Originally Posted By Donny I would love to see Disney parks commit to converting all attractions to digital projection. When I go to O-Canda you can still see they are using film.
Originally Posted By schnebs I agree. I've heard that digital conversion's not feasible for Soarin' because they'd have to create a digital system to replace the IMAX-like system they use there, but I can't see why they couldn't convert to digital at the Circle-Vision and Circle-Vision-Lite (Impresions de France) theatres. I especially like the idea because it means they could change out the films with little fuss - Circle-Vision film festival, anyone?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Impressions de France is digital, but it highlights one of my main problems with digital projection. Because of the way digital films are compressed, they work best when most of the picture is static from frame to frame, with only a part of it moving. But when you have those great moving shots, sweeping over the landscape and through castles, the result ends up looking like a bunch of smeared colors, with no real clear image or shape. For most of the film, it works just fine, but the formerly-dramatic shots really look crummy now, especially on the side screens For this reason, I'm glad that Soarin' still uses film. Each and every frame is as focused as the one before it. Now, if they could just find a better way to keep dust off of the film and projection lens, we'd be set!
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< Impressions de France is digital, but it highlights one of my main problems with digital projection. Because of the way digital films are compressed, they work best when most of the picture is static from frame to frame, with only a part of it moving. >>> You have some bad information there. What you state is a problem with *some* digital video systems, such as MPEG2 or MPEG4 that are used by over-the-air HDTV, cable TV, Satellite, and DVD/BluRay. But, not all. Specifically, the digital video system used for motion picture exhibition does not have any form of inter-frame compression. Storage is relatively cheap these days, especially when you need only one copy per cinema. Also, the content changes very rarely, and there's no real-time transmission requirement: unlike RF, cable, or Satellite TV, who cares if it takes a theater 10 hours or even 100 hours to receive a 90-minute movie once and store it locally for later exhibition? This is why you never see motion compression artifacts in a cinema with digital projection, even though you might occasionally see them if the same movie was shown on TV even under the best of circumstances. Presumably, WDI would use technology from digital projection cinema for in-park use.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros If that's the case, then why do digital projectors often 'smear' a moving image? I've noticed this at dozens of cinemas, and in more permanent places, like Impressions de France and DCA's MuppetVision theater. This was never a problem when they were projecting off of film, but seems to have increased in frequency since places began converting to digital. Is it just me? Should I get my eyes checked? Or is this something that affects other people too? I think this might be part of the reason why I started feeling nauseated after riding Star Tours 2, even though I never once had an issue with the original version of the attraction (or Body Wars for that matter) And if it is a symptom of digital projection, it seems like a good argument to keep the film. Since these places rarely change what they're showing, film seems like an easy candidate; just replace the film itself every few months when it gets worn out, and you're set. Much easier than constantly swapping out what people are watching
Originally Posted By a1stav I am not sure what technology that is being used at Disney but what you may be experiencing is the "rainbow" effect caused by the spinning color wheel in DLP projectors. I am not seeing through your eyes so I can't tell what you are experiencing but this is the closest that I can determine.
