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Digital projectors in movie theatres?

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Started 4 years ago by ndekke39
Latest reply from Walker

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BreakfastwithNick
Clintonville
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My wife and I just got back from a weekend in Chattanooga, TN (thank you, Skybus!), where we saw "Cloverfield" at a theatre with digital projectors. The quality was great - no scratches, jumps, etc on the film.
I've read a little bit about digital projectors in movie theatres, and I know that the up-front cost is significant, but it saves theatre owners trouble in that it's easier to move screenings from one theatre to another, it lessens the risk of film reels being stolen, and you don't have to worry about the film breaking down.
Almost all of Chattanooga's theatres have digital projectors, and all of the theatre in my hometown of Grand Rapids, MI are digitally projected as well. The quality is so bright and clear!
Why don't any of the theatres in Columbus have digital projectors?! Or are any of them planning on installing them? Smaller towns like Chattanooga and Grand Rapids have them! Why not us? I would really love to see some in town, especially at some of the newer cinemas like Arena Grand or Drexel Gateway. The tickets at the theatre in Chattanooga were $9, but I'd be totally willing to pay that for such good quality. Other thoughts?

Posted 4 years ago #
Roland
Clintonville
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ndekke39 wrote Why don't any of the theatres in Columbus have digital projectors?! Or are any of them planning on installing them? Smaller towns like Chattanooga and Grand Rapids have them! Why not us? I would really love to see some in town, especially at some of the newer cinemas like Arena Grand or Drexel Gateway. The tickets at the theatre in Chattanooga were $9, but I'd be totally willing to pay that for such good quality. Other thoughts?
Rave Motion Pictures at Polaris is equipped with Texas Instrument's DLP Cinema projectors.

Posted 4 years ago #
BreakfastwithNick
Clintonville
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I didn't realize there was a Rave Motion Pictures up at Polaris. In fact, I didn't realize there was a movie theatre up there at all! How long has it been there?
Rave was the place we went to in Chattanooga - very nice place. It makes me very happy to see we have one in Columbus.

Posted 4 years ago #
honavery
Arizona
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Yeah, Rave has a couple. I only think there is a handful in the entire state. Cost being the main reason. And most movies still come on reels. I saw Attack of the Clones and 300 on digital projectors. Both looked great, but I don't think I'd go out of my way to see one on there again.
Here is a map I found with the projectors listed for the entire country. This is the midwest.
http://find.mapmuse.com/re1/map_brand_mm2.php?brandID=DIGITAL_THEATERS&init=42.539,-93.774,6&tlist=DIGITAL_THEATERS,

Posted 4 years ago #
lifeliberty
Here
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I like the old school quality of film.

Posted 4 years ago #
dat Hemroid
Clintonville
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I am pretty sure Arena Grand has digital projectors. Last year before our movie started a windows error came up on the big screen showing it's IP address. We talked about hacking into it during a showing and upload some of our own videos....good thing I wouldn't know how. :twisted:
PS. must be an LCD projector since it's not listed on the DLP map above.

Posted 4 years ago #
shroud
Polaris
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The Rave off Polaris has been there & open at least a year now.
I don't know how many of their screens there use the DLP, but it seems like all the films I've seen there lately have been on it - most recently Sweeney Todd.

Posted 4 years ago #
Roland
Clintonville
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Also, I'm hearing that Easton has 1 DLP screen.

Posted 4 years ago #
mh338498
Discovery District
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honavery wrote Yeah, Rave has a couple. I only think there is a handful in the entire state. Cost being the main reason. And most movies still come on reels.
Exactly. The most widely-used medium of film is still 35mm, so most projectors in theaters are made to accommodate that. Having a digital projector is kind of a "bonus" for some larger theaters who get to tell their audience, "tonight, we'll be showing that on our digital projector" so people can go "ooooooooh."
If a film is shot with a digital camera, it will look fantastic when a digital projector is used. Star Wars, 300, and Cloverfield spring to mind. But if it's shot on film, there's really not much of a difference in what projector is used.
Most filmmakers aren't in any hurry to do away with film and start using digital for everything, though. Film has the most depth, resolution, color saturation, etc. Digital will always be made up of tiny dots and megapixels, so it will never be as good. Granted, there are instances and times when a digital camera will be better, but for the most part good old film will be your best bet.
The only thing that will truly push filmmakers into cutting back on using film is if the major studios decide that they aren't making as much money anymore in theaters and they want to start going into 3d experiences and things like that. So they can give you an experience in a movie theater that you can't get on your TV at home, no matter how large and no matter how good of a sound system.
But that would get mighty expensive for theater owners who will probably only see that as a fad. Not saying it will never happen, it just might be a little further down the road than James Cameron wants it to be. Case in point, this video from a few years ago about a film he was to open in 2007: http://www.5min.com/Video/Experience-A-New-Generation-of-3D-2881700

Posted 4 years ago #
enzo

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shroud wrote The Rave off Polaris has been there & open at least a year now.
I don't know how many of their screens there use the DLP, but it seems like all the films I've seen there lately have been on it - most recently Sweeney Todd.
Yeah, Rave has been open well over a year....we received free passes at work and there was popcorn machine fire on one of the opening nights--it is fine now of course, but that was a memorable evening :shock: .
I am with Life Liberty...I actually dig the 8mm style. I like the sound of the projector (especially from elementary school) and when the film would fly off the take up reel...so cool. I don't love it when there is a hair or fiber going across the screen though that is irritating.

Posted 4 years ago #
honavery
Arizona
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I think when this will really take off (could be awhile), is when they are able to distribute the movies over some sort of network. So say Star Wars 7 is ready to come out, instead of printing thousands of reels, they could just click a few buttons and send the movie all over the world. Bandwidth/DRM issues galore, but I think it will happen some day.

Posted 4 years ago #
BreakfastwithNick
Clintonville
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I definitely agree that shooting with film gives you a better quality overall. Is there an easy process by which filmmakers could shoot with film and then convert it to digital projection? I'm sure you'd face the same problems of not having as good of quality overall, but wouldn't that preserve the quality of the original film and prevent the reels from breaking down throughout the run?
From what I've read, if films are distributed digitally, movie theatres (sometime in the future) could just download the films via broadband or satellite, which would save on distribution.
I think overall that I'm just frustrated with pay $6-8 for a movie, only to get a slightly scratchy film, or a dim projector, or something with the sound/picture quality getting screwed up, and thinking that I could have saved $5 and just watched it, un-interrupted, at home on DVD. I just thought that audiences might demand more of movie theatres.

Posted 4 years ago #
mh338498
Discovery District
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ndekke39 wrote I definitely agree that shooting with film gives you a better quality overall. Is there an easy process by which filmmakers could shoot with film and then convert it to digital projection? I'm sure you'd face the same problems of not having as good of quality overall, but wouldn't that preserve the quality of the original film and prevent the reels from breaking down throughout the run?
From what I've read, if films are distributed digitally, movie theatres (sometime in the future) could just download the films via broadband or satellite, which would save on distribution.
I agree. Most of your ticket price is the cost of paying the studio + shipping the reels. Taking the shipping out of it might drop the ticket price down a dollar, but you'd give them that dollar right back in "conversion" fees from film to digital and then downloading fees and yadda yadda yadda.
On the flip side, that would save a lot of headaches on the theater's end: Lugging around the heavy-ass film cans, unpacking the film and piecing it together, finding out someone didn't put it away correctly before shipping it to you, fixing it, feeding it onto the platter and then through the take-up reel and then threading it through the projector before attaching it back to the take-up deck. And then when you're done showing the film, disassembling it all in reverse order and shipping it back to the distributor.
Not an entirely fun process by any means, I'm sure, and a digital projector would eliminate a lot of that.
I guess it's just a matter of, is it worth it to show a film not in its original form? Would you like your canvased art to be displayed proudly on a wall like you intended, or made into a poster and framed?

Posted 4 years ago #
Daz
Tweeting about some totally unimportant event
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honavery wrote I think when this will really take off (could be awhile), is when they are able to distribute the movies over some sort of network. So say Star Wars 7 is ready to come out, instead of printing thousands of reels, they could just click a few buttons and send the movie all over the world. Bandwidth/DRM issues galore, but I think it will happen some day.
yeah, I can see cam shots becoming a piece of the past once people figure out how to get past the drm and leak dvd quality + films.

Posted 4 years ago #
AmyD
Columbus, Ohio
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isn't studio 35 digital?

Posted 4 years ago #
BreakfastwithNick
Clintonville
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I'm pretty sure it's digital sound, but not picture.
Still my favorite place in Columbus for a movie, though!

Posted 4 years ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Studio 35 has a digital projector that they use for showing OSU games, video games, and DVDs on some occasions, but it's not a High Def Digital Film Projector like what's being described at Rave.

Posted 4 years ago #