What sound format is used with digital presentations?

Are there any audtoria which are equipped with digital only, or do they all have film as well.

Where a cinema has both digital and film, in the same screen, what proportion of their programming is presented in digital?

How many films have been available in digital form in the past year? Of these, how many were computer generated, how many were shot with digital equipment, and how many originated on film?

quote:

---

Now that digital projectors have been around for a while, how reliable are they proving to be, compared to film equipment?

---

We did not have any problems that I can recall with the DLP. Granted, I was only at that theater for 3 months, but at the time I was there, there were lots of problems with the film equipment in almost every auditorium. Things are gonna break when they're brand new. But we didn't have any problems with the digital setup.

quote:

---

What sound format is used with digital presentations?

---

Shows presented in DLP have their own 6-channel format included on the DVD on which they come. It is not Dolby Digital or SDDS or DTS. In our setup, it was connected as the 6-channel external format on the CP-650.

quote:

---

Are there any audtoria which are equipped with digital only, or do they all have film as well.

---

Ours had a DLP and a film setup in the largest house. I imagine most theaters with DLP are the same way.

quote:

---

Where a cinema has both digital and film, in the same screen, what proportion of their programming is presented in digital?

---

Hope this helps a little. Don't know the answer to the last question.

quote:

---

We did not have any problems that I can recall with the DLP. Granted, I was only at that theater for 3 months, but at the time I was there, there were lots of problems with the film equipment in almost every auditorium.

---

One of the things that I like about film is the fact that it is so reliable. I must have seen several thousand shows over the years, I have only ever seen one film break, on a nitrate print several decades old, which was fixed in a couple of minutes and the show re-started from just before the break. One show cancelled due to a power failure a couple cancelled due to non-arrival of the print, one could not be shown at the last minute because of a rights problem. Sound has been lost a couple of times, probably an exciter lamp failure, again fixed in a minute or so. On one occasion a take up belt broke, but the projectionist turned the take up by hand until the end of the reel.

Of these, the film break, exciter failure (if that's what it was) and belt failure are the only ones which are unique to film. The others could happen with a film or digital system, and would be no more likely to happen with one than the other. I have never known a show to be cancelled, or aborted, due to equipment failure What sort of problems have you had with film, have they been with equipment or prints? I assume it must have been one of these in each case as other possible reasons, power supply, staff sickness etc., would affect both media.

quote:

---

Shows presented in DLP have their own 6-channel format included on the DVD on which they come. It is not Dolby Digital or SDDS or DTS. In our setup, it was connected as the 6-channel external format on the CP-650.

---

Do you know how the sound is stored, e.g. is any form of compression used. Does the digital equipment connect directly to the CP-650, or is any additional equipment needed to interface it. Is the sound combined with the picture on the same discs, or do you get, for example, six picture discs and one sound disc? Have you ever received more than one track, e.g. alternative language versions, and, if not, is there provision in the system for this to be done? Also, is there provision for subtitles, not burned into the picture, but stored separately, and turned on if required? It would seem that these thing could be done quite easily with a digital system.

quote:

---

In the case of Star Wars Ep. II, it showed in DLP for the whole day for as long was we had it. There was no film shown in that house for 8 weeks. That theater currently has Signs in DLP, and I imagine it will be the same way.

---

I assume from this that all trailers etc. were stored on the DLP system. On the only DLP presentation that I have seen in a normal cinema, i.e. other than a technical demonstration at the NFT, the adverts and trailers were on film, and only the main feature was on DLP. Would this not be normal today?

quote:

---

Hope this helps a little. Don't know the answer to the last question.

---

Thank you.

I had to laugh out loud when I read that, as it implies that an all-DLP 30-plex would lose, on average, one show per day, which is completely unacceptible.

Having said that, though, DLP does seem to be pretty reliable _thus_far_ for a a technology which is essentially still in development. I know that there have been very few issues with the Framingham setup, although apparently some other locations (e.g. the AMC one in NYC) have had more issues (see John P's post on DLP done wrong).

quote:

---

I have never known a show to be cancelled, or aborted, due to equipment failure What sort of problems have you had with film, have they been with equipment or prints? I assume it must have been one of these in each case as other possible reasons, power supply, staff sickness etc., would affect both media.

---

Nothing that would cause a show to go down. Just little things here and there such as cue detectors requiring adjustment, an aperture plate motor that would not move, platters being out of time, etc, etc. I suppose stuff like that is going to happen when a place is brand new.

quote:

---

Do you know how the sound is stored, e.g. is any form of compression used. Does the digital equipment connect directly to the CP-650, or is any additional equipment needed to interface it. Is the sound combined with the picture on the same discs, or do you get, for example, six picture discs and one sound disc? Have you ever received more than one track, e.g. alternative language versions, and, if not, is there provision in the system for this to be done? Also, is there provision for subtitles, not burned into the picture, but stored separately, and turned on if required? It would seem that these thing could be done quite easily with a digital system.

---

Star Wars came on two DVDs. To my knowledge, the soundtrack is a separate file from the image, althoug I don't know how much space it takes up compared to the image. The TDC (Techicolor Digital Cinema) server connected directly to the input for External 6-Track Digital on the CP-650. Other processors may require an additional interface, but I don't know. I don't know if Star Wars came with additional languages or subtitles.

quote:

---

I assume from this that all trailers etc. were stored on the DLP system. On the only DLP presentation that I have seen in a normal cinema, i.e. other than a technical demonstration at the NFT, the adverts and trailers were on film, and only the main feature was on DLP. Would this not be normal today?

---

 |  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged

A time code driven dual system would be required for a "next generation" uncompressed digital surround format for film and also require a proprietary sound player to handle the recorded media, whether it is on removeable hard discs, DVD-ROM, etc. That hardware alone would make the "format."

 |  IP: Logged

I have had experience with DLP for close to three years now in the theatre that I am at. I can think of two shows out of all that we have played in that time frame that we had to run the film print instead.

The sound from the playback device is hooked directly into your sound processor. Mine happens to be a CP-500 through the external 6 channel digital sound. I don't know the exact spec, but assume each channel may be PCM data. I will investigate and find out.

When ever we have DLP content, it runs that title exclusive in that auditorium. I have never had a split screen where you run film part of the day and DLP the other. The studios have invested a lot of time and money to have the print transfered (Telecine) or other means to allow other content on that screen.

As far as rolling stock is concerned for ads, these are not presented for DLP theatres as they are not encoded for storage on the playback system. It would also be too much of a hassle to run ads, then switch over for DLP.

Any type of DVD that is used in D-Cinema is DVD-RAM. It provides 4.6? GB of storage space compared to 650 MB from a typical CD.

For Signs, I received one trailer on the original set of HDs and then received additional trailers on DVD-RAM. It was just a matter of copying the content from them to the HD.