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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Author
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Topic: Gut feeling - AMC/Regal/Cinemark will go with Sony
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Lyle Romer
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1400
From: Davie, FL, USA
Registered: May 2002
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posted 05-17-2007 07:20 AM
I don't know why but I have a strange feeling that the AMC/Regal/Cinemark Digital Cinema partnership will end up going with Sony 4k. The situation seems to parallel the early digital sound days. When some chains had started doing large scale installs of DTS and Dolby Digital, AMC held back. I remember when they opened the "Grand 24" and had 6 (I think, it might have been 4) Dolby Digital auditoriums. I remember a boxoffice article where somebody from AMC said that they were ready to install it in all auditoriums but that they would "wait and see" what happens. Soon after that, AMC announced the deal with Sony to go SDDS across the board.
Now you have a similar situation. Some chains (Carmike, Rave, etc) have comitted to large scale 2k DLP deployment but AMC/Regal/Cinemark are for the most part just installing it where they want to do Real-D. None of their new builds are being done 100% (or even close) Digital. Also, a few weeks back somebody from Regal said that Sony's projector was "not ready yet" with YET being the operative word I think. Since that time, Sony has begun live testing of the SRX-220 and the Muvico in Chicago will open with it on all screens in August.
I just have a strange feeling that sometime in September or October, the AMC/Regal/Cinemark partnership is going to announce thier intention to go 100% Sony 4k by like 2010 or something like that. I especially have this feeling because of the timeframe. They have said they will start their deployment in 2008. So, assuming Sony's projector is "ready" by the end of 2007, this lines up perfectly.
I could be wrong but it's my gut feeling.
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Lyle Romer
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1400
From: Davie, FL, USA
Registered: May 2002
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posted 05-17-2007 09:12 AM
He said (in Nov 29th Article):
"Regal Entertainment Group (RGC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Chief Executive Michael Campbell told the Reuters Media Summit in New York that he would not consider installing the Sony projector on his chain's 6,400 screens until it had been tested more thoroughly ."
He also said:
"We've seen 4K in some lab conditions, it looks really good," Campbell said. "The problem is, at least currently, it's not reliable. It's being tested."
And...
"I think the (digital projection) roll-out ... initially is going to be almost exclusively 2K, and as the roll-out progresses, as 4K technology becomes more tested, as the price of that technology inevitably comes down... you may see a lot of companies including Regal shift to some 4K units as part of that roll-out process," Campbell said. "I don't think it's ready today."
Campbell said the chain wants to encourage Sony to continue testing and rolling out the technology "but at the end of the day it has to be an affordable technology."
These type of quotes is why I have my gut feeling. He seems to be saying that once it's tested (which will begin in earnest in August with Muvico having an 18-plex full of them) and they bring the price down, Regal wants them. Notice that he doesn't say anything about Sony's prior issues with SDDS and support.
It'd also be good marketing strategy against the early 2K adopters. Regal/AMC/Cinemark can say "the guy down the street may have some magic perfect digital stuff but we have 4K truly really purely digital with 4 times the resolution! (and perhaps 4x the data compression but we won't mention that)"
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 05-17-2007 10:37 AM
I won't fault Sony for taking their time in developing their 4K projector. It's better for them to work out the bugs now rather than be dealing with it in the field on products already sold and in use. They also have the luxury of making certain improvements as this kind of technology continues to mature.
Sony can also take their time for the simple fact nearly all digital production in Hollywood is mere 2K. Sony seems very much alone in showing any ambitions to pursue standards well above HDTV resolutions.
The fact most content is just 2K will pose some marketing problems. "The Glory of 4K Projection" will not mean anything at all with 2K source material fed into a 4K projector.
quote: Scott Norwood
Selecting a few different suppliers would minimize risk and possibly prices (due to increased competition, even with lower volume for each model).
Mixing different D-cinema systems together might possibly have some of the advantages mentioned. The 4K systems might be good for larger screens -provided if the image is bright enough and it is actually being fed a video stream with true native 4K resolution (good luck on that one).
DCI-compliant movies should be able to play on numerous makes of D-cinema systems, unlike the situation of digital sound on 35mm where three proprietary formats demanded three proprietary playback systems.
Multiple systems in one theater or one theater chain can be a disadvantage. That means having multiple vendors to come in and service the equipment and provide support for each proprietary software system. You have different lists of parts to track and order.
In Carmike's case, I think it's ultimately going to be a good thing for them to have just 1 brand of d-cinema system in nearly all their theaters. With 35mm, they had a scattering of many different kinds of projectors, platters and all sorts of other gear. That mix of gear certainly had to complicate the issue of fixing problems when they occurred.
quote: Scott Norwood
I'm still not sure how the economics of conversion make sense for the exhibitors, but I guess we'll see.
That's why I believe the movie distributors should be paying for most or even all the bill for this digital projection hardware. They're getting all the money from the tickets sold at the box office. They're getting all the cost savings by using portable hard discs instead of making film prints.
At the very least, equipment leasing would make more sense than buying the gear outright.
OT:
quote: Lyle Romer
I remember when they opened the "Grand 24" and had 6 (I think, it might have been 4) Dolby Digital auditoriums.
Actually, when the Grand 24 in Dallas opened the theater had only two Dolby DA-20 processors mounted on roll around carts. Four projectors had Cat. No. 700 readers installed. All 24 screens did have SDDS.
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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!
Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 05-18-2007 01:36 AM
It depends on when you bought the CP650...though it is RoHS compliant now...it didn't start out life that way. RoHS was one of the reasons Dolby only offers the CP650 for their cinema processor. The cost of coverting existing products to RoHS can be rather high to ensure compliance.
The long term affects of early RoHS compliance is not likely to be seen right away.
From my experience...when a change is made to have an enviro-friendly substance...often the new product performs notably worse though in some instances, with time, the new products end up not only performing as well as the old but even better though I have not found this to be the norm.
With Solder...if one looks at the alternatives to traditional Tin-Lead (Sn-Pb), they all have their short comings and I remember reading a report that showed the EPA found that 8 out of the 10 RoHS alternative solders had similar or worse environmental problems....just not Lead...the other two did not have a track record yet for the EPA.
Sn-Pb solder does/did not guarantee high reliability either...any technician that has been around just the least bit has seen MANY a solder based equipment failure. Probably the worst offenders in this regard are the wave-solder systems. They can be really good or really bad...it all depends on how they are run and kept up. The solder purity, temperature, you name it has to all be right on the money for it to produce high reliability...the rest produce cold solder joints that start to fail with time. Well done hand soldering (particularly with a good QC program) and solder paste (surface mount) seem to do the best for me.
Unfortunately, only time will tell if lead-free solders will have a large, small, no impact on the reliability of products over the long haul.
As for DCinema...the technology will probably be obsolete before the solder grows wiskers and fail...so we will have nice lead free DCinema equipment in the land fills. Then again, if one were to keep film based projectors...the land fills wouldn't need to fill up as fast since that equipment is seeming kept almost forever (and the film itself is recycled).
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