As far as worst, I'll have to say the gearless Christies win that top honor, although I have never worked with a Ballantyne, so they could be worse. The Christie's yield a very low performance to maitenence ratio.

Oh were you guys talking about film?

BTW, how do you intend to get those 360 gigs to your theatre? Shipping a loaded Pluto array or several D5 tapes doesn't count.

My choice is a Norelco AA-II or Century JJ with 35mm and 70mm DTS.

I agree with all your statements. I was just being silly.

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Worst, Cinemaccanica V-8, and Christie GPS.

I can take or leave Simplexes, I loathe that rubber wheel that rides on the emulsion, and I'm not fond of the oil bath either... but that aside they're decent machines

35mm
1. Brenkert BX 60/80/100 (virtually unstoppable!)

2. Simplex XL/1015/1050 (Very steady pictures, Easy on film and relatively quiet)

3. Simplex E-7 (Also easy on film and quiet)

4. Century SA/DA/TA series (Good with most film, easy to repair/rebuild)

5. Century C/CC/H/HH STRAIGHT GATE (Same as the SA series but a tad quieter)

6. CFS/Rentec Dreamcatcher (I wish they could make this less expensive- its a very nice projector, IMO)

70/35mm:

1. Norelco AAII (There Are No Substitutes.)

2. Century JJ (Another Solid Performer!)

Worst Projectors:

1. Super Simplex (weak gear train, high maintenance)

2. Cinecita SA (Made In India Century knockoff- poor quality)

3. Monee MSP (Another Indian Century Knockoff-poor quality)

4. Century H/HH CURVED GATE (Major problems with polyestar dust clogging the trap causing unfocusable pictures requiring stoppage of he show to chip the packed-in dust deposits out of the trap)

5. Norelco FP20 (Lots of very expensive plastic parts in places where they should be metal, I have seen several of these with trailers and other objects jammed in to hold the gate closed...)

Of Course, YMMV.

Worst
SuperSimplex
Cinecita/Monee (same company)
Victoria 5
Bauer U3

Best 35/70
Westrex 5000
Norelco DP70 (AA2)
Favorite (Prevost/Zeiss)
Century JJ

Worst 35/70mm
Victoria 8
DP75
Monee/cinecita
Wassman Eurokino
Simplex

Except for being very tight to thread, and starting too quickly, the two I have havn't scratched anything, and have a decently steady picture, except when running polyester trailers. After running several last night, I learned about the shedding problem. It looked like it snowed under the intermittent.

I told 2 more theater friends about this site last night. One was telling me about a Technicolor reel shattering and going through the ceiling the other day. I thought of you guys.

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Try running Supers in a real theatre with platters and you will soon see why Supers are so bad... Even more so with polyestar film

There are many differences between the Super and E7, the E7 has a more rugged gear train, and the casing was redesigned for more room, the gate and trap are different, and of course the E7 has the one-shot oil pump... I have had nothing but bad luck with Supers in modern theatre service, and after all the stripped gears and spun bushings we had an XL installed. As usual, YMMV...

I am not very fond of Christie either, but the Prevost P-93 is the only inanimate object that has ever caused me to think of physical violence.

I could go on (at length) but you get the idea...