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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Saw My First Digital Projection...

Jonathan Stevenson

Jonathan Stevenson

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I saw Hatchet II in Burbank at the Universal City Walk a few weeks ago. Aside from the Universal City Walk being the worst place ever invented by people, the theater was decent, however for some reason they never dimmed the lights completely, so that was irritating. Anyway, we purchased tickets not realizing it was a digital projection...

As soon as the "Preview - All Audiences" green screen came up, my jaw dropped. Even just for the simple green trailer screen, the image was insane. Then the trailers started and I was looking at my friend saying, "Holy shit, THIS is digital projection??" For some reason, when I first heard about digital projection, I imagined it being similar to the quality of pre-movie "entertainment." They probably use Best Buy-grade projectors for that, haha. Needless to say, I'm absolutely sold on digital projection. The image was incredible. So clean and crisp!

I can't wait to see more, especially something like Social Network. Pretty sure Hatchet II shot on Varicam or something. I'm really looking forward to seeing some MX or Epic footage eventually. Unfortunately, I'm pretty positive there are exactly ZERO theaters with Digital Projection where I live. I can't wait for the day when we get one though. That's one thing that I wouldn't mind paying extra for. Screw $3 premiums for 3D, give me digital projection!!

Oh, and Hatchet II was awesome. Hilariously gory and fun, not much more value than that, but I don't think that was its intention.
 
No kidding? Denver still doesn't have any digital projection venues? I live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where visitors from the coasts still seem surprised to learn that horse-and-buggy transportation has been out of fashion for more than a decade, and Carmike Cinema has had several 2k Christies for about four years or so. Then, a year or two later, the 1st Cinemark stadium-style seating venue in town stepped up with digital projection and live satellite feed performances. And, this summer, the 2nd Cinemark venue added several more digital projection screens, the largest ones with 3k projectors. The only theater in town that is still projecting only film prints is the cheap 2nd-run house.

Must be a bummer to have the latest releases slowed down by stagecoach delivery of prints out in the mountain west... ;-)
 
Bill Goehring said:
No kidding? Denver still doesn't have any digital projection venues? I live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where visitors from the coasts still seem surprised to learn that horse-and-buggy transportation has been out of fashion for more than a decade, and Carmike Cinema has had several 2k Christies for about four years or so. Then, a year or two later, the 1st Cinemark stadium-style seating venue in town stepped up with digital projection and live satellite feed performances. And, this summer, the 2nd Cinemark venue added several more digital projection screens, the largest ones with 3k projectors. The only theater in town that is still projecting only film prints is the cheap 2nd-run house.

Must be a bummer to have the latest releases slowed down by stagecoach delivery of prints out in the mountain west... ;-)
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All of our prints are delivered by Kevin Costner on a horse, hahah.

Actually, just did some googling and I found ONE theater here in Denver that has ONE digital screen. They're showing Let Me In on it currently, which I don't really care to see, but I'll have to keep an eye on that theater and see what they play.
 
Bill Goehring said:
No kidding? Denver still doesn't have any digital projection venues?
Click to expand...

Lots of digital venues here. I'm totally shocked and amazed that this is Jonathan's first experience and he had to go so far to see it! LOL!!! My guess is he's seen plenty of digital presentations and didn't realize it. Most people don't. Although, they tend to at least show the TI DLP animation before, or similar...

Jon, most of those searches don't pull up much. But I have several digital screens around me. Most everywhere that shows anything in 3D has at least a couple Christie 2K's. There's two 4K's in the Denver area that I'm aware of, although I have yet to see an actual 4K DCP on one -- all 2K source being projected when I've gone.
 
First digital projection I saw (in a commercial theater) was March of the Penguins The pristine quality without flicker or judder or print defects was especially impressive on that film.
 
Its funny that...typography is the best thing on digital and the worst on film - you can never focus it well enough.
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
I'm totally shocked and amazed that this is Jonathan's first experience and he had to go so far to see it!
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Similarly shocked here... I saw my first digital projection in 2000 in an AMC Theater (IIRC) in NYC (film was "Dinosaur") - back then the "standard" was not 2k, but anamorphic 1280x1024" Christie and Barco were the only implementers that could source cinema-grade DLP-chips from Texas Instruments. But knowing that a regular film projection is somewhat 1k-ish it still looked really good. It is a good thing that this market has opened up somewhat with Sony making decent systems using LCoS chips.
But the bobbing up and down of a film projection has a merit of its own...

What I still haven't seen is a 4k projection, these events are even harder to come by here (Switzerland), even though most of the provincial theaters are now digital, albeit only 2k.

It really is sickening, how they all rush to go 3D, but starve us of 4k-goodness.
 
Jeff, you are a LIAR!! Where the hell are the 4K theaters??

Now I feel silly... haha
 
Jonathan Stevenson said:
Jeff, you are a LIAR!! Where the hell are the 4K theaters??

Now I feel silly... haha
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Brian has a good link. But it's incomplete in that I know of a couple not on the list. And now I know of even more locations! AMC at E-470 & Quebec has a 4K. I see another AMC is listed there. I knew about the Regal Cinemas Colorado Mills having 4K -- I'm there quite a bit. The UA / IMAX venue at I-25 and Colorado Blvd. was supposed to be installing one earlier this year, I don't know if it happened or not.
 
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We have a 12 theater all 4K AMC complex right down the street, The Avenues at Forsyth, first one in Georgia. They're still only showing everything in 2K as far as I know. It's been open for a couple years now.
 
Big give away that you are watching a digital film is when it changes from from flat to scope. Film dowsers the image while the lens changes. Digi's transform over a few seconds. Plus like I mentioned the, Type is a big giveaway.
 
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