Basement readers are a different story.

My findings on those Christie basement reader problems were mainly linked to the led. Some of the older leds were mounted crooked on the bracket and would not line up to give a good tracking no matter what was done. More recent replacements (manufactured within the last year or two) have yielded me 0-2 on the scale constantly with no dropouts. I have had many prints set firmly on 0 for the entire show, perhaps only a few times flickering into 1. If set up properly and not tampered with, I can honestly state that the Christie basement readers DO in fact function just fine.

You must have your light source almost perfectly even (note Brad's comments above) and bright enough to produce adequate video level. You must have the camera focused and in azimuth (the system will tolerate an amazing degree of slop) and your film path MUST be stra_________________________aight and true, both before and after the actual reader location. When you do this, along with normal housekeeping, and your projector is running more or less smoothly, you will get the good results mentioned above. Also, when doing this alignment, your best tool is a good 'scope with at least 40 to 60 mHz bandwidth. Dolby's DRAS program on your lap-top is useful, but will not give you the answers you need.

It's kind of like "film done right".

However, the main problem I have is that oil gets in them easily. I know that this is the operators fault. However, when you have up to 8 or 9 people in a booth in a given week and management does not care, nothing gets cleaned. Then the oil gets into them. This is not the fault of the reader, just its location in the dripping fields.

The other gripe I have is one that should be solved by the projector's manufacturer. That being a not quite good enough bearing for the hold-back sprocket. Again, not the fault of the reader, but never the less, something that must be dealt with.