DLP/Digital Projection?
 

I'm thinking of seeing Superman Returns tomorrow night after work if I can make it. And it's being projected in DLP only on the theaters super large screen.

Has anyone ever attended a theater showing a film in DLP? How is the quality? Good,bad? Is the audio quality decent as well?

I don't want to waste my money on an overpriced ticket if there is the slightest problem with this format. That includes color reproduction(i've heard conflicting reports of blacks being turned brown and grey and so forth) and audio quality.

I've only seen the last two Star Wars films in DLP, and since they were shot on HD, they looked great!

you need to see it in DLP screen.... the colors are awesome

I'm hoping to catch Superman Returns in a DLP theater for the 2nd viewing.

Episode III did indeed look great on DLP.

Recently I saw Cars in both film and DLP. The DLP won hands down. I noticed the sound, especially the surrounds, were a lot better... but that might've been the venue.

Episode 3 and The Incredibles did look great on DLP, but they were pure digital films in the first place. Was Superman shot in hd or on film? I wonder how film transfered to digital for DLP looks.

terminator 3 wasnt shot in digital and it looked much better then the regular... (mind you i saw both :( )

Go see Superman in DLP, I thought the film print was kind of soft, but I'm assuming the DLP version will be much more "crisp" since the film was shot HD.

MATT

Digital.

hmmm, now you guys got me wanting to see it on the dlp screen near me. That ruins my arrangements for a 200 Superman and a 510 X3 :hairpull:

Edit: I guess I'll go with the usual arrangments since I can't see Superman and X3 back to back if I go to the theater with a dlp screen. If I like Superman enough, I'll see how it looks on the dlp next week.

i can bet you if you saw it in dlp first... you will want to see it in dlp again


i have a nice stadium seating theater by my house...2 minutes away... but instead i am going 20 minutes away to see Superman in DLP... thats how good DLP is

so I'm assuming since the film was shot in HiDef in the first place, the conversion to IMAX resolution should even look more spectacular.

the DLP is saw of Episode III didn't impress me - I thought the 35mm print I saw, after I had seen the DLP version looked more colourful. It might have been since the venue (Natinal Amusement's Lee Highway Multiplex) is a crappy auditorium - the surround sound was very lacking.

What a ghetto theater. I remember seeing Episode II in digital at this theater, it looked okay but it doesn't make up for the uncomfortable seats, sticky floors and beat up screen.

I'll be going to the IMAX presentation out at Dulles when i get home in a few weeks. Can't wait, i'm willing to spend $10 on parking and another $12 for a ticket to see this in 3-D

sorry to burst your bubble but the Uvard-Hazy IMAX presentation is not in 3D - the Air and Space did not equip this theatre to playback 3D - there are tentative plans to book Superman Returns at the downtown Air & Space later in the summer, that is able to playback IMAX 3D - I'm waiting to see the movie there as well as out at Dulles. If and when you do go to the Dulles location go to the 6pm and 8:45 showings the parking are far as I understand is free after 4pm.

The DLP showings for Superman Returns in the DC metropolitan area are at AMC Georgetown, Muvico, and at National Amusement's Lee Highway Merrifield location.


as far as the Lee Highway theaters - they quite frankly suck, the seats are not only uncomfortable, but are very squeaky and audible... as to why National Amusement's didn't equip one of their auditoriums at the much more luxiourous Cinema De Lux is beyond me... oh well.

my fingers are crossed that the second DLP equipped screen at Muvico is going to show Pirates of the Carribean 2 in DLP.

Superman was shot in HD? Hmmm...I did not know that. I don't think there's a DLP equipped theater near me.

Has anyone seen the film version and the DLP version? The film version was way too soft, but I presumed that was an intentional choice to make the CGI look more seamless. Is the DLP that much sharper? If so, that would eliminate one of my major gripes with the film.

I just got back from seeing the dlp version. When supes goes over the clouds, The picture was almost as if you were looking at the sun itself with all the colors,hues, etc..

Luckily in my area we get most of the new releases in DLP versions now. I always seek out those screenings because they blow away the 35mm versions in my experience. The most recent ones I've seen in DLP are POSEIDON and MISSION IMPOSSSIBLE III. I'm especially interested to see MONSTER HOUSE in the Polarized 3-D DLP version next month as CHICKEN LITTLE was pretty cool in the 3-D DLP version; it made the movie.

SUPERMAN is playing in DLP here too, but I'm going to the IMAX/3-D version this weekend first.

DLP is awesome, worth it, our digital theater has a intro which kicks ass look amazing. The sound system seems to be better too

I've only seen one movie in DLP, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but it looked awful- it was like watching a movie through a screen door.

Well, I saw the 35mm and the Imax print, and for the most part the IMAX version was much more colourful and sharper, which was a complaint I had with the film version, so I'd imagine the DLP version is similar to IMAX.

MATT

I'll have to catch the IMAX, then. Hopefully the DVD/HD-DVD/BD will look sharper than the film print I saw.

I didn't see POSEIDON in DLP but seeing this in 35mm in it's first weekend of release, the print that AMC (Tyson's Corner) projected was hideous to say the least - it was exceedingly grainy. I would assume the DLP presentation was not.

It really depends where you live and what kind of dlp projector they have. I had the same screen door effect for episode 2, but for episode 3 the theater near me had that new 3k or 4k Kodak(at least I think that's what it was) projector that showed that film is dead and dlp is the future.

By the way, I saw Superman Returns today in a theater that used to be an IMax screen but was converted to what the theater owners call "Super Screen"(nothing to do with Superman :) ) It's bullshit calling it a "Super Screen' though, it's more like what screens used to be before the 20 theater multi plexes took over everywhere. It was film, but it looked good to me, though kind of soft like many have already said.

Well I had to skip the film tonight since I didn't get out of work until 20 minutes before the film started. Which would give me no time to get home,change and head to the theater.

So I may see it tomorrow and figure out which showing is on the large screen,since it's playing on numerous screens of course.

someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the only 4K system is from Sony that is pretty much featured only at LA's Arclight theatre.

Maybe I was wrong, I just know the Kodak projector at the time was one of the best movie theater dlp projector's out when Episode 3 was released.

That's nothin'. Drove from OKC to Dallas (about three hours, one way) to see the last two Star Wars flicks in digital.

(And it was worth it, too. But I sure wish we had a DLP theater here.)

I experianced DLP tonight.

Here is the run down....

3 minutes after 7pm start time,we get into the theater. The curtains are halfway clothed,projector is off and no audio is playing from the speakers either(they usually play still ads onscreen with commercials on the speaker system).

We wait and wait and then finally the curtains pull back and the logo for the DLP system they use flashes onscreen and it goes into a lengthy DLP commercial using Miami Vice as an example......but their is no audio!

Then we sit through three trailers with no audio,before finally someone heads out of the theater,and I decided to go complain as well,and a few others follow behind myself.

Finally the manager comes out pretty obvlious to the problem in the theater despite the first guy already telling someone at the concession stand. We complain and he says he'll get right on it.

Back in the theater some more silent trailers are playing,and occasionally they pause as they fiddle about in the projection booth.

Finally midtrailer for Flushed Away,the audio comes on!

Then the film begins.......and it looks and sounds great.

Though there are a few instances where the digital video becomes most evident. Durring scenes of fast motion like a crowd of people clapping for example(similar issue in Collateral with fast hand movement). And a couple camera pans had a jerkiness/blockinness too it which is a giveaway it's not shot on film.



After the film my brother ran into a friend of his about to see Waist Deep. And he decided to sneak into that and catch a ride home with him,so I left and went home. And he just came home and told me they had the same problem in that theater as well. Only this time the commercials were playing,then everything turned off and the lights came on.


At least we didn't get commercials this time before Superman.

When I saw Attack of the Clones in DLP, there were some digital artifacts in the climactic battle sequences. In Revenge of the Sith, the only way I could at all tell it was in digital was when Vader's helmet was being put on, the edge of the nose looked jagged.

And to whomever said film is dead. I don't see film being replaced anytime soon:)

There are still some bugs that need to be worked out with digital video. And I doubt it will ever resemble film no matter how hard they try to acheive that effect. But at least they are getting better at having a 'fake film look' that makes the movies tolerable to view.Compared to the headache inducing days of dv movies looking like cheap amature fake home movies failing to take you into that cinematic world of amazement,beauty and interest. Though I'm sure there are still those who love the 'video look' and will make films like that today and give me a major headache.

Did you happen to see it at the Carmike Wynnsong 15 in Moundsview? They just got the new Christie projectors there, and I caught it in the THX certified auditorium with the Giant-Screen. The blacks were a little fuzzy, and pieces of the "Miami Vice" promo were a grainy, but other than that...incredible.

Yes I did Cinema. I was alittle concerned with all the grey night time skies and clouds. But then I did notice some deep black shadows throughout the film as well. So it may have been a directorial color choice(I hope). There was one moment where the screen was 'fuzzy' looking but it was less than a minute that way. But it did stick out since the scene started out clean in the same shot then suddenly become 'fuzzy' with electronic 'grain'.

I wonder if Vice will have alot of fake grain added to give it a 'gritty' look? if so then that's intentional and I don't mind. Collateral also had a fairly 'gritty' look where the image was not perfectly clean and shiny(which would have ruined the films atmosphere). They either added fake grain to the image in post or turned the contrast or something up in production to make 'video noise' more apparant thus giving a sense of 'grain'.

even the trailers look much better with DLP... the sound is more intense and uncompressed....

There's a Hi-Res trailer/intro for theatres equipped with the Christie DLP projectors that literally jump off of the screen. I saw "Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" this afternoon at the same theatre as yesterday, and the Downtown Tokyo scenes were just insane. Movie was fun, nothing special as I suspected, but that picture is to die for.

To be perfectly honest, "F&F" looked and sounded better in DLP w/ DTS than "Superman Returns" in DLP in the THX theatre.

I find it interesting that studio support is there with the current release of DLP presentations of:

The Devil Wears Prada
Superman Returns
Click
Garfled: The Tale of Two Kitties
The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drifting
The Lake House
Cars
The Omen
The Break-Up
The DaVinci Code
X-Men III
Over the Hedge

yet with the number of theatres actually outfitted to playback DLP is surprisingly lacking and very limited.

I saw Superman Returns in DLP. It was amazing!

funny story (sort of)

I saw 'The Island' last year at Rio Gaithersburg and for reason's unknown, the projectionist and theatre folk, could not project the film properly at 2.35. They tried and tried and much to disgust of a number of paying people, a large number of whom just wanted and got their money back and left - I didn't, I stayed. To say the least, it was like watching a anamorphic 2.35 movie projected at 4:3 - to state it was distorted is an understatement. Needless to say, after that fiasco, the theatre hasn't shown a DLP presentation since.... sad really.

Here's an interesting article in Digital Cinematography:

National CineMedia Hires JPMorgan Chase to Raise $$ for D-Cinema Rollout


National CineMedia -- a joint venture of AMC Entertainment, Cinemark USA and Regal Entertainment Group -- recently hired JPMorgan Chase to raise money from hedge funds, private equity firms and banks to finance the costs of digital conversion on 13,000 screens nationwide, according to The San Jose Mercury News.

The funding effort is intended to address what historically has been the biggest hurdle in digital cinema's growth: figuring out how to pay for the state-of-the-art projection systems.

AMC, Cinemark and Regal are three of the nation's biggest movie theater chains aim to raise up to $1 billion to convert about one-third of all U.S. theater screens from film projectors.

given the high cost of these systems, I really hope this advances the number of screens upgraded to playback films in DLP.

(article snipped)

About time!! There are AMC and Regal complexes in Sacramento, CA and it would be great is many of the screens in my area switch to digital projection. :up:

my little wish list/request:

AMC - Mazza Galleria - Screen 1 and 2 (DLP)
AMC - Uptown (DLP Sony 4K unit)
AMC- Tyson's Corner (the huge Screen 3 in glorious DLP)

Regal Gallery Place - REAL-D (DLP-3D system)

How do you know if a theatre has DLP? Will there be a sign at the front or something?