First D-Cinema in Dallas, Denver and Seattle

[Michael Coate]

Are you sure those were "permanent" installations?

I suppose that all depends on how one defines “permanent.” All I know is that during the tail end of 1999 there were two titles in simultaneous digital release in the USA: “Toy Story 2“ and “Bicentennial Man.” They were each screened digitally in six (different) venues. So, obviously, at that point in time, there were a minimum of twelve digital projection systems in use.

Now, on one hand twelve is still a piddly figure, but on the other hand is a lot more than the installs you were led to believe were in use at that time and illustrates some forward progress on the format’s rollout.

And the installs continued to rise, little by little, with each new digital release.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I'd say I consider permanent as in as they were designated for that location and not planned to be moved like a "roadshow engagement".

Up until the DCI standard was ratified, the number of installs was really just a handful, besides China and India, who already had established some pre-DCI and therefore DCI-incompatible e-cinema networks for their in-market releases. There were an unusual amount of pre-DCI Barco 1.3K and later also 2K installs (DP100 prototypes) in Belgium, but primarily because Barco used the local Kinepolis chain as testing ground for their technology. Otherwise, most exhibitors didn't want to invest into technology that could potentially become obsolete just a year or two down the road.

It wasn't until mid to late 2003, when the first production projectors hit the market, where the manufacturer guaranteed forward compatibility with DCI (although some models like the first run of the DP100 required a backplane swap), that exhibitors started to buy into digital cinema at a considerable scale.

[Martin Brooks]

Those installations were for the “Star Wars” test in June 1999. Two more installs — Orlando and Irvine — were added a month later for “Tarzan.” By the end of 1999 in the United States, there were four releases and twelve installations, the majority of them located outside Los Angeles and New York, suggesting the format was no longer in the test phase.

Seattle is not among those dozen, which is why the “wired for digital in 1999” bit in the Seattle Times piece stood out (in addition to seeming to contradict the main thrust of the article).

Journalists get so much technical wrong. What do you want to bet that "wired for digital" meant wired for 5.1 digital sound. That was one of the problems with digital presentation. Typical consumers didn't know the difference between that and digital sound for 35mm or 70mm presentation and I bet a lot of journalists didn't either.

I just looked up the NYTimes ad for Star Wars Episode I and was surprised to see that none of the NYC or suburban theaters presented digitally. I could have sworn I saw it that way. But there was a variety of digital sound formats in those days: SDDS, DTS, Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Surround EX. (No DTS-ES listed though). And even an indication for THX, which was rarely promoted in NYC and environs.

[Carsten Kurz]

I just looked up the NYTimes ad for Star Wars Episode I and was surprised to see that none of the NYC or suburban theaters presented digitally. I could have sworn I saw it that way.

Episode One was shown digitally in New Jersey summer 1999.

[Michael Coate]

I just looked up the NYTimes ad for Star Wars Episode I and was surprised to see that none of the NYC or suburban theaters presented digitally. I could have sworn I saw it that way.

Martin... The D-Cinema presentations commenced a month into the movie’s release. Here’s a screen grab from a portion of one of my articles that should clarify the matter.

[Gordon McLeod]

Episode One was shown digitally in New Jersey summer 1999.

Yes that location used the JVC DILA projector and Kodak was involved with it at that time

[Marcel Birgelen]

Martin... The D-Cinema presentations commenced a month into the movie’s release. Here’s a screen grab from a portion of one of my articles that should clarify the matter.

I didn't know about the Miramax angle. As somewhat of a geek, it would be interesting to know what kind of system they used...

I just looked up the NYTimes ad for Star Wars Episode I and was surprised to see that none of the NYC or suburban theaters presented digitally. I could have sworn I saw it that way. But there was a variety of digital sound formats in those days: SDDS, DTS, Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Surround EX. (No DTS-ES listed though). And even an indication for THX, which was rarely promoted in NYC and environs.

The Phantom Menace was the first movie to be released in Dolby Digital EX. I was in the Bay Area around the time of the release and it was hard work to find a theater equipped with DD EX. In the end, for me the difference was largely a disappointment. I can't remember the exact timings, but I remember DTS-ES hitting the street in 2000. While the consumer version was usually a discrete 6th channel, the cinema implementation was the same matrix-encoded hack as DD EX. I don't remember many cinemas buying into the upgrade and many movies being released in DTS-ES either.