Fathom Events - How to tell if a movie is going to be DCP

[badmanzeta]

Ok, so this is not a surefire method but look up which auditorium your theater shows the fathom live events like The Met Opera (i.e. events that are always satellite streams). If the movie you want to see is in this same auditorium, it could very likely be a stream and not a dcp. Obviously you can call you theater but they won't always have an answer

[An4h0ny]

One time I emailed Fathom and they emailed me back about Citizen Kane.

Maybe they would just give us the entire list if we asked nicely.

[whiteberry]

My local AMC uses the same auditorium for all Fathom Events (satellite feeds and DCPs)

You can ask BLMN in this thread:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=316302

He works at a theater and can find out in advance if Fathom Events doesn't reply to you.

The last 3-4 movies I went to have been DCPs so I'm hoping that continues into 2023 I'll find out in a few weeks when Roman Holiday is shown

[badmanzeta]

Apparently all their scope (2.39:1) titles are shown via dcp as well (at least they were in 2019) https://twitter.com/fathomevents/sta...29591154663429

[Neutron82]

I saw The Evil Dead awhile back, it sucked!... terrible audio and picture quality, at this point I'm more satisfied with my home setup rather than going to a theater

[badmanzeta]

Originally Posted by whiteberry

My local AMC uses the same auditorium for all Fathom Events (satellite feeds and DCPs)

You can ask BLMN in this thread:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=316302

He works at a theater and can find out in advance if Fathom Events doesn't reply to you.

The last 3-4 movies I went to have been DCPs so I'm hoping that continues into 2023 I'll find out in a few weeks when Roman Holiday is shown

Yeah i guess it varies. After asking around, it seems like Ultraman is mostly DCP so I wonder how widespread that is. The Macross movie was SD / satellite when I saw it and that was the first time I noticed they did that. The other fathom movies I've seen must've been DCPs or really good 1080is

[prkchopexpress]

everything fathom events is dcp.

do any theatres that still project play any of the fathom movies?

[Zillamon51]

Originally Posted by prkchopexpress

everything fathom events is dcp.

do any theatres that still project play any of the fathom movies?

Did they announce this change recently? If so, please provide a link. Because otherwise, you're talking out of your ass.

[prkchopexpress]

Originally Posted by Zillamon51

Did they announce this change recently? If so, please provide a link. Because otherwise, you're talking out of your ass.

every fathom event i have been to is a dcp. if a theatre doesn’t have the equipment to project film, it is a dcp.

fathom is also infamous for not doing a good job with their dcps. remember the bad publicity for the thing being shown in the wrong aspect ratio last year? i know i saw an anime one where they started it in the wrong part and i could see them rewinding the digital file.

the terms may be more technical. it might be a hard drive or a satellite download. but either way, neither of those is film.

[CarbonUnitM78]

Originally Posted by badmanzeta

Yeah i guess it varies. After asking around, it seems like Ultraman is mostly DCP so I wonder how widespread that is. The Macross movie was SD / satellite when I saw it and that was the first time I noticed they did that. The other fathom movies I've seen must've been DCPs or really good 1080is

I saw Shin Ultraman (subbed) tonight at my local Regal that shows Fathom Events mostly in the same auditorium. Mostly it's been a satellite feed (the movies I have seen anyway). Once it was a DCP (It's a Wonderful Life). Sadly, it appears that Shin Ultraman was a satellite feed. Even though it didn't have the Fathom logo at the end (a usual tell-tale sign that it's a satellite feed) it couldn't have been a DCP because the picture had a distortion to it as if it needed fine tuning (and that's the way it looked for other satellite feed presentations). I might have gotten a DCP if I went to my local AMC (which they don't normally screen Fathom Events). I'm watching the dubbed version of Shin Ultraman tomorrow which is being shown in a different auditorium so maybe I'll get lucky and get a DCP viewing!

[Zillamon51]

Originally Posted by prkchopexpress

every fathom event i have been to is a dcp. if a theatre doesn’t have the equipment to project film, it is a dcp.

fathom is also infamous for not doing a good job with their dcps. remember the bad publicity for the thing being shown in the wrong aspect ratio last year? i know i saw an anime one where they started it in the wrong part and i could see them rewinding the digital file.

the terms may be more technical. it might be a hard drive or a satellite download. but either way, neither of those is film.

You obviously don't know what you're talking about. Some Fathom Events are satellite feeds. Some are DCPs (digital cinema packages). These are hard copies of digital films that are physically played at the location of the showing. People like to know which they're getting, because DCP showings are noticably higher quality. I used to be pretty dismissive of the distinction, until I experienced the difference first-hand.

None of this has anything to do with film. So please learn what you're talking about before chiming in.

[prkchopexpress]

so a dcp is better than satellite, but not as good as film, and will only be at a place that doesn’t project film.

does it matter? i’ve never asked anyone at the theatre, because they don’t know. some of the theatres can’t even turn the lights off when the movie starts. or changing the size of the screen. oh man. there’s no excuse. it’s all digital now. am i confident that their projections are going to look any good?

the best flashback cinema i’ve been to still looked really flat. and that’s why i haven’t been to many. and it kills me, as someone who loves the idea of going to the movies and seeing something on a big screen.

[Neutron82]

Originally Posted by prkchopexpress

does it matter? i’ve never asked anyone at the theatre, because they don’t know.

it absolutely does matter and you're right, most of the employees there probably have no idea... when I saw The Evil Dead it was dvd quality, complete crap... I wanted to see it on a big screen because I'm not old enough to have had the chance when it was released theatrically, I wouldn't do it again unless I was sure of the quality... we have a handful of theaters in my area that actually take pride in their screenings of old films and most of them still do 35mm so I'd rather go to those places over your regular chain theater like AMC

[prkchopexpress]

Originally Posted by Neutron82

it absolutely does matter and you're right, most of the employees there probably have no idea... when I saw The Evil Dead it was dvd quality, complete crap... I wanted to see it on a big screen because I'm not old enough to have had the chance when it was released theatrically, I wouldn't do it again unless I was sure of the quality... we have a handful of theaters in my area that actually take pride in their screenings of old films and most of them still do 35mm so I'd rather go to those places over your regular chain theater like AMC

yeah, i mean, for the 40th anniversary of jaws, i saw the tcm presents and having seen it on 35mm, i thought it looked flat. not as good as the imax or 3d thst came out in september. not even as good as the 4K at home.

i remember seeing millennium actress, and i have never seen it, so i don’t know if it was terrible, but i do clearly remember it being rewound and seeing the dvr. button.

perfect blue looked kind of flat, but i don’t know enough about the source. the colors seemed really dull and faded.

raiders of the lost ark didn’t terrible back in 2019 from flashback, but i had never seen it in a theatre. and i hadn’t seen it probably since pre HD vhs and dvd. same with beauty and the beast. but i hadn’t seen that since vhs and i saw that theatrically when i was young, so i couldn’t tell you exactly what it looked like. because even though i think it’s a great movie, i didn’t watch it a ton like i would have with something like T2.

another problem is, these are usually going to play on one of the smallest screens at the theatre. so it’s really a question of…. how much do you love the movie?

if you didn’t have a place that does film and also don’t have a 4K player or 4K tv and you don’t have it on blu and have never seen it on a big screen, maybe it’s worth it.

i don’t have a super fancy 4K tv either. i have a $400 LG from wal mart.

[Neutron82]

Originally Posted by prkchopexpress

not even as good as the 4K at home.

[prkchopexpress]

just to be clear and not derail… if i was ranking all the ways i’ve seen jaws….

35mm > 4k > 3D > imax > blu ray > tcm 40th anniversary > dvd

maybe that’s the secret. if they send a hard drive with a dcp, it will be better than the satellite, but still not as good as film or 4K.

it just makes me sad that on a bigger screen (depending on your theatre and their projector settings) you lose the texture.

the best example of this is park chan wook, when i watched the handmaiden and decision to leave, i felt really quite sad the whole time because the immaculate texture and detail in the frame wasn’t evident, but would absolutely be evident if you were watching a print.

[WonkaBedknobs83]

Those of us who have 4k projectors and UHD players find it hard to justify paying to go somewhere else to watch lower-resolution versions of movies we can watch at home.

I've also collected film in nearly four decades of life on Earth, and I can tell you, it's not cheap compared to any video format. I would still go out to see classic movies on film if it was a movie I wanted to see.