>...how much they enjoyed the gate weave

I first saw _Alien_ in an old theatre on Bleaker St. in NYC. I have not been so terrified before or since. I searched for years for an explanation, and then realized that the projector gate weave was so bad that it literally put me off balance. The film did the rest. Nice special effect!

Noel Sterrett
Baytech Cinema
www.baytechcinema.com

---

Noel Sterrett writes :

>I first saw _Alien_ in an old theatre on Bleaker St. in NYC. I have not >been so terrified before or since. I searched for years for an >explanation, and then realized that the projector gate weave was so bad >that it literally put me off balance.

Just think if it had been shown digitally at 60 fps, you would not only have been less scared, but scared for a much shorter
time.

I first saw Alien an a new theatre with a new projector, at 24fps. It worked for me.

Brian Heller
IA 600 DP

---

If theatres can't properly maintain 35mm film projectors, how are they going to properly maintain digital projectors?

How automatic and self correcting are they going to be?

Jessica Gallant
Los Angeles based Director of Photography
West Coast Systems Administrator, Cinematography Mailing List
https://cinematography.net/

---

At last November's SMPTE DC Conference here in NYC we connected a Viper directly down a single HD-SDI channel to a 2K JVC D-ILA Projector and did a live tabletop demo in the DC environment.

The feeling of reality was astounding at 24P, 30P and 60i even with changes in the moving objects in the scene. Since there was no tape related compression we really got to see what the camera could do.

When one looks at what is on the screen you really have to look at ALL the things that make that image happen along the chain.
I think that simplifying things to just 24p or 30p or 60i does not really make sense when things such as equipment types, compression schemes and codecs are added to the mix.

Mark Forman
Mark Forman Productions, Corp.
http://screeningroom.com

---

David Mullen ASC wrote :

> Or they could start writing better scripts...

As an ASC member, you should know that it's considered bad form to criticize WGA members...

Jeff "but you can criticize SMPTE members with impunity" Kreines

---

>Someday it would be interesting to select frame rates for a movie the >way we select film stocks or aspect ratios -- an action film shot at 60P or >72P, maybe a turn-of-the-century movie shot at 18P, etc

Sounds like the MaxiVision concept.

Steven Poster ASC

---

Jessica Gallant writes :

>If theatres can't properly maintain 35mm film projectors, how are they >going to properly maintain digital projectors? How automatic and self >correcting are they going to be?

As to self correcting, these projectors will be fault free, so correction will be unnecessary. Don't you read the sales literature.

Also, they will be so automatic that you won't even have to go to the theatre to be charged for the experience. Your bank account/credit card will be automatically debited.

As has been pointed out many times, there is no other way that these projectors will be economically viable.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Brian Heller
IA 600 DP

---

>If theatres can't properly maintain 35mm film projectors, how are they >going to properly maintain digital projectors?

Film projectors come from a time when there were craftsmen called projectionists. Now we have candy kids who's only qualification is that they'll work for minimum wage. The new digital projectors seem to be built with this in mind.

Scott Billups - LA

---

>Now we have candy kids who's only qualification is that they'll work for >minimum wage. The new digital projectors seem to be built with this in >mind.

Where do you pour in the syrup? And what about the butter substitute?

Can you clean the lens with that?

Jeff "how about nachos with that?" Kreines

---

David Mullen, ASC writes :

>>By the way, the Region 1 DVD of "Oklahoma!" was transferred from the >30 fps 65mm master and looks fine, not "video-ish". Just smoother, no >pulldown hiccups -- almost reminds me of watching a movie on a PAL >TV!

David,

Bravo!... ASC works well after your name.

65mm masters are absolutely beautiful, so then why do films like "Lawrence of Arabia" or "2001: A Space Odyssey" not get granted this same treatment. I have seen flawless 70mm prints of both of these and the DVD's they put out are from grainy 35mm Reduction Interpositives.

Eric Adkins
Director of Photography
Los Angeles

---

Scott Billups writes :

>Now we have candy kids who's only qualification is that they'll work for >minimum wage. The new digital projectors seem to be built with this in >mind.

True enough. Which is why they should all incorporate well designed autofocus systems and some self-calibrating means of standardizing house audio volume.

This wouldn't be rocket science.

Dan Drasin
Producer/DP
Marin County, CA

---

David Mullen ASC Writes :

>Someday it would be interesting to select frame rates for a movie the >way we select film stocks or aspect ratio

Scott Billups writes :

>With digital acquisition~projection there is no reason that we couldn't do >this quite simply. Brilliant concept.

Ultimately, digital technology can allow everything to be infinitely scalable, and this is probably the way things will go in the future. But until that happens, we'd better not let too many standards proliferate or increasing numbers of post-production people will be taken away in straitjackets, foaming at the mouth and shouting
"Pull up!... Pull down!! Drop! Non-drop!!!"

Dan Drasin
Producer/DP
Marin County, CA

---

Dan Drasin writes :

>Ultimately, digital technology can allow everything to be infinitely >scalable, and this is probably the way things will go in the future.

Only in relation to the size of the pipeline. It's a dollar and cents issue. The higher the frame rate the more bandwidth it takes. You must always consider bandwidth a commodity.

Steven Poster ASC

---

Steven Poster ASC wrote :

>Only in relation to the size of the pipeline. It's a dollar and cents issue. >The higher the frame rate the more bandwidth it takes. You must always >consider bandwidth a commodity.

How true.

It's always a trade-off -- resolution vs. frame-rate -- unless you want to use compression or filtering.

Jeff "there's no free lunch, unless Sony's buying" Kreines

---

Scott Billups writes :

>Now we have candy kids who's only qualification is that they'll work for >minimum wage. The new digital projectors seem to be built with this in >mind.

[The implication seemed to be that untrained personnel will operate this self-maintained & calibrated video projection equipment]

Let us not forget that just a few days ago, a posting appeared on this list because someone's video originated and projected movie got butchered in playback. The problem's source seemed to be the (common) confusion of the old 7.5 IRE black standard, and the newer Zero IRE black standard.

I remember when broadcast TV cameras first started delivery with "diascopes" (Internally projected gray scales) and automatic setup. The video engineer's (controller, DIT, geek, whatever you want to call us) job was supposed to go away with that invention.

That was 20 years ago, and I'm still working. I/we have seen this all before. "Auto Setup" isn't always what its cracked up to be.
Lew Comenetz
HD Video Enginner & DIT

---

>Film projectors come from a time when there were craftsmen called >projectionists. Now we have candy kids who's only qualification is that >they'll work for minimum wage.

Can you make a reference to any particular models that would support this belief? This isn’t a challenge, it's an attempt to reckon your experience with my own. I only have a nodding acquaintance with the DLA-QX1G but I have installed dozens of other models in environments ranging from home theatre to corporate and industrial and I have not seen any "dumbed down" user interface.

>
The only shortcoming I notice seems to be a lack of flexibility until one moves into the upper end models.

Respectfully,
Jeffery Haas
freelance editor, camera operator
Dallas, TX

---

>
>I have installed dozens of other models in environments ranging from >home theatre to corporate and industrial and I have not seen any >"dumbed down" user interface.

Jeffery,

Having installed a number of projectors, I'm sure you'll agree that "magic set-up button" doesn't exist. The accommodations that I referenced deal more with the ease of the initial set-up and the ability of the projector to maintain it's settings longer.

(Begging your indulgence for a topic related flashback) Back in the early '70's (while still in High-school) I helped build a production studio with my good friend Chuck Mellone (now Chief Engineer / National Telecommunications and Information Administration).

As a hobby, he had rebuilt an old Ediophor Projector that we used to project the Clay/Foreman "Rumble in the Jungle" bout off of the ubiquitous upstate New York cloud cover. Just a bunch of guys, laying around on lawn chairs, drinking beer, watching a good fight. My recollection is that it took several weeks to calibrate that beast and after the bout it didn't work well for almost a year. Ain't technology grand?

Scott Billups - LA

---

>
> You must always consider bandwidth a commodity.

You're so right.

A friend of mine works for a major Canadian cable network. They were, as always, looking for ways to cut expenses. Apparently they could save a couple of hundred thousand dollars a year by decreasing their satellite bandwidth a bit. Despite the objections of the technical staff, the suits decided to go ahead and cut the bandwidth.

Now, it just so happens that in Toronto, where all those major Canadian cable network suits live, the cable company gets their signal by fibre-optic link directly from the master controls of most of the networks...NOT by satellite.

One day, the fibre system is taken down for maintenance, and the cable company switches over to the satellite feed. My friend gets a call from his boss - "what's wrong with our signal?" The suits had been watching their cable TV in Toronto, patting themselves on the back for saving some bucks with no noticeable decrease in signal quality, while not understanding that the REST of the country was getting a crappy signal.

To their credit, the bandwidth was immediately restored to the previous level, once they could see in their own homes what the decreased bandwidth was actually doing to their picture. But there are a LOT of channels that either don't care as much about their picture quality, or can't/won't spend the money required to deliver that quality.

George Hupka
Director/DP
Downstream Pictures
Saskatoon, Canada

---

>
Lew signed his post :

Lew Comenetz-HD
Video Enginner & DIT

Hmm just wondering, is an enginner a beginner engineer?

Michael "in a pre nab haze" Bravin
Chief Spelling Officer
Band Pro Film & Digital
www.digiprimes.com

---

Copyright © CML. All rights reserved.