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Author
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Topic: Digital Cinema- thoughts?
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Peter Schoell
Film Handler
Posts: 47
From: Paynesville, MN, USA
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 02-25-2002 11:16 AM
As a board member of a regional NATO organization, I'm helping to get the quarterly newsletter together. Each newsletter will have a topic of interest to be commented on. The subject of the April newsletter will be digital cinema. In order to get more information to our members I'm looking to see if anyone on this forum has info they would like to share. I'm pretty new to the Film-Tech forums, and don't get to check them out as often as I might like. I have gone to the archives, read a lot of the posts and learned much. If anyone has any new info I would like to see it. I've noticed many of you are intensely involved and well versed in different aspects of this business. My own experience with digital, is I saw it demonstrated once a couple of years ago at the Geneva, Wi convention. What I saw on the screen was not with out flaw, but movies aren't perfect either. So what I saw looked about as good as film..big deal! I have 4 small town (pops. 2k to 7k) theatres in West Central Mn. The questions I have to ask are. Is the ticket buying public going to care how the image gets to the screen? What happens on Sat night when the software crashes, and you have to wait 20 min for the online help? Or when almost anything else goes wrong, and you have to wait until Tue for the $100/ hr tech to come fix your system? With film systems most things can be fixed on the spot or overridden with very little delay, and most problems can be avoided by a few minutes of extra checking before the show starts. If we have learned anything from the computer business, software has to be upgraded or it will become obsolete, (a lesson learned from GM and their "planned obsolesces" years) It has been suggested that film companies might pick up part of the initial cost, but I've yet to hear this from anyone but the people who are creating the systems! I think Digital Cinema is something that will come. When you look at all the money that is being spent in full page ads in the trade magazines, and how the magazines in turn give so much coverage to Digital Cinema, you know that's where the money is for some big corporations. As we all know big corporations play by the "Golden Rule", that is "When you've got the gold , you make the rules". Oh my gosh. Where did that soap box come from?
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Pat Moore
Master Film Handler
![](http://www.film-tech.com/ubbmembers/380.jpg)
Posts: 363
Registered: Mar 2000
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posted 02-25-2002 12:46 PM
Peter; I think you're zooming in on the key questions that there are no economical answers for yet. We can see incremental sales and attendance increases because of digital sound. One would argue for the theatre owner who questions, "What increase in attendance will I see because of digital projection?"Is there an increase because it's digital, or do people go see the movie because it's the content they want to see, regardless of the medium that projects it? Assuming comparable quality of "film done right", of course. If there is an increase, does it pay for or offset a major portion of the equipment cost? Do other potential revenue sources (live event, advertising, etc.) pay for or offset the equipment cost? So far, the answer is not an enthusiastic YES that the industry needs to make such a huge change in the way the exhibition works. It seems viable in the other parts of our business, those to the south side of the distribution line, but it's a hard sell in theatres. One man's opinion, worth approximately 38 cents. Pat
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Randy Loy
Expert Film Handler
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Posts: 156
Registered: Aug 1999
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posted 02-26-2002 12:34 PM
Peter,I'm not so sure that digital projection is going to be a big draw. Maybe in the beginning when people think it might be something great but not further on down the line if it does not turn out to be anything special. I find that it is fairly common for people not involved in exhibition to think that the image they see at theatres is ALREADY from some source other than a 35mm film projector. They are often surprised when I tell them it's still from film. I've not yet had an opportunity to see a digital projection demonstration but hope to some time soon. However, I feel that if the digital image is not obviously better than a film image and is only equal to or substandard to a projected film image, I don't think it will be a draw IMHO. I realize that there are some theatre patrons out there who only want to see films when the soundtrack is reproduced digitally, you'll always have audiophiles or people who like high-tech stuff that will seek out the latest stuff. But I believe in general that MOST people are more interested in the movie's content than they are interested in how the picture and sound gets to the screen and speakers, providing the resulting image and sound are good. That, and price, is why so many people wait for a movie to come out on video rather than going to see it in a theatre. I think that digitial projection will have to be FANTASTIC, not just as good as 35mm, for it to draw people into theatres. Most movie patrons I talk to seem more concerned about convenience and seeing movies in comfortable, clean auditoriums where other people aren't talking out loud to each other or on cell phones, than about what type of sound or projection system a theatre uses. Again, I feel that digital projection will have to really dazzle folks, not just give them the same experience as 35mm film, if it can be expected by itself to sell tickets. Otherwise it's use in theatres will only benefit the distribution side of the industry.
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