Roughly a year ago, I had started a project that would allow me to try to investigate a few different topics and then write about them here. While I’ve done a few of those things I never really got around to writing about some of them.

So in this installment, I’m gonna give you a quick overview of the new digital projection system that is being employed in a number of local theaters. The system I got to see was in use by Studio 29 before they closed, but is also now being used in most of their Celebration Cinema locations now.

The interesting thing about this system that I first noticed is that basically the projectors are not really all that different. The only thing missing from these massive machines is the film that runs through them. Now the projectors are like a giant projection television. Not only can they run the new digital films, but they can now broadcast special sporting events or concerts by satellite feed directly into the theaters. It’s really an amazing system.

The way Studio’s system was set up is that in the newest projection booth there is a large server unit with a control interface consisting of a keyboard and screen. Within this server are a number of slots to accommodate encrypted hard drives. The films arrive in secure boxes and these drives are simply plugged into a slot on the server.

At this point, they tell the server which theater the film is going to be streamed to. They also cue up the trailers which also arrive digitally. And entire program of trailers and ads is programmed from this console. This is done for each digital theater. The coolest thing about this is that if the theater is playing (for example) Star Trek in four theaters. They are all feeding off this one digital copy of the film.

After the program has been set in the system, they can modify the program for each individual theater. They can modify the ads on the front, or show different trailers in each theater. Once the program is set, it’s all automatic.

Most theaters have one or two screens that are still running actual film, but in those instances they are supporting something like the MOPIX system, which provides captioning on film for hearing impaired guests. I would assume at some point in the future that the MOPIX system will catch up with the current technology and those films will also be provided in a digital format at which point you simply turn on the captioning for the particular screen.

What this advance in technology means for theater goers is that you no longer have to watch films with scratches or tape splices running through the image. No more cue dots for the projectionist in the upper right hand corner of the screen every 20 minutes and so on. Every screening is as perfect as the first time the film is shown.

I remember the first film I saw digitally was a Nicholas Cage film. I believe it was called NEXT. The thing I remember the most about it was that the image was so clear that I lost track of the movie the first time as I was so amazed at the clarity of the image. Details that were lost in the mastering process where there on the screen. It was amazing.

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