Film-Tech Cinema Systems
Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE


  
my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home
  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Large Format Forum   » IMAX + IMAXDome In One? (Page 1)

 
This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2 
 
Author Topic: IMAX + IMAXDome In One?
Dean Kollet
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 591
From: Florida State University
Registered: Jul 2003


 - posted 03-22-2005 04:31 PM      Profile for Dean Kollet   Email Dean Kollet   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I came across this website
http://www.cinecitta.de/imax/imaxsysteme.html

Does that actually have a dual system? I've been to a few IMAX Theatres (dome and flat) but I've never heard of this.

 |  IP: Logged

Dick Vaughan
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1032
From: Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK
Registered: Jul 2000


 - posted 03-22-2005 05:20 PM      Profile for Dick Vaughan   Author's Homepage   Email Dick Vaughan   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Dean

Yes it does I was there last July. It is part of the most successful multiplex sites in Germany. It is a fascinating location

All of the theatres are underground , the IMAX theatre actually being built in what was a Nazi bunker in the centre of Nuremberg.

The 35mm theatres all run in individual projection "cupboards" with endless loop platters.

there are a number of suchconvertible Imax/Imax Dome installations. I believe the first was the Canadian Museum of Civilisation in Ottawa(Hull).

Other sites include Barcelona and Madrid in Spain and the Science Museum of Minnesota in st paul

 |  IP: Logged

Adam Martin
I'm not even gonna point out the irony.

Posts: 3686
From: Dallas, TX
Registered: Nov 2000


 - posted 03-22-2005 06:04 PM      Profile for Adam Martin   Author's Homepage   Email Adam Martin       Edit/Delete Post 
Spitz manufactures convertible domes for theatres. Their site has a photo, but not really a very good one. You can see the flat screen on the left and the dome in the "convertible" position above and behind the audience.

 -

http://www.spitzinc.com/domes/rodo.html

 |  IP: Logged

Dean Kollet
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 591
From: Florida State University
Registered: Jul 2003


 - posted 03-22-2005 07:50 PM      Profile for Dean Kollet   Email Dean Kollet   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
so, do the speakers stay behing the flat screen? I always thought that the Dome and Flat IMAX had different speaker arrangements. does this system do anything to image quality/sound quality. it looks pretty badass to me, especially if one wanted to make a 35/Imax/Imax Dome/Anything they want theatre.

 |  IP: Logged

Mike Olpin
Chop Chop!

Posts: 1852
From: Dallas, TX
Registered: Jan 2002


 - posted 03-23-2005 02:50 AM      Profile for Mike Olpin   Email Mike Olpin   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
My jaw just hit the floor. I designed something very similar when I was in high school just for fun. Almost identical. I'll have to go searching through my old files to see if I still have it...

 |  IP: Logged

Adam Martin
I'm not even gonna point out the irony.

Posts: 3686
From: Dallas, TX
Registered: Nov 2000


 - posted 03-23-2005 03:42 AM      Profile for Adam Martin   Author's Homepage   Email Adam Martin       Edit/Delete Post 
You should have called the Inventor's Hotline and patented it! [Razz]

 |  IP: Logged

Dick Vaughan
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1032
From: Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK
Registered: Jul 2000


 - posted 03-23-2005 09:40 AM      Profile for Dick Vaughan   Author's Homepage   Email Dick Vaughan   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Two sets of speakers I think

 |  IP: Logged

Thomas Jonsson
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 216
From: Bromolla, Sweden
Registered: Sep 2003


 - posted 03-23-2005 03:17 PM      Profile for Thomas Jonsson   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Iīve seen one in Berlin. It was a newly built part of
the city center, I think it was called Europa Center.
On one side of the "main street" was a multiplex with
an Imax only, and on the other side one with a combined.
It looked odd with the dome raised above your head like
a huge umbrella.

Thomas

 |  IP: Logged

Christian Appelt
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 505
From: Frankfurt, Germany
Registered: Dec 2001


 - posted 03-26-2005 12:38 PM      Profile for Christian Appelt   Email Christian Appelt   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
It's not the Europa Center but at the "Potsdamer Platz".
The double screen location is called Discovery Channel IMAX and the dome projection looked quite good to me.

The Europa center is a 1960s shopping mall in the old center of (then West) Berlin. A huge cinema named ROYAL PALAST with 2 70mm Cinerama-type screens is located on top of the mall, unfortunately this roadshow theatre was closed last years, but there's an interesting website that shows some nice DP70 installation:

Royal Palast Berlin

Discovery Channel IMAX Berlin

 |  IP: Logged

Thomas Jonsson
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 216
From: Bromolla, Sweden
Registered: Sep 2003


 - posted 03-26-2005 03:22 PM      Profile for Thomas Jonsson   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Christian,
I was in Berlin only for two days, and have a BAD memory.
Canīt argue with you - it was certainly Potsdamer Platz.

Too bad I didnīt get a chance to see Royal Palast. I was
in Berlin in mid October, when was it closed? Itīs a shame
those large, REAL theaters are closed down, one by one.
Being replaced probably with another rotten multiplex.

Thomas

 |  IP: Logged

Christian Appelt
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 505
From: Frankfurt, Germany
Registered: Dec 2001


 - posted 03-27-2005 03:25 AM      Profile for Christian Appelt   Email Christian Appelt   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Thomas,

I think it closed last September.
The large auditorium had one of Europes largest screens with 30 meters (98 ft.) arc length, but for the last 20 years, the ROYAL PALAST was owned by UFA theatres, notorious for letting old movie palaces fall apart.
Friends from Berlin told me that the worst employees from all UFA theatres were sent to the ROYAL (to collect all foul apples in one basket, as an UFA manager explained), and when no one cared about presentation and showmanship any more, the public ceased to favor these former roadshow theatres any more.

To give an example of that attitude:

During the 1980s the masking mechanism in auditorium #1 broke down. Instead of fixing it properly, they vertically reduced the size of the image for all formats. From that day on, even with anamorphic scope format only 18 of total 30 meters were used. Nobody cared.

These theatres are still fully equipped, there are three additional smaller auditoriums built in the 1970s, and there has been some interesting in reopening the whole complex, but the owners of the shopping mall, being totally ignorant of the bad name the UFA management gave the place, does not want to invest any money so that someone could revive the ROYAL with some style.

BTW, the ROYAL website was created by Jean-Pierre Gutzeit, a great guy who has fond memories of seeing films like MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY and FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE in Ultra Panavision on ROYAL #1's huge deep curved screen.
J.P. also helped screening the restored 70mm version of SPARTACUS in honor of Kirk Douglas some years ago.
Initially, the Berlin Film Festival authorities had shown the film (with Douglas attending the show) in a scratched and patched-up 35mm scope/Dolby print in one of the new multiplex theatres on Potsdamer Platz.
Many fans wrote lettres and mails insisting on an additional 70mm screening on a huge screen, and with the help of Mr. Gutzeit it did happen, and more than 800 people did show up to see SPARTACUS in 70mm at 11.15 PM.

 |  IP: Logged

Thomas Jonsson
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 216
From: Bromolla, Sweden
Registered: Sep 2003


 - posted 03-29-2005 07:32 AM      Profile for Thomas Jonsson   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Christian,
Thanks for the info and the link. Spartacus in 70mm on
a 30 meter screen! Wish I hadnīt missed that!

On the Royal Palast website is a black/white picture of
a woman standing beside a projector that Iīve never seen
before. Do you know what it is?

Thomas

 |  IP: Logged

Thomas Hauerslev
Master Film Handler

Posts: 451
From: Copenhagen, Denmark
Registered: Aug 2000


 - posted 03-30-2005 12:32 AM      Profile for Thomas Hauerslev   Author's Homepage   Email Thomas Hauerslev   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Royal Palast in German language

 |  IP: Logged

Christian Appelt
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 505
From: Frankfurt, Germany
Registered: Dec 2001


 - posted 03-30-2005 11:38 AM      Profile for Christian Appelt   Email Christian Appelt   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Thomas Jonsson
On the Royal Palast website is a black/white picture of
a woman standing beside a projector that Iīve never seen
before. Do you know what it is?

Can't look it up right now because of a browser problem, but IIRC it was either a Meopta machine from the 1960s or an East German Pyrcon UP700 (universal projector).

 |  IP: Logged

Thomas Jonsson
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 216
From: Bromolla, Sweden
Registered: Sep 2003


 - posted 03-30-2005 12:18 PM      Profile for Thomas Jonsson   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Christian,
Yes, a Meopta it was. Thanks!

I have never heard anything about the Meopta 70mm machine.
Was it any good?

Thomas

 |  IP: Logged



All times are Central (GMT -6:00)
This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2 
 
   Close Topic    Move Topic    Delete Topic    next oldest topic   next newest topic
 - Printer-friendly view of this topic
Hop To:



Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM 6.3.1.2

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.

© 1999-2020 Film-Tech Cinema Systems, LLC. All rights reserved.