SonGohanTW

As someone who worked in a digital projection multiplex... your job isn't going to be gone for long.

A multitude of things can go wrong with digital projectors... they're computers! ESPECIALLY after a fresh install. Are you getting Christie projectors, or Sony? Hopefully Christie, as I hear the Sony Proj's are a mess to handle.

Sure, you'll be able to easily program your movies at the beginning of the week but who will maintain/fix things as soon as they go wrong? Some of the things you'll run into as a digital projectionist...

1. Dowser issues. Due to some random bug, some dowsers like to close themselves after queuing the line to start the movie.

2. Content and Keys. As a new digital projector theater, your main nightmare is going to be content/keys. You won't be busting open the cans to get around a lock THIS time if you need content early... You're going to have to call Deluxe/Technicolor/CineDigm about two days in advance before you're scheduled to play movies. Also, DOUBLE MAKE SURE keys match the content! If they don't, you'll be boned... There are times where you'll have three+ different versions of the movie on your LMS (No idea what that stands for, don't ask), from open caption/closed caption/OV (original video). I cannot stress how important this issue/step is to double check. Constantly.

3. Dealing with content distributors. Again, as a 35mm projectionist you probably know who are the 'crappy' ones, but lemme tell you... Deluxe is a nightmare. Use extra caution with them! I ended up waiting on the phone for 25 minutes on hold, only to have it picked up and the person on the other end proclaim in surprise "Oh, you're still there?!"

4. Format Changes! Gotta have SOMEONE up there for that.

5. Missed queues. People... are lazy. You'll get people coming up 15+ minutes AFTER a movie was supposed to start to tell you that it never did. If no one is up there, who is checking the starts to make sure everything played fine and dandy?

To answer some of your worries...

They used Christie Digital at my old workplace before I left. You'll be working with the LMS to build your movies. It's nice and easy to work with, but the untrained would botch it up repeatedly if left alone.

To build your movies, it looks sort of like Adobe Premiere or some other sort of film editing software in terms of a timetable and a list for your content on the ... left I believe. You'll have tabs such as Trailers/Policies/Features all listed separate. It's just drag and drop.

I was on the first wave of Christie Digital Projectors. The newest ones cost 50k+, with them rolling out the newest version of the projectors recently... so you may get the top of the line in the deal. If so... you're lucky! All the DVI outputs/sound/etc are nice and neat on the side of the projector, perfect for hooking up your PS3's/XBOX360's for playing late at night when everyone left (I did that a lot. Batman: Arkham Asylum on a screen bigger than my living room at home is nice. Suck my tits if you want proof. I will projection technical jargon you into oblivion!)... or what it was most commonly used for, which was playing DVDs and Blu-Rays with ease. I believe the new ones come with HDMI slots on them so they'll be able to be plugged in directly with your projector.

Movies will now come to your via satellite and UPS/Fed-Ex on portable hard drives. The size compression of movies confuse me most of all... Some movies that are 3 hours long have been 90 gigs, whereas the biggest movie I've seen was 250 gigs (Some 1.5 hour kids movie). The average amount of time it'll take to ingest the movies onto your LMS will be around 2.5+ hours long. On top of that, it'll take about 25 minutes to send that to all the different servers/houses you'll be playing your movies in... LONGER if you're sending multiple movies out to the servers, so take all that into consideration if you are running things close.

We ran a tight ship for digital projection because you HAD TO. It was a strict regime...

Monday - Delete/Remove extra content from servers/houses.

Tuesday - New Movie Schedule arrived for next week. Schedule it all in and transfer movie files on this day.

Wed - Double check ALL CONTENT AND KEYS! Make sure keys match content! Finish the schedule. When you save it, it'll auto-transfer movies.

Thursday - Final Day of Double Checking -everything- you've done Mond/Tues/Wed

Fri-Sat - Reap the benefits of everything going fine.

It's nearing 3:45am here so I may seem... rambling. But I must continue! Here are some little tidbits of information...

Ever see a 3D movie? The only difference between a 2D movie and a 3D movie is something called a "Z-Screen" that slips in front of the projector lens, usually on a hinge. It works with your glasses to align the images to give you that 3D effect. MUCH better than Sony projectors, which use a separate lens that tends to be left on by lazy projectionists. Whatever they encode the movie as doesn't affect file size, as they're usually around the same as the normal version movies.

I was going to work for Christie, but I got backstabbed by the regional manager (who used to be a friend. USED TO BE).

The bulbs you are going to be using... You thankfully won't have to change them! Part of the package of using Christie. They explode like little glass grenades... Just as loud, too. All 500 dollars worth of bulb. Lasts 2000+ hours depending on the bulb. (Smaller ones last that long. Larger ones last upwards to 1000). When you change them, you have to wear an inch thick apron and a face mask to prevent injury! Yet to have one explode on anyone that changed them though.

You have any questions or worries, technical or otherwise, feel free to ask me in a PM or something. I'll be glad to help you out, and try to save your job/keep someone in the booth while I'm at it ;)

Which one of you do I have to kick in the space balls for creating that homing beacon puzzle in Space Quest 6 at the end of Polysorbate LX?

You evil, evil person!