Putting aside for now any discussion about who's going to pay for it, I'm just curious to know if the technology is or will in the future be adaptable to large outdoor screens and still produce acceptable results. From what I've read it seems that a larger lamp is required to project a digital image than would be required for a film image for the same size screen. Add moonlight and other sources of ambient light and things become even more complicated. Can the internals of a projector using DLP technology handle the heat that would be produced by a xenon lamp that might well have to exceed 7K? Has anybody heard of any outdoor tests that have been done or that might be planned?

What about an IMAX drive-in?

------------------
Andrew McCrea

To light a really large low-gain screen like a drive-in, it might be possible to "gang" two or three projectors, and superimpose their images. There is also the possibility of "tileing" the images to make a larger image (sort of like 3-strip Cinerama). Of course this would mean two or three times the already very high cost.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

 |  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged

You could easily light that screen to 16 footlamberts with 70mm film. Even 35mm film could be lit to about 8 footlamberts on that screen, at much less cost than digital.

 |  IP: Logged

It's hard for me to imagine investing $300,000.00 to build my drive-in and 5 years down the road the technology changes to the point where I won't be able to project an image to the screen. If the numbers everyone's quoting are right, I would have to spend as much on the projection equipment as I would for the total cost of theatre construction and the land combined.

My goal was to open and operate the theatre for about 10-15 years, and then when "Home Depot", "Lowes", or "Kroger" comes knocking on the door, take the money and run.

John had mentioned "ganging" two or three projectors together and super-imposing their images. I've done this at the church I attend and it worked very well. We have a 40'hydraulic-lift screen that comes out of the back of the choir loft and rises some 30-35 feet above the top of the baptistry. The first time you see it, it's breath taking.

Anyway, at one time we had two "Proxima" LCD projectors that were stacked one on top of the other. We projected a "grid pattern" to the screen and then tweaked the projectors until the patterns from both projectors lined up perfectly. The only draw back was if someone in the sound booth accidently bumped the projection rack, the projected image looked alot like a really bad 3D movie without the glasses. When everything worked, the image was stunning. Our current system uses the same screen, but we have a new projector that has a footprint of about 18" x 36". It's physically much bigger than the first projectors, but it has almost twice the light output. I still haven't got used to "Christian Karaoke" in a Southern Baptist Church though!!

Dave, the Bumper's people mentioned something called "Light Valve Projection" if I remember correctly. I haven't heard anymore about the Bumper's project in several months.

 |  IP: Logged

I get that feeling just based on words thru the grapevine. Right now there are still to many unanswered questions for anyone to really want to take hold of this technology.

Those out there testing this know the system is not ready for a major invasion. Think of it this way. When cd's came out records were still on the shelves for a few years and tapes were abundent. Now you have a lot of cd's you can still find tapes and you can special order vinal records for certain titles and artists.

Not everyone out there is going to be able to afford this technology so other forms of media will still have to be available for some time to come.

Tack on the number of indie indoor theatres that would close because the owners can't afford to put in the new technology and a lot more screen revenue has been lost for both exhibition and distribution.

In a lot of rural areas and small towns across the country, the drive-in theatre is where a lot of America still goes to the movies. Especially during the spring and summer. In some cases indoor theatres are not close enough to be convenient so people just don't go to them. Add on the family scenerio where mom and dad don't feel that they can take the small kids to the indoor (or the indoor has a policy forbidding small kids except for certain shows), and more potential movie ticket buyers have just been convinced to wait for the film to come out on video or to not see the movie at all. I certainly hope it doesn't come to that.

 |  IP: Logged

For a 118 x 50 foot matte white gain=1 drive-in screen (5900 square feet), you would need about 30,000 watts to light it to 16 footlamberts --- even a 70mm print might have difficulty with that!

I suspect you are getting only about 4 footlamberts with 35mm film, assuming a large lamp operating somewhere near 7000 watts. Still, that is much more light (over 20,000 lumens) than any digital projector that I know of can provide.