Those favouring the left side appreciate the lack of clutter around the projection working area, no likeleyhood of walking into the film in low-light areas while focussing, ect.

The "right-siders" claim faster threading, and the ability to keep an eye on the film travel when starting a performance.

When using Cinemeccanica bases, if booth depth permits, the platter tower can be placed directly behind the projector, allowing for a film feed with no "twists".

If the operator is stupid enough to walk into the film, that's their problem...they shouldn't be up there.

I used to like platters on the right, because it's easier to thread. If something goes wrong with the platter at start, you're right (oops!) there to save it before the failsafes kick in.

However, when we started bi-amping our theaters we needed a large 19" rack to hold everything. A good place for it is to the right of the projector (so the operator stands in between) to set the sound format listen to the monitor. This means the platter usually must go to the left.

If your platter system is reliable enough on startup (such as the Kinoton) then there should be no need to do anything other than take a peek round to see that all is well once things are underway. Having worked with CFS "Superplatters" previously, though, I can say that I do agree that these need to be on the operator side where possible, as I was forever having to stop them from spinning wildly out of control when starting a show...

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That being said, I perfer the platter be on the non operator side, especially with the number of kids in the booth these days. I've seen them stand there with a film rubbing against their leg and they were not even aware of it. The second reason is that I belive that the sound rack should be right next to the projectionist so that, if needed, a format can be punched in right away and the focus and the volume checked at the same time. Not only that, from the operators side you can just look over or around the projector to see if all is well at show start with the platter.(It should be if you do your job right) If you have to run a show manualy, all of the buttons and indicators are where you can get at them right away. I really hate having to start a show and then run around to the other side of the projector to punch up the sound format.

Of course if you happen to have the sound rack mounted on the back of the console, then it's kind of a toss up. I still perfer to have it on the non operator side because I'm tall and don't need to have a bunch of film running through my hair.(Isn't there enough static on the film already? )

I quote myself...
"On installations where the engineer runs the cabling (say from a mag penthouse or digital reader) straight to the wall from the projector"...etc, etc, etc.

Obviously if this cabling is not there and rollers are set up in an ideal manner (as in not behind a strip of conduit or tilted at a 45 degree angle) then speed winding can be achieved with the platters on the non-operator side.

As to sound racks on the operator side equaling platters on the non-operator side, this is ridiculous. Simply place the sound rack on the operator side facing the console, but with the right edge of it flush with the back edge of the console leaving plenty of room for the film to travel between the sound rack and the wall. Roughly 2-3 feet will be left for the operator to thread past the rack when done in this manner. This allows the platter to go on the operator side as well.

On one job the thx guys insisted the rack be moved to the operating side for those very reason

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