ScreenX Question

[Mark Lensenmayer]

SCREENX has just been installed at the local Marcus location Interesting process...adds a bit to the movie. Certainly a gimmick, but not a bad one.

Does the system run some kind of self-test before the feature? During the pre-show and trailers, the side screens would come on for about a minute, showing what appeared to be the first part of the movie. Main screen stayed on trailers/ It was the first show of the day. This happened about 5 or 6 times.

[Harold Hallikainen]

I really don't know how ScreenX works. Where does the image for the side screens come from? I think Barco Escape used a separate server. In that case, they need to be synchronized somehow. I WONDER if they are using something like SMPTE 430-10 to synchronize, or SMPTE time code, or perhaps the SMPTE binary or FSK (as in Atmos) sync used for immersive audio. PERHAPS the side image server (if there IS one) did not know what composition was playing and just synced the side screen feature content to the trailers. But, if that were the case, I'd expect the side screens to play all the way through the trailer, then start again on the next trailer. From your description, that is not what's happening.

So, how does ScreenX work? It would be interesting to just record a very wide JPEG image, then split off the side images from the wide sides during playback. I am reminded of one of the proposals for wide screen analog television where the video for the sides that extended beyond the normal image (4:3 aspect ratio) was compressed into the overscan area on each side of the picture. It would not be visible on typical televisions, but could be decompressed and shown on wide screen televisions. Shortly after I heard this idea, digital television was proposed.

[Mark Lensenmayer]

In this installaation of SCREENX, the side walls are used as screens. The front screen is literally wall to wall. The side walls are covered with a screen-like material from front to back. A projector is placed at ceiling level at roughly the midpoint of the room, one on each wall. The wall speakers and exit signs are exposed. The side images are slightly out of focus, I think to keep attention on the main screen. Flat movies would NOT work with this system. Only about an hour of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE used the full image.

Harold's mention of a separate server makes some sense. The SCREENX system is possibly running a diagnostic, while the main screen runs the pre-show/trailers.

In any event, it was a bit distracting to see those side screens come on out of nowhere.

[Alex Mae]

I used to work at a theatre with screenx and build the playlists for it. This is fully just them either making a mistake when building the playlist and they added the SX_MOV cue early on in the playlist, or they had done testing earlier in the day and never ran the SX_CLEAR cue after which led to the SCREENX system playing the wing files for every single piece of content. I made this mistake after covid with black widow when nearly everyone who was trained on the system had left and I was trying to figure out how it worked from the badly translated documentation we had been left.

There is three servers for the SCREENX system, one master where you ingest the wing files and build the "R-Type" file. Then each side has a slave server that outputs to the side projectors. The location I worked at had two on each wall.

I do not fully understand how the syncing works but from the timecode out on the projector IMB in this case it runs to a soundblaster soundcard installed in the master server. They use remarkably pedestrian equipment, HP workstations with Quadro video cards installed.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I've been told they use a "click track" on one of the PCM audio channels to sync both "slave servers". Their motion base seemingly operates on a similar basis.
The short-lived Barco Escape setup used the sync BNC ports on the ICMP.

I'm not a fan of those gimmicky setups. If you do want to do it right, use a deeply curved screen with perfect edge blending...

[Matt Smith]

As Alex mentioned there is a cue that is used to ‘clear’ the currently loaded Screen X video file from the control PC. It sounds like this cue is either being skipped or not present in the playlist if the same wing footage is being shown during the pre-reel. The time code would reset the playback of Screen X content on each piece of new DCP content in the playlist.

[Shibu Paul]

Main Content	Standard DCP on front screen via DCI server
Side Content	Encrypted wing files (.mov) via ScreenX server
Projectors Used	3 to 5 (1 front + 2–4 side projectors)
Sync Method	Cue-based system triggers wing file playback
Layout Control	Slot mapping assigns wing files to correct projectors
Similar To	4DX in cue system, but used for visuals, not motion