DVD kills 35mm?

Post by **MovieStuff** » Sat May 10, 2003 5:35 pm

Lucas Lightfeat wrote:Hey guys - lay off the Independant Cinemas will ya?

Who said anything about independant cinema? I wouldn't want to watch any film, independent or not, in the conditions I described. Would you?

Roger

Post by **David M. Leugers** » Sat May 10, 2003 9:24 pm

Two of my favorite cinemas are independant "art houses" and they put on a terrific showing. Another one nearby showed for several years the only Cinerama film projection in the world. Seeing "How the West Was Won" in true 3 projector Cinerama with separate mag stereo sound track was totally awesome. Just because a theatre is small potatoes doesn't mean they can't put on a professional show. But the description of Roger's experience mirrors how many of the single screen cinemas were around here 10-15 years ago before they went out of business.

P.S. The Cinerama equipment was purchase by the Cinerama theatre in Seattle, WA. Do not know if they have it up and running yet. The owner was made a deal he couldn't refuse, but it bummed me out...

David M. Leugers

Post by **Mikey** » Sat May 10, 2003 9:35 pm

Our former Cinerama theater was torn down a few years ago...it was one of the largest single cinema screens still in existence up until that time...even appeals from Hollywood to save it fell on deaf ears...the hospital next door wanted it for a parking lot, even though there wasn't a parking problem there anyway...at least I did get to see a fully restored 70mm print of Ben Hur with six track sound before they tore it down. I won't see a show at the theater if it was filmed on video...I figure i'll wait until it comes out on video, and save 7.00....does anyone know of a website that lists what was made on film, and what was made on video?

Post by **S8 Booster** » Wed May 14, 2003 8:31 am

Here it is: Capable of HD (Not really new either - my theory is that the extended storage acpacity may be used for high quality films for the same runtime as the old DVD - faster data rate = may be big format HQ projection)

http://www.compoundsemiconductor.net/ar ... s/6/2/35/1

New Blu-ray DVD format uses blue-violet lasers to achieve 27 GB recording capacity
20 February 2002

Nine leading consumer electronics manufacturers have jointly established the basic specifications for a next-generation large capacity optical disc video recording format called "Blu-ray Disc". The Blu-ray Disc enables the recording, rewriting and playback of up to 27 gigabytes of data on a single-sided, single-layer 12 cm CD/DVD-size disc using a 405 nm blue-violet laser.

The companies that established the basic specifications for the Blu-ray Disc are: Hitachi, LG, Matsushita, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Thomson. Several of the companies such as Pioneer, Sony and Philips have already demonstrated prototype Blu-ray players using violet lasers. Toshiba, which is not part of the agreement, has also demonstrated a similar player. In addition to actively promoting the new format throughout the industry, the nine companies will begin licensing the new format as soon as specifications are completed. Licensing is expected to start around spring 2002, and Blu-ray players could go on sale at the start of 2003.

Current DVD players use 650 nm red lasers, while CD players use 780 nm diodes. A number of competing formats for recordable DVD players have been introduced, including DVD-RAM, DVD-RW and DVD+RW; the Blu-ray agreement is likely to render these obsolete. The use of a 405 nm laser, in combination with a 0.85 numerical aperture (NA) field lens and other features, leads to a significant reduction in beam spot size on the surface of the disc. This boosts the recording capacity compared to conventional DVD players, which can record 4.7 GB of data on a single-sided disk. With a capacity of 27 GB, Blu-ray can record over 2 hours of digital high definition video and more than 13 hours of standard TV broadcasting. 50 GB double-layer discs are also under development. High-speed data transfer at a rate of 36 Mbit/s is also possible, sufficient to record high definition TV.

It will not be possible to play Blu-ray discs with existing DVD and CD players, since these don't contain 405 nm lasers. Blu-ray drives will need to contain 780, 650 and 405 nm lasers in order to be compatible with CD and DVD discs. At present, the only commercial source of blue-violet lasers is Nichia, although Cree and Toyoda Gosei are both making progress in this area.

R