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Author Topic: Showest 2005 (and Film-Tech Drink info) Rick Long Jr Expert Film Handler Posts: 211 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Jul 2000 posted 03-14-2005 07:55 AM                     Yay! I'm going to ShoWest! As I've never been before, do I have to register in advance to attend the Drink on Wednesday or just show up?  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 03-14-2005 03:05 PM                     Nope, just show up. Everyone is welcome whether they are forum members or not. MAPS WITH SPECIFIC INFO AVAILABLE AT THE LIGHTING IMAGES TECHNOLOGY QSC AUDIO and JACK ROE USA BOOTHS.  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 03-16-2005 12:53 PM                        In walking around ShoWest one cannot help but notice lots of promotion for DLP--the logo's on every ID badge and there's lots of posters everywhere. The catch phrase on those posters is, "Film is a four letter word." Nice. Nice way to foment more ignorance amongst the non-technicals who will make the buying decisions while simultaneously denegrating the efforts of true film professionals, isn't it? I'll remember that line when I'm a VP Engineering making equipment recommendations for my circuit. And DLP is still not ready for prime time. Not when they have projector/server crashes (made worse by a too-long sloppy recovery) in the middle of studio screenings, as happened to WB yesterday afternoon at the Paris 'Le Theatre des Arts'. This was with two DLP projectors, each with a dedicated server, playing one film, with a small army of engineers hovering over it. I can imagine how this scenario will play out in the typical multiplex, when the engineering support will come over the phone from an outsourced tech in India. And I-as-a-theater-owner am expected to pay how much for this per screen? I'll get back to you on that. Film is a four letter word? Yeah, right.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 03-16-2005 02:17 PM                        Well, why don't you tell THEM while you are there that it is humorous that it takes a small army of people to run one machine, but one dude can effectively run 24 film machines without any server crashes. You have the opportunity NOW. Use it! I want to know their stupidfied reaction!  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 03-16-2005 02:54 PM                        How did Monday night's screenings using the Kodak Digital Cinema System go at the Century Orleans 18?: http://www.kodak.com/go/dcinema quote: Please join Kodak Monday, March 14, for "An Evening of Independent Film" featuring a special digital pre-show and full-feature digital experience, at the Century Orleans 18 Theatre. Screenings at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., with a reception following the first screening.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 03-16-2005 05:55 PM                        Did Kodak need an army of personnel to operate a single digital projector which a manager could supposedly do remotely? If so, I'd say the screening went horribly. Having an army of personnel is like saying "We're not confident enough in our machine to run it the way we are telling theater owners they can run it. That's because our machine sucks!"  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 03-16-2005 07:57 PM                        I wasn't there, so I don't know. But the Kodak system is designed to fit into current theatre operations and automation systems.  |  IP: Logged Thomas Dieter Expert Film Handler Posts: 234 From: Yakima, WA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 03-16-2005 08:11 PM                     not to change the subject or anything, but I do see that ShowEast is coming to Orlando FL again this year, and if it's anything like ShoWest, I want to attend. Does anyone know how much it cost for it, and if there are any discounts for booking early? Also, will FT be there?  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 03-16-2005 08:22 PM                        ShowEast: http://www.showeast.com ShowEast Registration  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-16-2005 10:33 PM                     quote: Paul Mayer This was with two DLP projectors, each with a dedicated server, playing one film, with a small army of engineers hovering over it. Actually this very scenerio played out with an HBO premiere at Radio City Music Hall. They has 2 projectors just in case but neither DLP projector would function from either server! No show and they sent close to 5000 people home that night. HBO has since gone back to premiering their stuff on 35mm film. Joe, I look forword to the day when you are one of the team of booth personell hoveriong over one of those DLP thingys trying to assess the damage ! Mark  |  IP: Logged Paul Konen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 981 From: Frisco, TX. (North of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-17-2005 09:15 AM                     It would be interesting to know whose server they were using. So long as they don't come and try to grab mine. Oh yeah, they don't own the equipment I use now and besides that, both are being used for Robots. (Why the sad face, one is in my largest house that will have a lot of wasted seats this weekend that could be used for Ring 2)  |  IP: Logged John T. Hendrickson, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 889 From: Freehold, NJ, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-17-2005 04:16 PM                     Paul Mayer's comments are right on the money. I don't think you could have a worse scenario than to have a group of theater owners witness a show interruption using digital projection, under optimum conditions, no less. Too bad someone didn't stand up and shout: "WHERE'S THE 35mm BACK-UP SYSTEM???" As to the other disaster that Mark Gulbrandsen mentioned, I guess the engineers figured they didn't need a 35MM back-up print there either!  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 03-17-2005 08:24 PM                        To be fair the disruption probably lasted less than a minute all told, and failures can and do happen to anyone using either film or video. Ultimately they did keep going and completed the screening. FWIW the projectors were Christies and the servers were Avicas, and apparently the chain of events began with the primary projector. The picture went to big pixels but the sound continued, so I think the server was OK, at least initially. But it was obvious they hadn't rehearsed or thought much about having to switch over. The recovery attempt was badly botched, replete with double images, out-of-sync sound, and missing channels. They eventually ended up back on the primary projector. What a time and place for this to happen, ey? In Japanese there is a saying, "Bachi ga atta" which can be translated as, "What goes around comes around" or "Serves you right." In this day where less-than-classy public behavior is acceptable, I suppose its fine to run an ad campaign that disses an old-but-proven technology as toy-like, or worse, describable only in terms of four-letter words. But when a proposed replacement technology fails in such a venue, where it's assumed every pain would be taken to ensure against such failures, it must give one pause to wonder just how viable the replacement really is. Even when these video systems work they still don't measure up to the existing system in terms of picture quality (regardless of what some big-name shills have to say), reliability, ease of operation, ease of support, or cost. Not at its present level of implementation anyway. They're still not ready for prime time, but one wouldn't know it looking at those ads. The TV people's hubris came back to bite them this time. Bachi ga atta! And lest anyone think I'm some obsolete old fart afflicted with a Luddite's unwillingness to change, my work history more than amply demonstrates that I'm perfectly willing and capable of learning and adapting to and exploiting new technology. I'm not afraid of being put out to pasture by new technology, not yet anyway. But if I'm going to be forced to use new tools, at least have the class to provide tools that work as well as my present ones without being condescending about it.  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 03-19-2005 11:39 AM                     Paul's description of the 'recovery' is basically correct except it took at least 5 minutes. They got the picture back on screen fairly quickly but the sound was messed up (missing channels/no sound at first and then out of sync) for a while. I had to leave the theatre about halfway through the disaster to take a cell phone call and when I got back in everything was fine.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-23-2005 05:48 PM                        Due to the lack of comments (not just on the forums but in the news media in general) I'm assuming there were no huge announcements, groundbreaking revelations, etc at ShoWest this year? Other than the landmark "Star Wars in 3-D" thing?  |  IP: Logged

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