burninup4nick
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Philharmagic in Digital
- Thread starter SamFromOrlando
- Start date
DisneyCane
Well-Known Member
I experienced Philharmagic yesterday for the first time after the refurb. I'm 90% sure they did not upgrade it to digital projection. It looks like they just struck a new print or cleaned the old one and focused it better. There was definitely a small amount (but noticeable) jump and weave in the image which is indicative of film. You can really see it at the very beginning when they aren't using the whole screen and there's a small frame of blank screen between the image and the decorative stuff that goes up into the ceiling.
Also, there were one or two specs of dirt noticeable which is certainly only on film and not digital. Finally, there were a couple of times where the right eye image had a strange flicker to it.
All of these and the fact that the image didn't have a digital "look" to it lead me to believe it's still film projection. I can't figure out for the life of me what they actually did during that refurb because everything looks the same.
Also, there were one or two specs of dirt noticeable which is certainly only on film and not digital. Finally, there were a couple of times where the right eye image had a strange flicker to it.
All of these and the fact that the image didn't have a digital "look" to it lead me to believe it's still film projection. I can't figure out for the life of me what they actually did during that refurb because everything looks the same.
Rob562
Well-Known Member
I believe the refurb was more for carpet and sub-carpet flooring replacement, as well as theater seats.
-Rob
It's still film.
Notice that opening segment is still rather blurred and out of focus. Then after the expansion to wide screen the film is focused correctly. This is the "Tell" that they are still using film.
When it's in digital, this out of focus effect will no longer be noticeable.
Notice that opening segment is still rather blurred and out of focus. Then after the expansion to wide screen the film is focused correctly. This is the "Tell" that they are still using film.
When it's in digital, this out of focus effect will no longer be noticeable.
DisneyCane
Well-Known Member
It'll probably be a long while before they go Digital because of the cost of doing it on such a large screen. It would require at least two of the highest brightness projectors available which run around $70,000 a piece. Spending $140,000 with no particular benefit isn't a good investment. I'm sure the film runs in an endless loop cabinet so there's not projectionist being paid to be up there running the show. There won't be any significant cost savings by making the change and it's not like slightly improving the quality will make any difference in Magic Kingdom attendance or revenue.
If the film didn't exist yet or they were going to change it then it might make economic sense because of the cost of laser recording the computer animation to a negative to make the film prints. Since they already have the negative it's not that expensive to strike new prints if they have to. It's only the length of a couple of movie trailers.
Smaller scale projection makes some sense to change to digital because if the screen isn't extremely large, the projectors are much cheaper. It would probably be very cost effective to change the pre-show of Rock n' Rollercoaster to digital if they ever have to replace the film because on such a small screen they can do it with a $15,000 - $20,000 projector.
If the film didn't exist yet or they were going to change it then it might make economic sense because of the cost of laser recording the computer animation to a negative to make the film prints. Since they already have the negative it's not that expensive to strike new prints if they have to. It's only the length of a couple of movie trailers.
Smaller scale projection makes some sense to change to digital because if the screen isn't extremely large, the projectors are much cheaper. It would probably be very cost effective to change the pre-show of Rock n' Rollercoaster to digital if they ever have to replace the film because on such a small screen they can do it with a $15,000 - $20,000 projector.
Rob562
Well-Known Member
Actually, if they were to do a straight swap-out of the current film projectors to digital ones, they would need four new projectors. Two of them project the center 3D images, and then two more project to either side, adding the 2D side projections.
-Rob
teebin
Member
Why do you think it requires two projectors? RealD which Disney has rebranded as Disney Digital 3D uses only one projector.
Read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RealD
imagineer boy
Well-Known Member
That's too bad. I wonder what something of this excellent caliber would look if it were digital.
Ooh, I can only imagine. The images would look so crisp and 3-D would be so realistic and not blurry.
silverboyd
Active Member
i think anything at WDW that is shown on a screen should be digital.
TubaGeek
God bless the "Ignore" button.
PhilharMagic is, if I'm not mistaken, the widest screen (though biggest goes to Soarin') on Disney property. It has 3-D in the center, and 2-D on either side of that. There's no way one projector could do all that.
Disneyson 1
New Member
Still, the 2 "3-D projectors" could be trashed in favor of a single Real-D Projector. Then there'd be only 3 projectors. And I didn't know that the sides were in 2-D! You learn somethin' new every day!
CJR
Well-Known Member
You make those numbers sound large. Disney pulls more than that in on a single day. $140,000 is play money for Disney. Trust me, they wasted a lot more than that... anyone been to Imagination lately... :lookaroun They spend thousands and thousands of dollars just painting their trash cans! I'm sure a projector that will enhance the experience at a popular attraction will be worth the investment.