My Impressions of Digital Projection

Last night, I saw Star Wars: Episode II in one of the country's 51 digital screens. For comparison, I had also seen it in a traditional theater on opening night.

My overarching conclusion is that the digital projection technology is viable because it's *definitely not of lesser quality* than film projection. This is a remarkable accomplishment in itself, given the sub-par state of high-end digital/video projection just a few years ago. With this threshold of audience acceptance in the bag, I suspect the distribution economics will now slowly take over (once distributors incentivize the exhibitors to upgrade), making digital exhibition the unambiguous wave of the future.

Now on a comparably much less important note (IMO), digital's quality does indeed seem to be better than film, but only marginally (say, 10%) when compared to a new print. (Film prints rapidly degrade upon multiple showings, with dust, scratches, splices, and chewed up sprocket holes that make the film jumpy. Digital's biggest quality gains are therefore the elimination of print degradation, a benefit not realized on any film's opening day.)

As for the higher resolution and increased color saturation in particular, I was only aware of such improvements in certain scenes (the non-busy scenes) and only when I was specifically looking for it and thinking about it, not when I was just watching the movie normally. Perceptually, any viewing benefit was quickly overshadowed by the movie experience itself, acknowledging that AOTC is not your everyday movie experience (but also acknowledging that this was my second viewing and I was able to look for technical nuances without being too distracted by eye-candy or plot revelations).

I think any continuous, movie-length appreciation of digital's benefits would require either a side-by-side digital/analog comparison or sitting close enough to the screen that film grain would have been bothersome in a non-digital theater

My impression was that it's going to make bootlegging the movies about a million times easier.

But that's just me.

RstJ piracy on the low seas.

: Last night, I saw Star Wars: Episode II in one of the country's 51 : digital screens. For comparison, I had also seen it in a traditional : theater on opening night. : : My overarching conclusion is that the digital projection technology is : viable because it's *definitely not of lesser quality* than film : projection. This is a remarkable accomplishment in itself, given the : sub-par state of high-end digital/video projection just a few years : ago. With this threshold of audience acceptance in the bag, I suspect : the distribution economics will now slowly take over (once : distributors incentivize the exhibitors to upgrade), making digital : exhibition the unambiguous wave of the future. : : Now on a comparably much less important note (IMO), digital's quality : does indeed seem to be better than film, but only marginally (say, : 10%) when compared to a new print. (Film prints rapidly degrade upon : multiple showings, with dust, scratches, splices, and chewed up : sprocket holes that make the film jumpy. Digital's biggest quality : gains are therefore the elimination of print degradation, a benefit : not realized on any film's opening day.) : : As for the higher resolution and increased color saturation in : particular, I was only aware of such improvements in certain scenes : (the non-busy scenes) and only when I was specifically looking for it : and thinking about it, not when I was just watching the movie : normally. Perceptually, any viewing benefit was quickly overshadowed : by the movie experience itself, acknowledging that AOTC is not your : everyday movie experience (but also acknowledging that this was my : second viewing and I was able to look for technical nuances without : being too distracted by eye-candy or plot revelations). : : I think any continuous, movie-length appreciation of digital's : benefits would require either a side-by-side digital/analog comparison : or sitting close enough to the screen that film grain would have been : bothersome in a non-digital theater