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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 :)

The Hobbit...

New here...apologies if this has been asked before. I wanted to see the Hobbit and was wondering if there is any theater in NYC showing it in 4K? Ideally I'd like to see it in 4k 48fps but without 3D or IMAX. But it seems 48fps 2D is nowhere to be found. And fandango doesn't show me any 4k either.

So am I SOL? Is my only choice 2K 2D? If so, I guess I'll just go to the AMC nearest my house (Kips Bay)...
 
S Agarwal said:
That sucks. Why not? Why film in 4K or 5K and then down-rez to 2K?
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Cause that's what the tech in cinemas can do at this point in time and they only have enough time and resources to do so much with the video. With the way these movies are being made, they can simply go back and re-do the visual post work when the tech is ready and by Graeme's beard, there's your 4K 3D HFR as the director wanted you to see it! Once the third film is out, 4K projectors with HFR could very well be the norm and as they are making extended cuts of the movies, we may get to see those on 4K HFR3D setups since Avatar's sequels will be hitting the cinemas by then.
 
Scott Crawley said:
Is that a fact? Do you know what resolution the FX were rendered at?
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Probably around 2K, give or take some pixels for the aspect ratio cropping. That's what the Weta post videos show and SGO - maker of Mistika - says the movie was finished at 2K.
 
L. Langer said:
Probably around 2K, give or take some pixels for the aspect ratio cropping. That's what the Weta post videos show and SGO - maker of Mistika - says the movie was finished at 2K.
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Interesting. Thanks. I'm hoping you are wrong though... in a good way. :-)
 
Scott Crawley said:
Interesting. Thanks. I'm hoping you are wrong though... in a good way. :-)
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I wish I was but there is simply no evidence that supports a 4K release for The Hobbit. If it was happening, the one thing we would see that would settle the issue once and for all is Sony mentioning it. However, I firmly believe that the third film could be 4K HFR3D when released.
 
L. Langer said:
I wish I was but there is simply no evidence that supports a 4K release for The Hobbit. If it was happening, the one thing we would see that would settle the issue once and for all is Sony mentioning it. However, I firmly believe that the third film could be 4K HFR3D when released.
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I'm confused. Why would a mention by Sony be a required indicator? Isn't WB distributing the film? Pardon my ignorance.
 
Scott Crawley said:
I'm confused. Why would a mention by Sony be a required indicator? Isn't WB distributing the film? Pardon my ignorance.
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Sony promotes ALL 4K releases on their digital cinema website for their digital cinema projectors to sell their wares. Even from other studios like WB, which is moving forward with major 4K releases in the next 18 months.
 
L. Langer said:
Sony promotes ALL 4K releases on their digital cinema website for their digital cinema projectors to sell their wares. Even from other studios like WB, which is moving forward with major 4K releases in the next 18 months.
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Well, if Red were using the Hobbit release to launch a competing projector I doubt that Sony would be promoting it. ;-)

At any rate, thanks for your insight.
 
L. Langer said:
Probably around 2K, give or take some pixels for the aspect ratio cropping. That's what the Weta post videos show and SGO - maker of Mistika - says the movie was finished at 2K.
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Where did SGO say that? The only thing I can find is that Weta ordered 4k workstations...
 
Scott Crawley said:
Well, if Red were using the Hobbit release to launch a competing projector I doubt that Sony would be promoting it. ;-)

At any rate, thanks for your insight.
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Who said that RED was using The Hobbit to launch it's projector? That won't even be on the market until after The Hobbit is out of first-run cinemas.
 
L. Langer said:
Who said that RED was using The Hobbit to launch it's projector? That won't even be on the market until after The Hobbit is out of first-run cinemas.
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I am clearly speculating wildly on this based upon flimsy, circumstantial evidence, but man is it fun! I have been quizzing you in search of legit evidence to support my musings.

I'm not sure your timeline is accurate. New posts may suggest otherwise.

I could be correct.
 
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Gabe Conroy said:
Where did SGO say that? The only thing I can find is that Weta ordered 4k workstations...
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One of their employees said it on a digital grading thread on another forum. I've looked at all the evidence from every player involved in making The Hobbit happen and there's nothing that points to 4K. Weta has to upgrade to 4K infrastructure to be competitive with Sony Imageworks and other big VFX vendors, so don't read too much into anything you read about them at this point.
 
Doesn't WB still own a fairly large number of theaters? PJ and Red are clearly allies and if Jim wanted to get into bed with WB I wouldn't put it past him to give WB a killer exclusive deal for The Hobbit's launch week. (He has a history of that sort of thing.) That too would make PJ really happy I'm sure. A RedRay/Crimson deal may well have been part of PJ's pitch to WB when he sold them 48fps 3D for The Hobbit.

Early on critics of PJ's 48fps 3D were arguing that there was no hardware to support it and PJ remained silent. It was as if he knew something we didn't.

Jim threw us a very vague bone or two about RedRay around the same time. I may be connecting some very disparate points here, but I'm not crazy... really... I refuse to take those...
 
Scott Crawley said:
I am clearly speculating wildly on this based upon flimsy, circumstantial evidence, but man is it fun! I have been quizzing you in search of legit evidence to support my musings.

I'm not sure your timeline is accurate. New posts may suggest otherwise.

I could be correct.
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Per Jarred's own posts it is likely going to be available after the holiday movie season, probably in early Spring 2013. The projector might be made available to certain professionals before the end of the year but it is not going to be available for purchase by anyone else until sometime next year.
 
Scott Crawley said:
Doesn't WB still own a fairly large number of theaters? PJ and Red are clearly allies, and if Jim wanted to get into bed with WB I wouldn't put it past him to give WB a killer exclusive deal for The Hobbit's launch week. (He has a history of that sort of thing.) That too would make PJ really happy I'm sure.

Early on critics of PJ's 48fps 3D were arguing that there was no hardware to support it and PJ remained silent. Jim threw us a very vague bone or two about RedRay around the same time. I may be connecting some very disparate points here, but I'm not crazy... really... I refuse to take those...
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The only one snuggling in bed with PJ and the Warner Bros is Christie. They are the official projector supplier to Park Road Post and the official projector of The Hobbit trilogy. They are driving many of the HFR3D exhibitions with Sony doing the rest.
 
L. Langer said:
Per Jarred's own posts it is likely going to be available after the holiday movie season, probably in early Spring 2013. The projector might be made available to certain professionals before the end of the year but it is not going to be available for purchase by anyone else until sometime next year.
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OK I will look for those, thanks. Are you sure he was not referring to the home projector, instead of the Crimson? Things change? Disinformation? Don't deflate me too rapidly here. ;-)

L. Langer said:
The only one snuggling in bed with PJ and the Warner Bros is Christie. They are the official projector supplier to Park Road Post and the official projector of The Hobbit trilogy. They are driving many of the HFR3D exhibitions with Sony doing the rest.
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Ahhh... that is the kind of insight I was looking for.
 
He was referring to "the laser projector" and nothing specific beyond that. Crimson didn't pop up until a short time ago and Jarred isn't spilling the beans on what exactly that means though I suspect it's just a product name, "Crimson Laser Projector". We were told some time ago that there are two models, a home version and a professional/digital cinema version but we have never been given straight info on what the difference is between the two. Before, they implied that the difference between a pro and home projector would be the number of laser modules (1 vs whatever) but the new policy is to STFU until everything is ready, so we'll have to wait and see just what exactly is going on with that.
 
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