New Strong LMS based on NAS storage

[Steve Guttag]

I don't have anyone asking about HFR. I think a key to it having a chance is to divorce it from 3D. Let each process (or gimmick, depending on one's perspective) should live/die on its own merits/faults and not be tied to the other. We did to one or two sites of The Hobbit in 3D and HFR using Dolby 3D and we DID get complements about it. One customer made it a point of running only 3D previews on the show so the customers already were in a 3D mode and what changed going into the feature was the HFR. The biggest trick, I remember was to ensure that the Dolby 3D color wheel was up to speed before the Warner Brothers logo came up. I had to get the timing just right to minimize the dark time between modes. 48fps required not only changing the frame rate (and immediate loss of sync on any projector) but also the flash rate goes from triple-flash on the regular 3D down to double-flash on The Hobbit's 48fps 3D. I also seem to recall that Warner Brothers was reluctant to issue the HFR 3D on the 3rd part so sites that may have run part 2 in HFR 3D couldn't get the HFR 3D on part 3.

Then you get Ang Lee releasing what are essentially experimental HFR/3D systems that won't play on cinema equipment or only the latest/greatest and zero accommodation to the installed base. Setting aside the actual movies for a moment, how is the format endearing itself to the industry when one puts up so many roadblocks? Where is the consumer demand for HFR/3D to warrant all of the fuss?

Now, as to Dolby Atmos...we are getting an increasing interest in that. In fact, at one of our Atmos sites, I saw a customer response to their announcement of acquiring another site and one of the questions was about adding Dolby Atmos to it. That have also indicated to me that customer response to their Atmos room has been high.

I'm not sure what this has to do with TMS/LMS and NAS.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Atmos has nothing to do with it except you'd be picking that sound format in your LMS if you have the system. I was just comparing customer interest in Sony D-Cinema and Atmos. If Atmos just had some really good mixes, then I guarantee you that I'd have a handful of customers wanting it. Because of D-Cinema quite a few of my customers do a lot of traveling around and have been to other cinemas so equipped. They all claim their 7.1 sound systems are more impressive. And I personally see Atmos and DTS Directional as nothing but a Marquee advertisement....

[Steve Guttag]

I can't claim to have seen a lot of Atmos movies, myself. I have heard the rooms I've set up and I've heard others. The Atmos rooms I've set up, with an Atmos mix will sound different and reproduce whatever is on the track. I can't help a movie that doesn't have a good mix. I have not seen enough Atmos movies to tell you which mix is one to check out (beyond the old standard of Gravity).

As for the TMS (not really LMS...which is the storage of content...which a NAS would qualify), the Atmos interaction is minimal on something like the TCC or ACE.

When the installer sets up ACE, for example, one defines what the capabilities are on a per-screen basis (3D, 4K, 7.1, Atmos...etc.)

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So, one not only sets up the screen capability, but also the priority in which things should be offered, if there are multiple versions mapped. Then, the manager maps all versions that may apply to the complex and ACE (or TCC) will send the appropriate version to each respective screen based on its capabilities.

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You can see, in the example above, for both A Quiet Place Part II and Black Widow both versions are Title Mapped. The TMS takes care of the rest.

If this site were to use the cloud based TMS version of ACE, the user experience would be the same. All that would be needed on site would be a sufficiently sized NAS to hold/move the content but it would be under the control of the TMS in the cloud. As you may recall, the TCC (and ACE) gets content and SPLs made up 48-hours in advance so even if there was an internet problem, it would have to extend beyond 2-days before it would affect theatre operations...presuming there were no changes in that period of time. With more theatres going with assigned seating, the frequency of changing auditoriums to accommodate busier movies is way down since people will have already chosen their seats and the "other" auditorium may not match.

[Marcel Birgelen]

With almost no content available in the format, there will be zero interest in HFR and most S2+ gear can go up to 60 FPS in most configurations anyway. But around the time of the release of the first Hobbit movie, there was some hope, at least in the local market here, that it would be an equal hit like the Lord of the Rings movies from the decade before. At that time, HFR was a pretty well advertised feature and having it at least in one room was somewhat of a priority, at least around here. But with all the backslash the first HFR release caused, we all know where it went from there.

By the way: If you put your Dolby 3D in double-flash and played a 24 FPS 3D clip in front of your HFR feature in that mode, you could end up triggering some latent epilepsy in your patrons...

I can't claim to have seen all Atmos releases, but I've seen/heard a great bunch over the years. And let me be very honest here: It's really not worth the money you need to put into it, at least not with current Atmos mixes. Don't get me wrong: It's nice to have a theater that can play modern soundmixes with sufficient headroom, but current sound mixes are simply not getting out of the format what's in it. One noticeable exception remains Gravity, which is the only movie I would pay EXTRA to see in Atmos AND 3D. Heck, if there is one movie that maybe even could've benefited from HFR, then it's this movie.

Gravity did one thing right which almost no other mix in the last 30+ years did: It put the dialog where the actors are, instead of running them all through the center speaker. Almost all modern movie sound mixes are mixed with this stupid split-brain mentality: Woody Allen gets to do the dialog and George Lucas mixes in the special effects...

As for running your TMS in the cloud... I guess it's the inevitable future, but I have some deeply rooted problems with all this "cloudification" and that's not just because I'm getting old, I'm also clearly seeing all the little (potential) disasters around me. Quite a few independents around here use entirely cloud-based ticketing systems. Those systems offer all the features the big boys also have, including on-line payments, reserved seating and paperless ticketing. Besides ticketing, they also offer POS functionality that integrates with the ticketing. Both the frontend and backend of things runs entirely in the cloud, you really just need a browser to operate the thing, even on the POS terminals. The QR code scanners they use to scan the tickets (on paper and on phones) connect directly to the cloud too. It all works beautifully, until the ticket provider's infrastructure craps out or someone runs their concrete grinder through a bunch of fiber ducts running in the street. The problem here is that they literally have no backup and have to fall-back to the "blind trust" principle and go back to paper-based accounting for all their sales...

But also, look at what happened just this weekend: A massive ransomware attack that literally disabled tens of thousands of businesses. This one got in via Kaseya, a remote IT management solution. The next one may get in via TeamViewer or that hosted TMS, POS, or whatever other application.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I recently had a company that does cloud based TMS service contact me and asked if I'd be interested. I told him that I'd poll my customers and ask. A few said they would like to try it, but the rest weren't interested in learning yet another new set of software. And on top of that, this company had no 30 day trial at all. Perhaps the people just like that whirring server rack running in theor office....

[William Kucharski]

Any good NAS should be supported for at least five years, and the really good ones should never need a reboot except for maybe a software update.

On the subject of digital, Quentin Tarantino has just purchased another theater in Los Angeles, and as there isn't room in the booth for both a 35mm film projector and a digital one, he's tearing out the digital.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Any good NAS should be supported for at least five years, and the really good ones should never need a reboot except for maybe a software update.

Keep in mind that theater owners expect to get 10 or more years out of digital equipment sans the hard drives.My point was that is a $1400 NAS worth the $5000+ dollars they want to charge for it? Of course it's not,, and a really good TMS can be built for way less than that. It's storage could also be based on a NAS. I have Dell Server based TMS systems that are older then ten years old that still run fine. I can also get parts for those Dell servers, but we have been replacing them with faster servers of lately because a two year old server that's spent it's life in a clean room sells for a song and a dance.

I could care less what Tarantino does...

[Marcel Birgelen]

Any good NAS should be supported for at least five years, and the really good ones should never need a reboot except for maybe a software update.

On the subject of digital, Quentin Tarantino has just purchased another theater in Los Angeles, and as there isn't room in the booth for both a 35mm film projector and a digital one, he's tearing out the digital.

A NAS can be anything. It can be a Raspberry PI with an USB stick, it can be the USB hard-drive connected to my router that also claims to have "NAS functionality", it can be an EMC storage array costing gazillions of dollars.

On the matter of Tarantino: I guess a bit off-topic here, but yeah... great for him, but this hardly works for anybody else the same way it works for him. He has a personal 35mm collection to draw from, he knows all the people that matter in and around Hollywood, he has the name, fame and marketing power to get his "new" theater into all the major newspapers and news sites, he has the money to sustain such a thing, even if it's not profitable and being in L.A., the theater also has the potential market.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

A NAS can be anything. It can be a Raspberry PI with an USB stick, it can be the USB hard-drive connected to my router that also claims to have "NAS functionality", it can be an EMC storage array costing gazillions of dollars.

On the matter of Tarantino: I guess a bit off-topic here, but yeah... great for him, but this hardly works for anybody else the same way it works for him. He has a personal 35mm collection to draw from, he knows all the people that matter in and around Hollywood, he has the name, fame and marketing power to get his "new" theater into all the major newspapers and news sites, he has the money to sustain such a thing, even if it's not profitable and being in L.A., the theater also has the potential market.

I guess then that a $1400 dollar NAS can also be a $5000 dollar NAS. But thats seems pretty extreme to me... Quentin needs to stop buying shoe box sized theaters. I might take him a bit more seriously then. I am pretty sure sure he also has 70mm prints to run...

[Marcel Birgelen]

I guess then that a $1400 dollar NAS can also be a $5000 dollar NAS. But thats seems pretty extreme to me... Quentin needs to stop buying shoe box sized theaters. I might take him a bit more seriously then. I am pretty sure sure he also has 70mm prints to run...

Do you know what exactly they're offering for that $5000?

But I guess this is some kind of licensing and support deal that includes the TMS software itself too? If it's just the same thing that can be had for $1400, then yeah, it's a pure rip-off and borderline illegal in some jurisdictions.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

The ad says starting at $5000... I would have to assume it has their own software for the LMS part, but who knows... Higher prices would obviously be with expanded storage and perhaps larger network switches..