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Author Topic: Digital Nightmare At Vancouver Film Fest Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 10-12-2011 09:00 AM                     . . . "but digital is better"... Just like Toronto 2011 and many festivals over the past year, the digital evolution stumbled big when VIFF scheduled numerous DCP (Digital Cinema Projection, the gold standard of high definition digital cinema) screenings in the Granville 7, the biggest house in the Granville multiplex, only to be left high and dry with two faulty projectors. Yes, the emergency system flown in to replace the first also failed to work and in place of high quality, 4K DCP prints, audiences were left with projected DVD screeners (complete with company watermarks) of some of the most heavily attended films of the first weekend. I sat through one but couldn't do it a second time when The Front Line came out bleary and blurry, with colors off and an incorrect aspect ratio. Some of those problems were fixed a few minutes after I ducked out, I've been informed, but it's still an inadequate substitute for what was supposed to be a state-of-the-art digital presentation. I've adjusted my Sunday schedule accordingly to skip the DCP presentations entirely (unless I hear that the system has been repaired) and look to other theaters. >Story excerpted from Film Programmers ListServ< Original Source Link  |  IP: Logged Dominic Espinosa Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1172 From: Boulder Creek, CA. Registered: Jan 2004 posted 10-12-2011 11:36 AM                     What was the system?  |  IP: Logged Ron Lacheur Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 650 From: British Columbia, Canada Registered: Feb 2002 posted 10-12-2011 02:39 PM                     I'm pretty sure the system in question is a Dolby system that was specifically installed for the festival. Normally this theatre is all film and has no plans to go digital.....  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 10-12-2011 04:26 PM                     Hmmm...4K is not released on Dolby servers yet...perhaps you are speculating? Also, the implication was that the projectors were at fault and Dolby does not make those. I wonder what the real equipment was. -Steve  |  IP: Logged Ron Lacheur Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 650 From: British Columbia, Canada Registered: Feb 2002 posted 10-12-2011 05:34 PM                     Steve, it's definitely a Dolby server. A friend of mine is covering the festival as well took a snapshot of the screen in the cinema in question; As for the projector, the festival is sponsored by Christie, so they might be using a Christie unit. The 4K statement by the author of the article is most likely incorrect.  |  IP: Logged Mike Olpin Chop Chop! Posts: 1852 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Jan 2002 posted 10-12-2011 06:21 PM                     How did they play the screener? Did they have to bring in a 3rd projector? I cringe at the thought that someone may have brought in a power point projector to run with in a pinch :/  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Goeldner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1360 From: Washington, District of Columbia Registered: Jun 2008 posted 10-12-2011 07:42 PM                     quote: Mike Olpin How did they play the screener? Did they have to bring in a 3rd projector? I cringe at the thought that someone may have brought in a power point projector to run with in a pinch :/ that's the million dollar question here, I assume the third projector was so subpar that's the reason why the projected image looked like shit.  |  IP: Logged Mike Olpin Chop Chop! Posts: 1852 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Jan 2002 posted 10-12-2011 07:48 PM                     Screeners almost always look terrible. And I handle a few hundred each year, trust me. Almost always leterbox on 4:3, watermarked, sometimes over the top of subtitles. They never look good even projected through a DLP Cinema projector. Of course, a low quality video projector wouldn't help.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 10-12-2011 08:41 PM                     Ron, Note...the Dolby logo on the screen means nothing...a DCP file can play on any player but it is highly likely that it IS a Dolby server since one may not back a file off of brand A's server and put it on brand B server. That is not the case with test patterns that are on the projector itself. You can run a Christie pattern on a NEC projector...etc. I do note the test pattern is a 2K pattern, despite the 4K claim by the author. My curiosity is definitely interested. -Steve  |  IP: Logged Dave Macaulay Film God Posts: 2321 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Apr 2001 posted 10-13-2011 03:19 PM                     I think you can extract a package from one server and ingest it in another, they should all be standard packages. I can't see any reason to do that here, but I have Doremi pink noise test files I have used on other servers. I pulled these out of a Doremi server when I needed them: the original files on a USB stick were misplaced. Using a 2k test pattern to set up a 4k projector screen file is fine, but a 4k pattern should be used for focus.  |  IP: Logged Ron Lacheur Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 650 From: British Columbia, Canada Registered: Feb 2002 posted 10-13-2011 03:56 PM                     Heard some more about this last night; They are running a Dolby Server and a Christie Projector. The issue that happened was the server and the projector would not " talk " to each other and a replacement server was brought in.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Goeldner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1360 From: Washington, District of Columbia Registered: Jun 2008 posted 10-13-2011 05:14 PM                     quote: Ron Lacheur Heard some more about this last night; They are running a Dolby Server and a Christie Projector. The issue that happened was the server and the projector would not " talk " to each other and a replacement server was brought in. how rude  |  IP: Logged Ron Lacheur Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 650 From: British Columbia, Canada Registered: Feb 2002 posted 10-13-2011 05:30 PM                     Isn't it? That's how it was explained to me. I'm not up on DC ( obviously ) on a technical level so layman's terms it is!  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 10-13-2011 06:43 PM                        Why do the server and projector need to talk to each other? Does a DVD player need to talk to a TV? Of course not and it is no worse off because of it. All the server needs to do is embed the picture format in the video signal (scope, flat, 3D, 2D, fps, etc) and then the projector automatically sets itself up for that format. How hard is that This would not take up much information or bandwidth at all. Multisync computer monitors from the 90's are apparently more advanced than a typical cinema projector because they could adapt on the fly without the BS. All of this back and forth talk does no good. But of course the industry has unnecessarily over-thought the equipment. What a surprise. The joke's on them.  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 10-14-2011 01:35 AM                     Joe, that' bullshit. Even the cheapest DVD Player needs to 'talk' to a TV - it either needs HDMI or analog setup properly, and the TV needs to be configured for the proper input and signal options, and in fact, HDMI itself does a lot of talking. I don't want cinema to adhere to the same rules as domestic TV gear. What happened there happens often on festivals - gear being installed on a temporary basis without enough testing and/or competent people at hand on a tight schedule. There are 50.000 digital installs worldwide now. Sure they are all belly up... Someone just took a risk there and lost. - Carsten  |  IP: Logged

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