie created without a roll of film. Theaters without such projectors can show the movie, but they use a version that has been printed from the digital format onto 35 mm film.The technology behind the digital presentation not only eliminates film, but also the natural wear and tear that occur when film is copied and run repeatedly through a projector.The Cinerama was wired for digital during the 1999 renovation instigated by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who had bought the theater a year earlier. "Our goal is to show as much digital as we can," said Jason Hunke, Cinerama spokesman.But with only 94 theaters worldwide using the technology, it's clear that digital cinema is experiencing some growing pains.Boeing, through one of its non-aerospace enterprises, put the pieces together for Cinerama to offer digital movies. Boeing's digital cinema service can transmit a movie via satellite simultaneously to servers at the Cinerama and the 22 other theaters it has signed up. A typical film, which is compressed from about a terabyte (1 trillion bytes) of data to 60 to 80 gigabytes, takes six to 10 hours to download.Theaters equipped with digital cinema projectors don't have to receive movies from a satellite download, however. "Episode II" fits onto 15 DVD-recordable discs, which can be physically delivered to the theater.A secure link streams the movie from the server to a special projector where technology developed by Texas Instruments processes the data and sends it to three chips called digital micromirror devices. The devices, about the size of a frame of 35 mm film, contain more than 1.3 million tiny mirrors, each one representing a pixel on the screen."The digital data controls the mirrors, telling them when to turn on or off and what color to turn," said Brooke Williams, manager of marketing and field demonstrations for the DLP Cinema Products division of TI.The same type of lamp used in a regular film projector is focused onto the devices, with the mirrors controlling the amount of light bouncing to the screen.Currently, all digital projectors in use employ TI's technology, but JVC and other manufacturers are developing their own flavors. Therein lies one of the roadblocks theater owners face when considering installing digital cinema technology."We're trying to find out what the standards will be," said Brent Siewert, general manager of the Majestic Bay theater in Ballard. "To make the investment -- and it will be big -- you don't want to bet on Betamax." He doesn't expect moving to digital cinema for eight to 10 years.Other smaller movie houses are watching theater chains before making any decisions about digital cinema. "We'll let the big boys duke it out," said Teri White, northwest district manager for Landmark Theaters.Theater owners are also hoping that while the larger chains make their decisions the price for the gear will drop. Boeing estimates that a theater will invest about $200,000 for the equipment to show digital films. A new film projector costs about $30,000.Digital production benefits studios and distributors, which can save significantly on costs of duplicating and distributing films. The Motion Picture Association estimates that studios and distributors can cut 25 percent off the cost of production, management and distribution of films by going digital.But the theaters, which are the entities being asked to invest in the gear, haven't figured out why they should buy digital."We've got equipment that works. There's no real push financially for us to change," said Siewert.Some experts think that distributors, because they stand to benefit the most, may contribute to or outright sponsor the purchase of digital equipment. "The distributors may be best positioned to break the logjam caused by the economic climate, the financial structure in place and the conflicting interests among the stakeholders," Krishan Bhatia, a senior associate at Booz Allen, said in a recent report.Theater owners also have questions about reliability. "Are you just trading one set of problems for another?" Siewert asked. "A damaged print is a damaged print, but a pixelated movie or a download that fails or a computer crash is different."Microsoft plans to release a product code-named "Corona" soon that initially will be essentially a stripped-down version of digital cinema geared toward independent film producers."Our solution will enable those types of filmmakers to get their work out," said Erin Cullen, a product manager at Microsoft. Corona's resolution won't be as good as true digital cinema, and the technology requires a projector different from those produced for the major theaters such as the Cinerama.Corona's strength, however, may be in plans to include chips supporting the technology in PCs. "When that ships it will enable the highest video-playback resolution on the PC -- it'll be HDTV quality," said Cullen. Nancy Gohring can be reached at ngohring@seattletimes.com.
Seattle Times, The (WA)
Date: May 16, 2002
Page: E1
Copyright (c) 2002 Seattle Times Company, All Rights Reserved.

So, May of 2002 was the first and only digital cinema presentation in the Washington state. This article was text. I have done searches for articles from the 1940's-1960's that are in the original form.

[Michael Coate]

Thank you, Ed, for locating and posting. Unfortunately, I’m not certain the article is definitive in regard to “Attack of the Clones” being Seattle’s first Digital Projection presentation. The beginning of the piece seems to imply such, but then a few sentences later the author states the installation had been made three years prior.

[Carsten Kurz]

It says 'wired for digital in 1999'. That could mean anything. In 1999, only a few prototypes of digital cinema projectors were in existence. I don't think Seattle had one before 'Episode II'.

[Marcel Birgelen]

According to this Wikipedia Article, in 1999, there were only two installations in Los Angeles and one or two (the quote isn't clear) in New York:

In the United States, on June 18, 1999, Texas Instruments' DLP Cinema projector technology was publicly demonstrated on two screens in Los Angeles and New York for the release of Lucasfilm's Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

The article also mentions Paris as an European site (check out this French article which also shows the experimental TI DLP adapter installed onto a Christie base.). But the article may be incomplete. I'm pretty sure there also was a demonstration in Brussels, which this Dutch, paywalled article confirms.

I also remember articles about Lucasfilm/Skywalker Sound/ILM experimenting with digital projection at their master screening room (called the Stag) at their ranch. I vaguely remember some setup with a NEC machine. Those may have been early trial runs with off-the-shelf big-venue projectors, but none of these shows was ever public.

[Carsten Kurz]

There is a detailed story about the first four demo installations during summer 1999 in Los Angeles and New York - two TI, two Hughes-JVC, in vol. 32 of Cinema Technology Magazine.

Both systems were also shown at ShoWest the same year. But Hughes-JVC quickly pulled out.

Also:

https://theasc.com/magazine/sept99/phantom/fx3/main.htm

https://cinepedia.com/history/an-ear...igital-cinema/

https://www.dcinematoday.com/dc/gallery?index=39

https://www.dcinematoday.com/dc/gallery?index=38

[Michael Coate]

In 1999, only a few prototypes of digital cinema projectors were in existence

in 1999, there were only two installations in Los Angeles and one or two (the quote isn't clear) in New York

Those installations were for the “Star Wars” test in June 1999. Two more installs — Orlando and Irvine — were added a month later for “Tarzan.” By the end of 1999 in the United States, there were four releases and twelve installations, the majority of them located outside Los Angeles and New York, suggesting the format was no longer in the test phase.

Seattle is not among those dozen, which is why the “wired for digital in 1999” bit in the Seattle Times piece stood out (in addition to seeming to contradict the main thrust of the article).

[Marcel Birgelen]

Are you sure those were "permanent" installations? As far as I understood, some of those machines may have been demonstrated at multiple locations, that's why over in Europe, the demonstrations only started in 2000. Back then, nothing about the format was settled and everything was very much a moving target.

The Huges-JVC machine is an interesting beast, because it's essentially a light-valve projector, still using three CRTs, but those CRTs in turn drive a reflective LCD panel (much like the ones found in modern LCoS machines) via an optical to electric conversion, using several substrate layers on top of the CRT. Those things must have been fun to converge.

There are a handful of specs available here.

I guess, still being dependent on CRT technology, Huges-JVC simply couldn't scale their setup without an all-digital imaging engine, like the later LCoS/D-ILA/SXRD incarnations.