Digital Projection - Is it bad?

[MattH5]

A lot of theaters in my area have been installing "Digital Projection" (DP) in their theaters. Correct me if I'm wrong but from my understanding this is basically a transfer of the film onto a digital projector correct?

Is this bad? On the plus side from what I've seen the image is much more stable and isn't damaged. (Dirt, scratches) And doesn't ever need reel changes.

However, maybe its just me but the detail seems to be a bit lower. I've also found the contrast appears to be boosted a little. Now I could be wrong so if I am correct me. Is digital projection a bad thing?

[GORT]

From what I understand (talking to a theater manager) and this may very depending on the projector. the movies come on a hard drive that is put into the projector to show the movie.

[Lord_Lemon]

Means it's presented in HD. It always looks far superior from what I've seen.

[Tarek]

the movies are delivered on a hard and then are downloaded into a computer that is connected to the projector so there crisper clean audio is clear no reel change marks no scratches and those projectors can also handle 3d movies it is a filter they place in front of the screen, and they can loaded it on several projectors rather than have multiple prints

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

Originally Posted by Tarek

the movies are delivered on a hard and then are downloaded into a computer that is connected to the projector so there crisper clean audio is clear no reel change marks no scratches and those projectors can also handle 3d movies it is a filter they place in front of the screen, and they can loaded it on several projectors rather than have multiple prints

You seem to know alot about it so i have a couple of questions. First is what kind of file sizes are these movies? Are they around Blu-ray size or like 100+ Gb? And last what do the theaters do with the copy of the movie on the computer when they are done showing it? I guess they send the HDD back but if the movie is on the projectors computer then what stops the theater from playing the movie in the future without paying rights to the studios? Sorry if i don't know what i'm talking about for any of this but i watch all these movies but have no idea how the inner workings of a theater are.

[Tarek]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

You seem to know alot about it so i have a couple of questions. First is what kind of file sizes are these movies? Are they around Blu-ray size or like 100+ Gb? And last what do the theaters do with the copy of the movie on the computer when they are done showing it? I guess they send the HDD back but if the movie is on the projectors computer then what stops the theater from playing the movie in the future without paying rights to the studios? Sorry if i don't know what i'm talking about for any of this but i watch all these movies but have no idea how the inner workings of a theater are.

the hard drive we get are terbyte size, and they delete the movie as if it were a file on iur computer they trash, and 2 weeks is the max for a movie to be played after that it depends 1, on the theaterwhat it is doing at the box office it if isnt getting nething they stop shpwing it, normally if it is a 3d feature and we ooose the 35mm film once we loose the 3d version and the movie is still doing well we would get the 35mm back

[vegeta88]

Thanks Tarek for the info, very informative.

Originally Posted by Lord_Lemon

Means it's presented in HD. It always looks far superior from what I've seen.

Same here. I am always surprised at the clarity of the picture when I go to DP theaters.

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

Originally Posted by Tarek

the hard drive we get are terbyte size, and they delete the movie as if it were a file on iur computer they trash, and 2 weeks is the max for a movie to be played after that it depends 1, on the theaterwhat it is doing at the box office it if isnt getting nething they stop shpwing it, normally if it is a 3d feature and we ooose the 35mm film once we loose the 3d version and the movie is still doing well we would get the 35mm back

Ok cool thanks for the answers. I know the movie must be a pretty crazy size if it comes on a 1 Tb drive.

[JTStarkiller]

We have theater here in Austin with four 4K projectors. Films look AMAZING on it.

[dcowboy7]

No.

[JLant19]

All of my projectors have gone digital and it looks reallly good.

[mjbethancourt]

No, it's not a bad thing. Why do you ask? Have you just seen a digitally-projected movie that looked bad?

[tbizzle]

Several of the local theaters have gone digital and it looks killer, couldn't be more pleased. It's like going from DVD to Blu-ray

When I went to see Iron Man 2, I asked the manager (a friend) if she had seen it yet and she told us that the hard drive is actually password protected, and they receive the password at like 12 am opening day.

[ChipmunksDad]

Originally Posted by MattH5

A lot of theaters in my area have been installing "Digital Projection" (DP) in their theaters. Correct me if I'm wrong but from my understanding this is basically a transfer of the film onto a digital projector correct?

Is this bad? On the plus side from what I've seen the image is much more stable and isn't damaged. (Dirt, scratches) And doesn't ever need reel changes.

However, maybe its just me but the detail seems to be a bit lower. I've also found the contrast appears to be boosted a little. Now I could be wrong so if I am correct me. Is digital projection a bad thing?

1. A couple of years ago it was a digital transfer. Now you're more likely to see a movie from a film projector that was shot digital then transfered to film.
2. No its not bad. The first showing is as clean as the last. No more shakey picture, no more broken reels, no more stuck piece of fuzz in the shutter.
3. Digitial is more detailed. Flim viewing has jitter. If the picture is softer, its because of a bad calibration or a dirty lense. An upside for me... I used to get headaches from time to time watching movies in a theater, my eye's are very sensitive to motion artifacts, now I don't get headaches. That said, I can't watch 3D without a headache.

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

First is what kind of file sizes are these movies?

Big. Really big. They are usually 4k or 8k formats. Some theaters are also now experimenting with satellite and fiber downloads of the films eliminating the shipping of hardware.

[Suntory_Times]

To answer simply, digital projection is not bad.

Originally Posted by MattH5

A lot of theaters in my area have been installing "Digital Projection" (DP) in their theaters. Correct me if I'm wrong but from my understanding this is basically a transfer of the film onto a digital projector correct?

Is this bad? On the plus side from what I've seen the image is much more stable and isn't damaged. (Dirt, scratches) And doesn't ever need reel changes.

However, maybe its just me but the detail seems to be a bit lower. I've also found the contrast appears to be boosted a little. Now I could be wrong so if I am correct me. Is digital projection a bad thing?

More or less every film is know edited digitally. Digital projectors are easier to mantain so presentations tend to be significantly better. Digital projectors are also capable of much better contrast then 35mm projectors. Colors are more vivid as well and they ten to stay closer to D65 for longer. Both digital projectors and 35mm have there pros and cons but unless you have a very good projectionist (which tends to be extremely rare now), digital projectors look much better in nearly every way.

Originally Posted by ChipmunksDad

1. A couple of years ago it was a digital transfer. Now you're more likely to see a movie from a film projector that was shot digital then transfered to film.
2. No its not bad. The first showing is as clean as the last. No more shakey picture, no more broken reels, no more stuck piece of fuzz in the shutter.
3. Digitial is more detailed. Flim viewing has jitter. If the picture is softer, its because of a bad calibration or a dirty lense. An upside for me... I used to get headaches from time to time watching movies in a theater, my eye's are very sensitive to motion artifacts, now I don't get headaches. That said, I can't watch 3D without a headache.



Big. Really big. They are usually 4k or 8k formats. Some theaters are also now experimenting with satellite and fiber downloads of the films eliminating the shipping of hardware.

Actually nearly every film since digital projectors have been used has been shot on film transfered to a digital file, then edited together digitally.

File sizes vary greatly, some have been extremely small (blu-ray sized) and some go up to a few terrabytes (a few thousand gigabytes). The file bieng small isn't a problem if the compression is well done, and even then the difference is more minor then most would think.

[MattH5]

Why is Quentin Tarantino so against it?

http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/new...-novelist.html

[mjbethancourt]

Originally Posted by MattH5

Why is Quentin Tarantino so against it?

http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/new...-novelist.html

Because he has to say something to try to pass himself off as a real artist, instead of just a ripoff hack.

[jadedeath]

Originally Posted by mjbethancourt

Because he has to say something to try to pass himself off as a real artist, instead of just a ripoff hack.

And that's a bingo...

As soon as Studios realize that they can save a boatload more money by going completely digital, {Lionsgate seems to be on the cusp of it} film will be a thing of the past and the average moviegoer will be happier because of it.

The art students who want to shoot film for the sake of shooting film can rot IMO.

Logan

[mjbethancourt]

Originally Posted by jadedeath

And that's a bingo...

As soon as Studios realize that they can save a boatload more money by going completely digital, {Lionsgate seems to be on the cusp of it} film will be a thing of the past and the average moviegoer will be happier because of it.

The art students who want to shoot film for the sake of shooting film can rot IMO.
Logan

Word. It seems to me to be a pretentious effort to claim classical artistic legitimacy, by people who don't understand why the old-school directors use film. That, and a lot of what I call trying to "make a virtue out of a necessity": they pretend they prefer the look of 8mm black-and-white film, when the truth is it's the only thing they can afford.

[jadedeath]

Originally Posted by mjbethancourt

Word. It seems to me to be a pretentious effort to claim classical artistic legitimacy, by people who don't understand why the old-school directors use film. That, and a lot of what I call trying to "make a virtue out of a necessity": they pretend they prefer the look of 8mm black-and-white film, when the truth is it's the only thing they can afford.

I get quite a laugh out of those folks because film cameras cost money to rent, but you can rent a 1080i camera for $250 for a weekend. Add on to that the cost of renting the lights and buying a few tapes and you can make something pretty damn good on less than $1000.

Logan