Interstellar and the end of the film era

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in movies on (#2TYH)
story imageToday, nearly all movie theaters have converted their projectors to fully digital systems. Although movie theater 4K (4096 x 2160) is a little higher resolution than consumer TV 4K (3840 x 2160) - and definitely an improvement over standard HD (1920 x 1080) - nothing can match the resolution and shear awesomeness of 70mm IMAX film projection. Christopher Nolan is one of the last true film holdouts and with his new movie Interstellar, is pushing for the full "film only" versions to be shown across IMAX theaters.

Bottom line: this is one movie you probably want to see in the theater. Otherwise you won't get to see its true glory until 30 years from now when the industry starts selling 32K resolution digital TVs.

Re: IMAX killed it (Score: 1, Informative)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-11-10 18:34 (#2TZ7)

You are correct on film, I've melted film (on purpose) by stopping the projector without closing the protective damper. My projectors were 3KW output Xenon Arc bulbs, hot enough that the film gate had to be water cooled. The shutter was a spinning disk that was spun such that each frame was illuminated twice (48 Hz), I forget if that was to limit power output and melting film or if that was to help "smooth" the on screen image. For IMAX film projectors they'll use a 15 KW bulb that is watercooled.

A five second google search shows Christie makes digital projectors with KW+ Xenon bulbs, so presumably they could also throw a mechanical shutter in there and replicate film blanking periods. I'm not sure if they actually do that though.

In any case, in front of a 3KW bulb film melts pretty quick, less than a second for irreversible damage, and maybe 2 or 3 seconds until it's literally melted away.
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