Star Wars Digital Projection Theaters

Zoreta writes "Wired Magazine lists the 19 digital projection theaters in the country where Attack of the Clones can be viewed as Lucas intended." Say what you will, I can't wait for AotC- digital projector or not. I just wish *blatant non subtle hinting* some kind soul could get me into an early showing in the Detroit/Ann Arbor area ;) And at least I have spiderman to tide me over. Sam Rami vs. George Lucas. Gonna be a fun summer.

Comments

digital projection

[yellowjacket03]

I saw Mission to Mars projected digitally at AMC 30 in Olathe, KS. The picture was so good that I could see the makeup that Gary Sinise was wearing. But it was very distracting to see hime wearing some kind of rouge on his cheeks and some sort of shiny lip gloss. Movie makers need to be mindful of this sort of thing. Also Mission to Mars was one of the shittiest movies ever. That never helps.

Re:Is Digital Projection Really Better?

[Michael O-P]

Yes, it is absolutely that much better. You bring up good observations, but TI and the other company that does digital projection knew they needed to match film and that viewers wouldn't tolerate pixelation. When I get poor picture quality on my Dish, it's because of the compression and decompression of the digital signal. Sure Dish Network can cram 500 channels on their satellites, but picture quality suffers. Same with digital cable.

With digital "film" projection, there isn't the same level of compression/decompression. They have as much bandwidth as they need since it's feeding off of a hard drive rather than over cables or through the air.

DLP enabled Theaters

[eples]

Here's a list of DLP-enabled Theatres from Texas Instruments, includes at least 6 theatres not listed in the Wired article, plus links to the theatres' websites.

DLP = Digital Light Processing and is supposedly better than Plasma/LCD. 4 Million+ mirrors in this sucker less than a micron apart each.

Re:Cinemark Legacy in Plano

[srvivn21]

Call me picky...

The "tuh-tuh-tuh-tuh" sound you hear is likely not a gate opening and closing. The light flicker is done using (effectively) a fan blade. The sound is the rollers moving the film across the apperture. The film has to stop over the appature (so you don't get a blurry frame). This stop-and-go is what makes most of the projector noise.

If I misunderstood what you were referring to as a "gate", I appologize.

As to the flicker, that is most often attributable to a nearly worn out Xenon bulb. The older they get, the less even their light output is.

Personally, I can't wait for the end of film. I'm no longer a projectionist though. ;o)

Hollywood should *give* each major market a DLP

[chill]

Yes, they cost ungodly sums of money, but don't be fooled. Lucas isn't pushing DLP because of the great resolution. He is pushing it because a major release (3,000+ screens) means $33 - $35 MILLION in duplication costs.

Digital distribution cuts that to a fraction. Add to that the ability to check dailies in Hollywood via an optical link -- so the execs don't have to get dirty on site, and you have a winner.