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Topic: Dinosaur in video projection
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Scott Norwood
Film God
Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 05-29-2000 08:51 PM
Frank -- go see it in Framingham. It's set up in cinema #9, which is the largest-capacity house at the theatre, with a largeish screen (though I don't have the exact dimensions).
For those who care, I just spent the evening at the GCC Framingham booth; here's the DLP info:
The DLP projector is different from the ones that were used in Secacus, NJ for the Star Wars shows last summer. The one in Framingham looks to be more-or-less a more refined version of the prototype unit. In this setup, the "movie" (currently "Dinosaur," and, soon, "Fantasia") is stored on a "Qubit" device, which sits in its own rack and which is connected to the regular sound rack (through the Dolby Digital inputs on the CP-65) and projector automation (which controls the start/stop of the DLP presentation).
The projector itself is mounted on a 6kw Christie console (the film system uses a 4kw Cinemeccanica console), running at about 150 amps. The lamphouse is left on all day with the douser open....apparently, the heat doesn't damage the DLP array (which is very impressive, considering how effectively the 6kw lamp heats the booth!). TI engineers are not present; there is a film print for use as a backup in case the DLP unit fails, though it isn't being threaded and run with the DLP shows. Since the Qubit disk array is connected to the projector automation (standard Kelmar system), all the projectionist needs to do is set the timer as usual, and the house lights, curtain, and Qubit/DLP system all do their things at the appropriate time.
Regarding picture quality: keep in mind that I didn't sit through the entire show in the auditorium. In general, though, I was less impressed with this show than I was with the SW shows last summer; the brightness was great, but the highlights were washed out (a complaint of mine about the SW shows) and the edges on things were almost _too_ sharp...this looked to be very much the product of video-style "edge enhancement," which tends to make things look unnatural. I didn't notice any glaring compression artifacts, but I'd imagine that this would be less of a problem with computer-generated images than with live action footage.
Trailers included: fire exit, GCC coming attractions, Rocky & Bullwinkle, The Kid, 102 Dalmations, and GCC "candy band." I will send pics to Brad tomorrow. (Memo to self: get a digital camera for stuff like this.)
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Paul Konen
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 981
From: Frisco, TX. (North of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 05-31-2000 08:19 AM
Scott, is your booth under a "strict" no-tour zone. Mine is. Yet, with Cinemark portholes which are large enough to get through, anyone could stand on the seats and look in.It's unfortunate that your booth is getting warm. They planned for this at three of our screens during construction. In addition to the extra exhaust, the normal two window port has three windows with the auditorium access window in the middle. I thought that image was fairly good, no noticeable jagged edges except during steady credits. Rolling credits are moving to quickly for anyone to notice. Also, the green band and "DLP" timeline show off the pixels. But that is going to happen when you throw up a single color on the screen. Other thing is that when we first got ours for Toy Story 2, that everyone wanted to work the side that had the DLP. One less projector to "Hook" up. (Oops, wrong thread :grin: ) Paul.
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Scott Norwood
Film God
Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 05-31-2000 07:47 PM
Paul - thanks for the comments.
First, this isn't "my" booth. I'm not even currently employed by GCC. I might end up filling in there on occasion, though, so I was there to get familiar with the booth.
Second, there was no prohibition on booth tours as far as I could tell. Actually, I'm told that very few people have shown any interest in the DLP setup in Framingham at all. It hasn't been well advertised; I'm not sure if this is on purpose or not. There was no security guard and sign in/sign out book like in the Secaucus booth for the Star Wars screenings.
Third, the lamphouse is (of course) ventilated, but one can easily feel the heat of the 6kw bulb when standing within a couple of yards of the console.
I agree with your comments on image quality--good for moving objects but lousy for titles and stationary areas of high contrast. I still think that the "Dinosaur" show looks like it had too much edge-enhancement done to it.
(For what it's worth, I've learned a lot about the Film-Tech readership in the last 24 hours by looking at my web site's access logs. I got a ton of hits from TI today as well as Quvis, Lucasfilm, and others. It's great to see that these folks are paying attention to the forum, though it would be nice if more of them would contribute to the discussion.)
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John Pytlak
Film God
Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000
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posted 06-01-2000 09:02 AM
At ShoWest, I told some of my friends at TI and Lucasfilm about Film-Tech, r.a.m.t, and other Internet user groups, and they admitted to "lurking" in most of them. I agree with Scott that it would be wonderful if more of them and the other manufacturers participated in the discussions. As Glinda, the good witch said in the "Wizard of Oz": "Come out, come out, wherever you are."------------------
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 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
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