[Norde]

The following theaters will be showing this future reference DVD digitally projected. It's worth a trip.



"Monsters, Inc." will release digitally at the following 17 locations:


Boston, MA General Cinema Framingham 16


Burbank, CA AMC Media Center North 6


Chicago, IL AMC South Barrington 30


Denver, CO United Artists Pavilions Stadium 15


Hollywood, CA El Capitan Theatre


Irvine, CA Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21


Kansas City, KS AMC Studio 30 (Olathe)


Lake Buena Vista, FL AMC Pleasure Island 24


New York, NY Clearview's Ziegfeld Theatre


New York, NY Loews E-Walk


Plano, TX Cinemark at Legacy


San Diego, CA AMC Mission Valley 20


San Francisco, CA AMC 1000 Van Ness


Valley View, OH Cinemark at Valley View


Richmond, British Columbia Famous Players Silver City 18


Toronto, Ontario Famous Players Paramount


Waterloo, Ontario Galaxy Theatres @ Conestoga Mall

 

[Paul_Seng]

Just wanted to add that it is worth the trip. Saw "Emperor's New Groove" at Lake Buena Vista, FL AMC Pleasure Island 24 and the PQ and blacks were amazing. However, I believe that the movies are not on reference DVD's but a hard drive server. You can get all info on the type of media these theater's are using for digital projection at www.dlp.com ( a TI site)

 

[Stanton]

I don't think he meant they were being shown *from* "a reference DVD" (these theaters all run off of local RAID servers), but that the movie is sure to be "a reference DVD" in the future (and probably will be promoted at least as much as the Shrek DVD).

 

[janovetz]

Does anyone know what the native resolution of these digital movies is? That is, at what resolution are the images rendered? Are the DLP theater showings projected at this resolution or the DVD resolution? (I would assume they are rendered at a higher resolution, but don't know)


Cheers,

Jake

 

[Norde]

I did mean that this would be a DVD to be released in the future. Sorry for any confusion.


Here are some technical facts for "Toy Story 2"

http://www.dlp.com/dlp/cinema/spec_q5.asp

 

[Rgb]

re: "Does anyone know what the native resolution of these digital movies is? That is, at what resolution are the images rendered? Are the DLP theater showings projected at this resolution or the DVD resolution?"


The DMD chips in the DLP rig at Valley View Ohio are 1280x1024 pixels (micro-mirrors) each (R-G-B DMD's).

 

[Norde]

The original "Toy Story" had a surprisingly low resolution if this is to be believed.


"PIXEL (ABBREVIATION FOR PICTURE ELEMENT):All images for "Toy Story" are created and stored digitally. They are stored as a rectangular array of "pixels" (or picture elements), with each

containing the color of the image at that point. Each finished

frame of film requires 5MB (megabytes) of storage. On the

average movie screen, a pixel is a square roughly 1/4 inch per

side.


RESOLUTION:The resolution of a digital image refers to the number of pixels stored. For "Toy Story," the resolution is typically 1536 x 922 pixels. "


I believe that Pixar increased this resolution for its later movies.

 

[Dean McManis]

I saw Toy Story 2 in a DLP on a 40' wide screen and it looked fantastic! Much better than most theatrical film presentations locally, despite having a "lower" resolution media.


I went to a regular film theater to see Toy Story 2 later on and the film presentation was relatively horrible, with scratches, hair, debris, a MUCH dimmer picture with muddy colors, and the traditional shaky judder of some film projectors.


This isn't a comment on how DLP movie presentation compares to pristine film presentation, but to it's about what I saw with my own eyes at two theaters playing the same movie about a month after the initial release.


It was seeing Toy Story 2 that helped convince me to move to a digital FPTV for my HT.


The DLP FPTV has a native 1280 X 1024 resolution and uses an ISCO anamorphic lens to expand the picture width to full widescreen.


They use a 4:1 propretary compression method to convert the digital HD source to the projector's native resolution.


I've seen 3 movies at the San Francisco Van Ness AMC 1000 DLP thears, and they have always looked great. The last movie that I saw there was the remastered Akira.


I will be trying to see Monsters Inc. there soon, and I expect it to look stunning as well.


-Dean.

 

[Huckster]

Dean - The best part, to me, is if I miss it on opening night, it will look just as good two weeks later.

 

[Brian]

I'm sure I will be catching this at Burbank Media Center North 6. This will be the fourth DLP movie I've watched there.


The big question is: Will the Star Wars Ep. 2 trailer run in front? Usually they don't have trailers for the digital screenings, but I hope they make an exception this time, especially since the movie was shot digitally.


-Brian C.

 

[uncledeathmonkey]

Ok - so when are all the San Francisco members gonna meet at the AMC 1000 Van Ness to bask in the dlp glow??

(it's right around the corner from me)


I can't believe I missed the remastered Akira there - *sniff*...


(dibs on the eighth row!!)

 

[Huckster]

Quote:

(dibs on the eighth row!!)

Not to embarass you, but, how big ARE you?

 

[uncledeathmonkey]

*lol* - actually I meant we could all share the eighth row... silly nut!


Ok (more carefully worded): dibs on the center chair of the eighth row... I mean... I'll be the tall handsome guy in the center chair of the eighth row. *chuckle*

Fun movie - Monsters should do very well! Ended up in the 7th row (we were late) - digital projection was sweet...
And there are no outtakes in the credits - so unless you know one of the 4000 animators...

enjoy!

 

[dyip]

I just saw it at AMC 1000's DLP theater. This is the first time I've seen a DLP projector on a big screen. It took a little getting used to. The colors look different from film, especially during the live action preview. The reds really seemmed to stand out. And of course, there was no film grain. There were also little artifacts around the edges of text. All in all though, it looked great. Once the animation started, I didn't notice the lack of grain or the colors. I wish my projector at home looked as good.


They also had a trailer for Star Wars Episode II.


David

 

[Angeli662]

Quote:

Originally posted by janovetz Does anyone know what the native resolution of these digital movies is? That is, at what resolution are the images rendered? Are the DLP theater showings projected at this resolution or the DVD resolution? (I would assume they are rendered at a higher resolution, but don't know) Cheers, Jake

It has to be at least QXGA.

 

[Warren460]

How do you find out which of the 1,000 famous players in Toronto is presenting in dlp?

 

[Dean McManis]

David,


Yeah it does take a little getting used to seeing a digital projection up on the big screen.

What first caught my eye was how stable the image is. Like a high resolution screen saver. Detailed, and bright, with vivid colors.


You get so accustomed to the natural slight shaking of film jitter that it first seems odd that the image is solid as a rock, with uniform brightness from the DLP FPTV.


Angelli662,


Nope. DLP is currently limited to 1280 X 1024 resolution, but I still couldn't see any jaggies any farther than 10' away, and even then only with the credits.


The QXGA FPTVs are D-ILA technology, not DLP, but they should be starting to show up in real theaters soon because they were designed for E-Cinema theater use.


-Dean.

 

[KFung]

The downtown Paramount in Toronto is the one with the digital projector.


Regards,


Kam Fung

 

[Huckster]

Warren460 - Try this link for the "Where?" question.

 

[ciamac]

It's worth it to call ahead to confirm a particular showing is DLP. At least at the GC Framingham theater near Boston they are showing Monsters on 3 screens, only one of which is DLP. Getting a phone number to speak to a human at a movie theater these days is tough, though. For anyone near Boston, to save you the effort, the number is 508-875-6151.