I attended the first matinee on a weekday, so the theatre was almost empty. Well showtime came, and showtime went, and no show. Aproximately 15 minutes after the show was supposed to start, I went to the lobby to complain. I was told that the show was going to start in about 3 minutes. Another 15 minutes went by, and finally someone came into the auditorium to inform us that they could not get the projector to work and could not get ahold of the technician, and were giving up on starting the show. We were giving the choice of seeing it in another auditorium on film, or getting our money back. As I was getting my refund, I asked the floor manager what was wrong. He said he did not know, but that so far, they had lost about 15% of their shows because the digital projector would not start. My question is, are these video projectors that unreliable, or does that theatres staff not know how to run the equipment?

I will say, though, it was the best presentation of a blank screen I had seen all day.

I use the same playback system and have had no problems getting my presentations on screen with the same equipment.

I would say that this is poor management that they have lost 15% of their shows. The manufacturer is available to help with any problems associated with its equipment and would have been pretty quick to send a tech on-site to help. THERE is no need for this kind of loss.

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For example, who is responsible for lamp changes and alignment? Cleaning of the optics? Registration/convergence? Color and gray scale tracking? Diagnosing and fixing server "hiccups"? Loading servers? Are test equipment, alignment tools, and spare modules available on-site in the theatre if they have a skilled technician on staff?

After three years of in-field experience, there should certainly be some examples of what problems occur, and how they are addressed.

As Ted Costas explained, taking almost a week to fix the "digital hiccups" I saw at the AMC Empire in NYC on March 20 was NOT an example of "Digital Done Right".

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

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Do you mean the Digital Cinema system was "on loan" only, and they are pulling it out? If so, how many of the installations put in for ATOC were only temporary?

Paul, perhaps TI is a little quicker to send its highly paid DLP technicians to Texas and the installations on the west coast than it is to send them all the way over here to Edgewater New Jersey.

John, very good questions that you may find difficult to get any straight answers about. I tried to find out if AMC has actually purchased their DLP setup. The General Manager would not answer that -- I got the sense that he knew, but wasn't supposed to tell the public. Given the fact that the chains are all hurting (the ones that haven't already filed for Chapter 11, that is), I would be surprised if ANY of the digital projectors in the US were actually purchased by the exhibitors. Also given the fact that Technicolor said they would finance and install 1000 DLP units for FREE and AOTC played in, what was that answer, 93? Then we still have 907 to go before any exhibitor actually has to make the decision to invest in this technology.

I'll bet there's an operator in Edgewood that won't be plunking down $140,000 any time soon based on his experience with DLP thus far.

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At my theatre, it has always been what TI stated. Thread-less. All that we have EVER had to do with DLP is 1. Strike the lamphouse, 2. Press the start button on the film projector to initiate the automation and playback unit. This is still the nature of operations today.

With the DLP head, all you have to do is get the lamphouse struck. Shouldn't be a problem there, and from the nature of the statistics, they have been able to play EP2, however, not the first show.

The problem appears to be with the playback unit. I can't say that for sure but it seems to be the root of the problem. Maybe they were doing a cold start each morning, rather than just logging in and selecting a platter. I don't claim to know for sure but that is what it appears to be.

I understand that you have negative views about DLP and that is appreciated because your views will help create a better product. I only hope that you are just as critical and objective when Kodak releases their product.

Does anyone know of another theatre in Northern New Jersey still run Star Wars in digital?