Projector Advice for new Theatre operator (in Canada)

[Scott John]

When has the digital setup been operated the last time? If the equipment is shut down for too long, you might run into additional cost because of depleted security batteries.

It was going up until early December and should be up and running again (hopefully) soon when some public health orders expire in a few days. The battery issue happened during a longer shut down from March-July last year.

[David Bird]

For POS, Sensible Cinema Systems has a really nice package, the owner is on the forum here I believe. A lot of non-profits and independents seem to use Veezi as another option. I'm sure there are others. As discussed on another thread here recently, would probably steer clear of RTS which I find clunky and unintuitive. If you have some classic cash registers, probably wouldn't be too hard to place a touch screen on the operator side and keep the classics in place and keep the "look".

[Gordon McLeod]

We use Omniterm and are very happy with it
If you wish consulting or used or new equipment we would be happy to provide from our Edmonton Office

[Randy Stankey]

For POS, Sensible Cinema Systems has a really nice package, the owner is on the forum here I believe. A lot of non-profits and independents seem to use Veezi as another option. I'm sure there are others. As discussed on another thread here recently, would probably steer clear of RTS which I find clunky and unintuitive. If you have some classic cash registers, probably wouldn't be too hard to place a touch screen on the operator side and keep the classics in place and keep the "look".

I have used Sensible Cinema. I liked it and would recommend it.

I was also thinking what David mentioned... If you had an old, mechanical cash register that you could modify to make a computer terminal on the inside that looks vintage on the outside, it might look cool.

Kind of a quasi-steampunk look.

[David Bird]

Just don't hack one of these apart! (Wrong era anyway)

[Leo Enticknap]

This guy did:

[Allan Barnes]

Greeting from the "other Capitol theatre" in Canada. We operate Canadas' oldest running cinema in Listowel, Ontario since 1907. The building itself is 1870. I recommend ProjeTech for BARCO. Cinematronix for CHRISTIE and maybe Roberts Film Service for NEC in Canada. I think Cinematronix has actually offices in Vancouver. And of course Gordon MCloud in Toronto is a Genius.

YOUR WISH IS GRANTED... I think there is a older Christie projector (ex NFB) for sale in Montreal on EBay now and another in Woodstock, Ontario privately for sale. Don't pay more than $5,000 cad for these. Assume batteries are dead. If you need a DOLBY CP750 email me. Good Luck.

[Gordon McLeod]

Depending on the size of your screen we may have a NEC1000c with a SX4000 server available in Regina or a 900c with a SX3000 in Edmonton

[Scott John]

Depending on the size of your screen we may have a NEC1000c with a SX4000 server available in Regina or a 900c with a SX3000 in Edmonton

I don't know the screen size yet. It is big though with a 435 seat room. We were told that a Christie 2210 wouldn't be good enough and need an equivalent of the 2220.

[Scott John]

Greeting from the "other Capitol theatre" in Canada. We operate Canadas' oldest running cinema in Listowel, Ontario since 1907. The building itself is 1870. I recommend ProjeTech for BARCO. Cinematronix for CHRISTIE and maybe Roberts Film Service for NEC in Canada. I think Cinematronix has actually offices in Vancouver. And of course Gordon MCloud in Toronto is a Genius.

YOUR WISH IS GRANTED... I think there is a older Christie projector (ex NFB) for sale in Montreal on EBay now and another in Woodstock, Ontario privately for sale. Don't pay more than $5,000 cad for these. Assume batteries are dead. If you need a DOLBY CP750 email me. Good Luck.

Hi there!

I don't see those listings when I search. Will look deeper.

[Bruce Cloutier]

I was also thinking what David mentioned... If you had an old, mechanical cash register that you could modify to make a computer terminal on the inside that looks vintage on the outside, it might look cool.

Kind of a quasi-steampunk look.

Reminded me of the days when we would hack an IBM Selectric typewriter to make it a TTY terminal for your microprocessor. Once CRT terminals were available those hacked typewriters were still providing quality printer output. Did many a resume that way in the day. My graduate paper as well. But... not the cool vintage look.

Hang on to the old stuff. It is not just cool looking. It's a monument to the ingenuity of the designers. The most amazing, reliable, piece of technology I own is a grandfather clock from 1928. This 93 year old vintage thing is accurate to within a second a week. I wonder what the designers would have thought it you were to tell them that you would be synchronizing it to a global atomic clock. That tech is over 500 years old I think. It doesn't need new batteries nor an annual support agreement. There are new digital versions but none will last as long nor are as accurate. Not even close.