Interesting article by Roger Ebert on problems with digital projection, espcially 3D

[Joe Carney]

Not good if you are a Sony 4K projection fan...
"The dying of the Light"

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2011/05/the_dying_of_the_light.html

Adds to my growing list of reasons to not go to theaters.

 

[Richard Foster]

As Roger says this is repeating Esau's mistake, but as customers of the theater we should insist on proper projection when we personally experience a laziness or a mistake by the projectionist. I have found theater personnel to be very responsive, even to issues as small as reframing, when they are approached courteously.

 

[Michael Mayda]

Ebert's article is excellent and mirrors my experience at theaters, especially over the last few years. Here's hoping that the situation improves. I will now be more likely to talk with the theater manager in the future when a "film" is not properly projected.

Mike

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Yeah ... I haven't been happy with the Sony projectors. The additional stupidity of not removing the 3D lens is a useless cheat that will cost theater owners money in the long term. (The "3D lenses" are active components, they can fail from routine use.)

I also haven't been thrilled with another industry boondoggle - the 2D to 3D conversion. I accidentally watched Thor in 3D ... completely pointless. Now, I'm careful to check the credits ahead of time for 3D conversion crew/facilities.

 

[Erik Franzén]

I think one reason most consumers don't complain is really just lack of knowledge. No, seriously, how many know 'why' an image looks wrong when projected that isn't working in the biz? I can tell you that many times when I've gone to talk with the projectionist my friends just look at me and ask: 'what? Isn't that what the movie is supposed to look at?' and they're a generally smart bunch so a brain isn't exactly missing.

I think this makes everyone look bad, since the movie gets the blame. After all, who else is there to blame? The theater? Bah! You already paid for your ticket there and you're not going to have a chat with them to see if something was projected wrong (unless something is obviously wrong). I've gone half a movie before anyone bothered to turn up the volume on the speakers beyond whisper level! Geez, that's really why I am plucking down my cash for...

In the end, I can only agree with Penny Arcade...

I can still mount a token resistance, usually, but the reality is that seeing movies is a way to sit in a dark room and eat sugar for two full hours somewhere that my tubercular larvae can’t penetrate.

The “movie” is hardly relevant. If I see a movie, and it ends up being good, well, that’s just the frosting on top of another layer of frosting.

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Between out of focus lenses, bad registration and sync, prints that had run far too long and poorly secured film projectors.... the ills of digital projection have been few and insignificant.

I don't think I've been in a movie with the polarizer still on yet. That would certainly drive me crazy. But considering the lens was off axis defocusing the bottom 1/3 of Australia when I saw it... we're moving in the right direction. (By the way I complained after Australia and the Manager gave a full voucher for another movie--which I hadn't asked for, but felt entitled to after he then followed up with an apology "the projector tech wasn't able to come by for a couple days." So they had been projecting everything in that theater significantly out of focus and intended to continue doing so for dozens of more screenings.