Next-Generation Movie Theater Opens in L.A.
Filed under: Tech Stuff, Exhibition
While most movie theater chains have been more interested in wooing audiences with material amenities like concession variety or a "Guest Response System," Landmark Theatres has been working on delivering the best picture quality to its customers. This week the art-house chain opens its latest theater in Los Angeles' Westside Pavillion, and the cinema is noteworthy because it is offering the city its first (public) taste of 4K digital projection. Landmark already has 4K projectors, specifically Sony's SXRD, in locations around the country, despite the fact that most content is only digitally available with 2K resolution.While I'm no expert on digital projection, here is what I understand about the difference between 2K and 4K resolution (aided by Jette's post about digital restoration): 2K is the current standard for both digital cameras and digital projectors. The amount of (picture) information offered by 2K is less than the amount of information offered by film and film prints. 4K offers twice as much information as 2K and it more sufficiently represents the quality of film. While 4K cameras are currently available, most digital features are shot with 2K cameras and most features shot on film are digitally scanned using 2K scanners. So why is it so important for Landmark to have overqualified projectors?
Landmark is co-owned and co-run by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban, the duo that also operates HDNet (and HDNet Films and HDNet Movies). Through HDNet, Wagner/Cuban is currently producing 4K content, which they will be able to distribute to their 4K projectors, as well as to non-theatrical 4K media (like Blu-Ray, HD DVD and HD television, presumably). Cuban also points out that they are simply preparing for when 4K content becomes more common. For now, though, Landmark patrons will only be able to appreciate 4K resolution in the form of pre-show materials provided by Sony. If Wagner and Cuban are smart (which they certainly are), they will also hit up Warner Bros. for newly restored 4K versions of Blade Runner, Cool Hand Luke and Bonnie and Clyde to screen as part of their midnight movies selection.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-31-2007 @ 6:02PM
madgamer said...
With 4K, you are able to get digital that has just about the full detail level that traditional film would have. Scanning old films (or current/new ones) at higher than the 2k you mentioned shouldn't be a problem, as film scanners could do 7k or more easily if the detail was there (in the film, much above 4k gives highly diminishing returns). I think the only reason they dont do 4k scans right now is the lack of a market. Maybe if more theaters go the way this one has, we'll be able to see more high rez digital movies in 4k goodness. Hopefully with 4k digital cameras and editing gear coming more to the masses (largely through the red one camera) there will even be movies shot digitally, produced, and show in 4k.
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5-31-2007 @ 6:16PM
mish said...
Good news for us in the LA area. What I have seen few discussions about is all of these films that have been "preserved" in 2K scans over the past five years or so. There is an open acknowledgment that this process is inferior to the 35mm original film stock - so what happens to all of these hundreds films over the next decade? Another restoration process? It's an inherent issue with technology and the difficulties of "future proofing" digital formats, but I havent seen many write-ups on this issue.
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5-31-2007 @ 6:50PM
teknokracy said...
4K is NOT Blu-Ray or HD. 2k is.
The reason why they are using 4k is because more high-budget digital intermediates are done in 4k - but only very few. Most DI houses are only equipped with 2k telecines which are full HD and still very expensive in their own right. Additionally, you can't get any more physical resolution out of 16mm than 2k allows for, and you would be surprised what kind of features are shot on 16mm. I have even heard from folks that 4k surpasses film in terms of physical resolution i.e. the grain on a frame of 35mm film is not as high resolution as 4k digital... It's quite possible because after all, film is just little particles, and if you can't fit lots of particles in a 35mm frame, then you can't get any more resolution than that.
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5-31-2007 @ 7:26PM
mish said...
"4K is NOT Blu-Ray or HD. 2k is."
Actually, that's not completely correct either. Blu-ray/HD-DVD plays at 1080p, which is 1920 x 1080, which is considered "True HD" nowadays. 2K, which is unavailable in any consumer format is 2048 x 1536 (4K is 4096 × 1714 - these are both approximate). I just recently shot some footage in 2K resolution and it is a definite step up from the 1080 format.
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6-01-2007 @ 12:00AM
DumbSwede said...
Even with 2K material an upconvert to 4K will boost apparent resolution getting rid of screen door, jaggies, and other pixel artifacts -- just as good upconverters make regular DVDs look better on HDTV.
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6-05-2007 @ 1:19AM
Clerksguy37 said...
the cinema is noteworthy because it is offering the city its first (public) taste of 4K digital projection.
This is not true
Last year I went to see DaVinci Code at the AMC Century City 15 on opening Day, and a Gentleman from Sony announced to us before the show that not only were we one of (if not the first) first public audiences to see a film projected on their SXRD system . . . but it was the first time in the country that a movie was projected in 4K on opening day in the US.
There was even an article in the news section of imdb.com about the use of that system.
I don't think it is still there but we also saw Click in that house and it looked like the same squat projector.
So no, despite whatever your source told you, the Landmark theatre is not the first in LA to project in 4k
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