AFI SILVER THEATRE AND CULTURAL CENTER
Silver Spring, Maryland

Projectors 3 and 4 for Theatre #1 are the FP38ES by Kinoton. In addition to being some of the finest projectors in the world with rock steady images, these projectors are also very flexible. Note the three digital readers for DTS (upper-left), SDDS (upper-right, turned vertical), and Dolby Digital (in the optical soundhead, lower-right). Additionally, the spindles may be quickly changed between 5/16” for 2000’ reels (rep or archival) or ½” for 6000’ reels (1st run), as well as 5/16” square for 16mm. The control panel on the right of the projector also has the real-time frame-per-second readout. These machines will project anywhere from 12-30 frames-per-second. They can also shuttle the film in either direction up to 100 frames per second. They accommodate 35mm and 16mm film. The 16mm soundhead is in the upper-right (above the lens). Note the proper davis type tensioner for 16mm that is actually superior to most 35mm soundhead designs. 16mm does not take a back seat on these projectors. The 16mm sound must be delayed since it is read before the picture is shown. Theatre #1 runs on special 4500-watt lamps (outputs about the equivalent of 5800-watts) for the 35/16 machines without damaging the 16mm film. On the right, one can see the Dolby CP200’s Cat 204 remote, the Crestron touch panel and in the extreme upper-right, the JBL LSR series monitor speaker.

December 2009 photo from the Steve Guttag collection.