True movie fans, those who enjoy going to a theater to watch the latest Hollywood releases, will undoubtedly notice the on-screen quality of the image they will see when visiting the B&B Theatres’ Main Street Cinema 8, which will feature digital projectors in each of its theaters. Few, however, will realize what a lengthy process it has been to develop digital technology for cinemas.
“It’s something the industry has been working on for the better part of 10 years,” said Dennis McIntire, B&B Theatres’ director of strategic planning. “We’re just now to the point where we’re starting to see a pretty significant ramp up in the process.”
B&B’s service company is Sonic Equipment Company.
“Sonic has spent the last year doing research and becoming one of the service leaders in digital cinema,” said McIntire. “They have spent a lot of time and a lot of money on research and development.”
Because of the expense that is involved in building or retrofitting theaters with digital equipment, some cinemas are receiving financial assistance, according to McIntire.
“The equipment is very expensive and up until this point the money saved by installing it has been on the studio side. There is going to be studio participation in helping pay for some of the equipment,” he said.
Making each of the Main Street Cinema 8’s theaters digital has added $640,000 to the cost of the project. That total does not include other theater hardware such as the sound system.
For the average movie-goer, what will watching a movie in digital mean?
“In theory you would see a movie that would be the same quality on Day 1 and Day 100. You’re no longer worrying about scratches, or dirt, or any type of malfunctions to the film. From that technical standpoint it’s very exciting,” said McIntire.
Because digital projection systems are being installed in each of the Hannibal cinema’s eight theaters, the facility will have an assortment of potential uses.
“It changes to an extent the use of that building. Before it was a movie theater that played 35 mm film. If you wanted to do anything else in that auditorium you had to bring in additional equipment,” said McIntire. “A digital projector will play any electronic format we want it to. We could have Xbox tournaments in the auditoriums played on 40-foot screens. You could go to the movie theater and watch a concert live. We can do video conferencing or we can do a regular meeting with a PowerPoint presentation. A laptop can be plugged in at the front of the theater and that laptop image can be beamed onto the screen with movie theater quality.”
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True movie fans, those who enjoy going to a theater to watch the latest Hollywood releases, will undoubtedly notice the on-screen quality of the image they will see when visiting the B&B Theatres’ Main Street Cinema 8, which will feature digital projectors in each of its theaters. Few, however, will realize what a lengthy process it has been to develop digital technology for cinemas.
“It’s something the industry has been working on for the better part of 10 years,” said Dennis McIntire, B&B Theatres’ director of strategic planning. “We’re just now to the point where we’re starting to see a pretty significant ramp up in the process.”
B&B’s service company is Sonic Equipment Company.
“Sonic has spent the last year doing research and becoming one of the service leaders in digital cinema,” said McIntire. “They have spent a lot of time and a lot of money on research and development.”
Because of the expense that is involved in building or retrofitting theaters with digital equipment, some cinemas are receiving financial assistance, according to McIntire.
“The equipment is very expensive and up until this point the money saved by installing it has been on the studio side. There is going to be studio participation in helping pay for some of the equipment,” he said.
Making each of the Main Street Cinema 8’s theaters digital has added $640,000 to the cost of the project. That total does not include other theater hardware such as the sound system.
For the average movie-goer, what will watching a movie in digital mean?
“In theory you would see a movie that would be the same quality on Day 1 and Day 100. You’re no longer worrying about scratches, or dirt, or any type of malfunctions to the film. From that technical standpoint it’s very exciting,” said McIntire.
Because digital projection systems are being installed in each of the Hannibal cinema’s eight theaters, the facility will have an assortment of potential uses.
“It changes to an extent the use of that building. Before it was a movie theater that played 35 mm film. If you wanted to do anything else in that auditorium you had to bring in additional equipment,” said McIntire. “A digital projector will play any electronic format we want it to. We could have Xbox tournaments in the auditoriums played on 40-foot screens. You could go to the movie theater and watch a concert live. We can do video conferencing or we can do a regular meeting with a PowerPoint presentation. A laptop can be plugged in at the front of the theater and that laptop image can be beamed onto the screen with movie theater quality.”
