Philharmagic in Digital

D

DisneyCane

Well-Known Member
It would not be cheap (or easy) to change 'Soarin over to digital projection. Currently, there are two resolutions of professional grade digital projectors 2k (1080x2048 imager) and 4k (2160x4096 imager). The 2k projectors made by several manufacturers all use 3 DLP chips. The 4k projectors are only made by Sony and use Sony's SXRD (Liquid Christal on Silicon) technology. Sony's projectors do not display as good a color space as the DLP based projectors.

IMAX film has a resolution of about 12K. Since you are so close to the screen in 'Soarin you are going to need a resolution probably of at least 8K for the picture to look real and not see pixels (put your face a foot or two from your TV or computer monitor to get the effect).

The Simpson's ride uses 4 of the Sony 4K projectors overlaid on top of each other to get enough brightness for a screen that big. The overlay technology is provided by IMAX so that all 4 projectors are perfectly aligned.

4K looks OK on the Simpson's since it is computer animated and is "Simpson Quality Animation" vs. something like a Pixar movie as far as detail goes.

You could develop a system for 'Soarin where you use a perfectly aligned array of projectors (each projecting a part of the image) to create an 8K image. To double the resolution you need 4 times the number of projectors since you have to increase the resolution in both directions. You could either use 4 of the Sony 4k projectors (giving up some color performance) or 16 2K projectors. The Sony's cost about $100,000 each. 2K projectors (since there's so many smaller projectors can be used because light output won't be an issue) are around $35,000 each. The lower quality method with Sony's would be cheaper. Also, having to be constantly changing 32 projector bulbs for both theaters (at a few hundred dollars a piece) would make maintenance very expensive.

So.....to give up some quality and make an 8K resolution picture using Sony projectors would be around $800,000 for both theaters. Plus there will be cost for the servers needed to store the film and drive the projectors. Plus the cost of digitizing the film at 8K resolution.

Or.....they can make some more 70mm IMAX prints of the film for a few thousand dollars each and then figure out a way to keep the projector and projection room cleaner so there aren't dust specks all over the picture.

Now....assuming they did go digital for Philharmagic, it makes a lot more sense. First of all they can use 2K resolution because most seats aren't that close to the screen and I'm sure the animation was done at 2K resolution at best. Even if they need to use two projectors for the 3D portion of the screen (single projector alternating eye 3D like Real-D does not give a very bright image especially on a large screen) and two for the non-3D screens on the sides, they will only spend around $200,000 on projectors (about $50,000 a piece for the larger screen projectors with better light output). For 2K there are off the shelf server systems. They won't have the expense of digitizing the film since it is computer animated. It'll still be a several year payoff of film projector maintenance savings and film print savings but it'll pay for itself much faster than spending $1 Million to "upgrade" 'Soarin.
 
Chape19714

Chape19714

Well-Known Member
Mr.EPCOT said:
Could this have anything to do with the development of PhilharMagic for Tokyo Disneyland?
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Possibly. I would say it's safe to assume TDL will get Digital for thier opening day.

And I don't know if Hong Kong got it standard or if it will be updated, but then again our Muppet reel isn't digital yet, and DCA does, so who knows??

A funny thought just crossed my mind: Could the lenghy refurb of UoE be due to a digital conversion. After all, the recovery time of that attraction from "technical difficulties" is quite long, as the films need to be matched up. :shrug: Digital would eliminate that.
 
hokielutz

hokielutz

Well-Known Member
steener618 said:
So when will Star Tours go digital so the film doesnt look like its still from the 80's?
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Well if LF and Disney are developing new ride films... then there is no need to redo the current film versions.
Besides... the films in the flight sims are not running off of reel-to-reel projectors.
Wouldn't the current ride simulator displays be based on current/early 90's projection television technology, and the video feed is streamed in from an off-ride video tape/laserdisc?
 
hokielutz

hokielutz

Well-Known Member
MissM said:
Just got home tonight and saw Philharmagic earlier this evening. The CM on duty told me they just opened up yesterday from the refurb. Here's my observations:


  • New carpet in the theater. It's plush and has a 3D texture to it.
  • Picture looked GREAT. I wondered if it was digital or not but either way, it's at least a new print of the film. VERY nice, clean, bright image.
  • The CM said the walls had been painted in the queue. I didn't really get to see them because our party included two wheelchairs so we were in the far end section.
  • The sound (even in the back row) was very dynamic and seemed louder.
All-in-all, it looked and sounded great. I was in the furthest back corner seat so I can't say much about the seats themselves. (I didn't really pass any getting to that back row corner.) The movie looks fantastic though.
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Thank you for the update.
I was at the MK the night before Philharmagic closed and saw one of the final runs that night. I've always thought the projection images were never really crisp, and thought it was just the drawback of the 3-D film technology.

If it did improve the image quality like you say, then we are in for a real treat during our next visit this year. Can't wait!!

Also, I did notice that some of the chandelier lights were out that last evening. It would be sad if those were NEVER replaced over a 3+ week refurb period.
 
T

T-1MILLION

New Member
Chape19714 said:
A funny thought just crossed my mind: Could the lenghy refurb of UoE be due to a digital conversion. After all, the recovery time of that attraction from "technical difficulties" is quite long, as the films need to be matched up. :shrug: Digital would eliminate that.
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You and I my friend are thinkinig on the same page there.

It would be nice wouldn't it?
 
teebin

teebin

Member
hardcard said:
I'll check it out soon and see if it's digital, not difficult to tell even from the projections themselves..
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Correct... tilt your head sideways and if it still looks 3D then it is Real D technology. Real D is what Disney has rebranded as Disney Digital 3D. Circular polarization makes this possible.

Also, although as someone earlier stated, RealD cannot technically produce the lumens (brightness of the projectors), they solve this problem by creating a new "silver" screen surface (literally a surface that reflects the image back to you) that bumps up the brightness of the image.

I have been hoping that Uni would upgrade Spidey with this. But if they do, the ride will probably kill people which I would not wish for. Perhaps the new HP mega attraction will be (be RealD, not kill people)!
 
marni1971

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Could the lenghy refurb of UoE be due to a digital conversion. After all, the recovery time of that attraction from "technical difficulties" is quite long, as the films need to be matched up.
Click to expand...
UoEs long recovery from a true 101 is more due to all 12 travelling theatres needing to be manually repositioned, one at a time :wave:

-assuming they arn`t running a 5 pack :D
 
jt04

jt04

Well-Known Member
wolf359 said:
Yes, I think that has a lot to do with how clean/dirty the film appears. Most IMAX theaters show a film, four, maybe five times a day, and they only have a particular film for a couple months, tops. On the flip side, most of the films at WDW are being shown upwards of 25 times a day, seven days a week, for years on end.

Now, in the long run it would be a lot more cost effective for Disney to replace all of their films with digital prints to avoid the cost associated with having to replace the film copies every so often and having backup copies, etc., much in the same way it has greatly improved the consistancy and clarity of attraction audio in all of the rides where they've made the switch to digital audio.

But a widespread, wholesale changeover to digital projectors property-wide is a pretty big investment, even for Disney. And the digital IMAX technology is only around a year old, so it's not like they've simply been ignoring a technology with a proven track record there.

But it does seem like they've already been looking into the upgrade, and are making it happen nonetheless. And (surprisingly) without making a particularly big deal about it. If PhilharMagic got it quietly, and the Hall of Presidents is due to get it during the current rehab, I'm sure we'll be seeing more theaters upgraded as time and budget allows.

PhilharMagic was an obvious choice because it's probably the only film currently shown on property that exists with a digital master, so they were able to skip the step of creating a digital transfer of the original "film." All of the other films shown that come from a cellulloid master print are going to have to be digitally remastered, and I'll bet some of them might even need a bit of restoration and cleanup as well.
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Thanks! What a great contribution! Very interesting stuff.
 
Rob562

Rob562

Well-Known Member
hokielutz said:
Then at least they steam cleaned it...
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One of the filings with the county said that they were doing work to the flooring structure within Philharmagic (though it wasn't clear whether it was pre-show, theater, or both). So most likely the carpet was replaced during that work.

teebin said:
You mean, people have to push them? Not being sarcastic, manually can mean many things.
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When Energy goes 101, the vehicles need to be put back into their "home" positions on the two turntables so that the ride computer knows where they are.

In order to do that, a maintenance CM pops open a panel at the back of the car and "drives" it to the next parking position. (I know I've seen a pic of this panel in operation somewhere online... I'll have to look for it) I believe this driving is done without any aid from the guidewire embedded in the floor. There have been stories of maintenance crunching the rockwork in the diorama because they went off-course while driving them in manual mode.

Of course, I don't think anything could top the Maintenance screw-up during a 101 reset that killed two vehicles and the door between Theater I and the diorama (Door A or D, I forget where they start their lettering)

EDIT: It's Door A, and I found the page with the photo of the control panel. It also has all the info about repositioning from an E-stop. (Apparently the theater cars *can* follow the wire during their reset, but they have to manually find the wire if the car went off-course causing the E-stop)
http://www.energy.planet7.org/companion/pavilion/tech_repo.htm

-Rob
 
D

DisneyCane

Well-Known Member
teebin said:
Correct... tilt your head sideways and if it still looks 3D then it is Real D technology. Real D is what Disney has rebranded as Disney Digital 3D. Circular polarization makes this possible.

Also, although as someone earlier stated, RealD cannot technically produce the lumens (brightness of the projectors), they solve this problem by creating a new "silver" screen surface (literally a surface that reflects the image back to you) that bumps up the brightness of the image.

I have been hoping that Uni would upgrade Spidey with this. But if they do, the ride will probably kill people which I would not wish for. Perhaps the new HP mega attraction will be (be RealD, not kill people)!
Click to expand...

The 3D effect remaining when you tilt your head is an indication that they are using circular polarization but this does not necessarily mean that it is digital (or using single projector Real-D technology). Circular polarization can be applied to film based 3D, dual projector digital 3D or single projector digital 3D. Real-D didn't invent circular polarization, they just use it in their alternating frame 3D system. Dual projector digital 3D is better than Real-D single projector because besides the improved brightness, Real-D has reduced color gamut because it is running at 144 frames per second and the projectors can't take that much data as an input as 4:4:4 video so it is input as 4:2:2 video.

You can tell if it's digital by looking at the beam from the projector. There will be no "flicker" in the beam at all since digital projectors don't have a shutter. The other way to tell is the image has a little more of the look of watching a giant computer monitor especially on bright scenes like the Lion King One.

As for brightness, the screen in Philharmagic is already a silver screen. Any polarization based 3D requires a silver screen. It helps a little with brightness but the polarizing filters really eat the light (as do the glasses). Watching polarized 3D you get maybe 25% of the light through the glasses (practically it's less than that) as you would from the same projector showing regular 2D. Real-D is great for what is is designed for which is to allow movie theaters to show 3D without the expense of a 2nd very expensive projector. However, it doesn't put out enough light to be acceptable (let alone high quality) on screens much wider than 40 feet. Notice which screens at AMC Pleasure Island are Real-D equipped (it's not the big auditoriums).

As for Star Tours, the current technology is that there is film threaded back and forth and back and forth over the top of the simulator and it is projected by a film projector. I know there would be some cost but it shouldn't be that expensive to change Star Tours over to digital projection. The screens are pretty small so they don't need much light. The less light you need from a digital projector the cheaper they are. I would think they could change Star Tours over for around $20,000 per simulator.
 

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