The Enduring Appeal of the American Drive-In

[Alex Mir]

Hi Guys, a customer is asking me for some advice to make a Drive-In here in Argentina... we have a lot of experience installing cinemas, but never did a Drive-In...
Customer has a Barco 32B projector with 6.5Kw bulb... what would be the maximum screen he can build? I´m pretty sure it will depend on the screen gain, so there´s the secon question: who sells paint for those screens?
Any advice will be hgily appreciated. Cheers!

[Leo Enticknap]

I can't answer your question definitively, but the drive-in I service (see post 2 above) had DP2K-32Bs running Ushio 6.5kW lamps until they were converted with the Appotronics laser retrofit to 36B+s. With the xenon lamps, it was roughly a 400ft throw to a screen 90ft across in both lots (the screens are the same size, but one lot has a slightly shorter throw). We were getting 4-5ft-l on a new lamp, which declined to around 3 by the time its warranty hours were done. After the laser retrofits, we are getting 11-12: on the cusp of being within DCI, which is not bad for a drive-in.

[Ryan Gallagher]

I’ve seen others just mention the whitest matte paint they can find. I would expect there might be gain screen paints too, but with drive in viewing angle it probably risks a pretty severe hot spot.