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Author Topic: Major Digital Roll Out Under Way John Rizzo Film Handler Posts: 37 From: Demarest, NJ, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 09-09-2010 08:07 PM                     I inquired about ordering a Christie CP2210 projector yesterday from one of the major suppliers for a new DI Screening Room we will be installing in our facility. I was told that there is a 5-6 month wait for Digital Projectors at this time from all 3 major manufactures Christie,Barco and NEC due to the fact that most of the U.S.theaters are now in the process of going totally digital.Can anyone concur that information and if so how much more time does 35mm film have?  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 09-09-2010 10:20 PM                    Yes, they will all be out of business very soon.  |  IP: Logged Jerome Holmes Film Handler Posts: 35 From: San Jose, Ca Registered: Nov 2008 posted 09-09-2010 11:26 PM                     quote: Mark J. Marshall Yes, they will all be out of business very soon. I'm confused. There are three parties here - People who are still running 35mm, Barco/Christie/NEC, and the people doing their digital conversions. Which ones are you saying will be out of business (even if you're being sarcastic, which I'm not entirely sure you are).  |  IP: Logged Aaron Garman Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: Toledo, OH USA Registered: Mar 2003 posted 09-09-2010 11:39 PM                     Our local Cinemark just added 3 more digital screens this week, making them digital on 4 out of 14 screens. AJG  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 09-10-2010 04:31 AM                     Some of the major chains are in the process of a major changeout to digital ... and heading to SONY 4K systems at some of their venues ... Plus, some of your "Mom and Pop" cinemas are doing the switch along with sub/discount locations since the price of digital units are hitting the reasonable price range ..and 3D is helping this conversion to really move forward in a decent pace. (Just that an independent cinema had better re-adjust their budget for more bulb purchases since digital projectors need bulb changeouts a lot more often than our film counterpart operations...) -Monte  |  IP: Logged Elise Brandt Expert Film Handler Posts: 160 From: Kuusankoski, FIN/ Kouvola, Finland Registered: Dec 2009 posted 09-10-2010 08:59 AM                     Same wait. If not longer... seems everyone is going digital at the same time, but still some movies only come in 35mm prints. Odd.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 09-10-2010 09:29 AM                        Cinemark 17 here added 3 digital screens recently (now 4 out of 17) and installed the first digital screen in their bargain theater. I believe all of them are RealD 3D.  |  IP: Logged Victor Liorentas Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: london ontario canada Registered: May 2009 posted 09-10-2010 11:47 AM                     I gave the to a group of digital installs just last week Then i went home and watched some for free on my home theater screen!  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 09-10-2010 12:28 PM                    quote: Monte L Fullmer (Just that an independent cinema had better re-adjust their budget for more bulb purchases since digital projectors need bulb changeouts a lot more often than our film counterpart operations...) Why?? I do not see changing out the bulbs more often than my 35mm units. I see getting more hours because I can achieve better light levels using a lower wattage bulb than the 35mm was using in the same auditorium. I am very impressed with the new series 2 Barco projectors. Going from a 3K in a 35mm down to a 1.2K in a digital and still getting better light readings is impressive. Our policy is warranty hours plus 25%. If a bulb explodes for some reason in that span, the bulb manufacture will replace all damaged components.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-10-2010 12:44 PM                        4 out of 17 and 4 out of 14 doesn't sound like a "roll out" to me. And yes, Jerome, Mark is being uber-sarcastic. BTW, seems the industry is hot on the word "roll out." They have been claiming this immenent roll out for more than 5 years now, yet the majority of screens across the nation and indeed throughout the world are still running film. CinemaScope conversion was what I call a reall roll out. Theatres closed for about two & a half weeks and when they reopened, they were showing a double wide picture with surround stereo sound; they went from Academy 1.37/mono to 2.35/4 DISCRETE track stereo and were showing a highly promoted, blockbuster title: THE ROBE. When the patrons went into the theatre to see CinemaScope for the first time, they saw and heard something that was a palpable difference and matched the hype. The same can't be said for a digital conversion. A theatre throws in a digital projector on a few screens and as far as the patron is concerned, it's less than a how-hum difference, if he even sees or hears a difference unless (if film was done right, he wouldn't. Of course, if that theatre management was running such a substandard film operation that digital does look significantly better to the patron, then it was a crapola venue to begin with and then, guaranteed, put a digital projector into that kind of grindhouse environment and give them a few years of treating their digital equipment with just as much abuse and bad maintenance as they did their film equipment, and they will get their digital presentation to look just as "grindhouse" as they did with film. Then you will see a roll out of the digital grindhouse. Just give these freaks who you read about in the "You Suck" thread enough time, and they will screw up digital as well as they did film. Equipment is only a small part of a flagship type presentation; digital won't significantly reduce that You Suck Hall of Shame because it's the personnel, the cut-corners attitude and overall disrespect for the craft, not the equipment that will turn a cinema a grindhouse. Putting in a new projector won't improve those things.  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 09-10-2010 01:13 PM                        I've been doing almost nothing but digital installs for a major chain since May, mostly Sony 322's, with some Christie and Barco thrown in too. By the time we leave many of these sites, they are completely digital. So the digital rollout is most definitely underway, at least from my perspective. And it's keeping me off the streets too - doing anywhere from one to four days each week, one to three screens a day. Hey Monte! I'll be up your way the week after next with a team to install three theaters in Nampa and Boise...  |  IP: Logged Paul Linfesty Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1383 From: Bakersfield, CA, USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 09-10-2010 01:32 PM                     quote: Frank Angel Theatres closed for about two & a half weeks and when they reopened, they were showing a double wide picture with surround stereo sound; they went from Academy 1.37/mono to 2.35/4 DISCRETE track stereo and were showing a highly promoted, blockbuster title: THE ROBE. Two and a half week closure? that seems excessive. In Bakersfield, the first CinemaScope installation was at the Fox Theatre in the first week of August (even though The Robe wouldnt have a World premiere until late September, and wouldn't even play locally until November). There was a detailed article about the installation in ther paper, and the theatre never closed down during the installation; rather, the screen was installed behind the Polavision screen (itself just installed in March for 3-D movies). Also, the Nile Theatre closed for a Saturday afternoon for installation of the system, again a while before its first scope production. And the Nile's installation involved building the new screen (and curtains) in front of the original procenium. BTW, the AR of the Robe and all other MAG only scope films should have been 2.55.  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 09-10-2010 01:47 PM                    5 years ago the money was not there....now the money is there and in DCIP's account. Right now is the 3-D roll out...... spread out....bounce out.....whatever you want to call it. When that is complete then the full deployment begins.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 09-10-2010 01:48 PM                        How can digital look more "grindhouse" than film? The image might be dim, the optics might be dirty. What else would cause it to look "grindhouse"? There can be no scratches, no dirt, no splices, no unsteadiness. Pretty much anything else that goes wrong with digital would be an outright malfunction that would probably cause a lost show. Am I missing something? I mean this has been debated endlessly and I'm still trying to understand how a sloppy operator can mess up a digital show except in the case of something related to light level or dirty optics. Anything else is hardware failure.  |  IP: Logged Todd McCracken Master Film Handler Posts: 263 From: Northridge, CA, USA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 09-10-2010 01:48 PM                    We are only seeing the edge of the storm as far as digital rollouts. (currently there are around 12,000 digital screens in the US) DCIP is installing screens like madmen, and our P2 rollout is starting to pick up serious steam. By mid next year most every major chain will be primarily digital (90%+) At that point I foresee digital only releases (perhaps as soon as early next year)  |  IP: Logged

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