A couple of weeks ago Caleb and I went to see Ratatouille (great, great movie, by the way), and much to my surprise the theater (the Carmike 7)had installed Christie digital projectors. Wow! What a difference that made! The colors so bright, the details so crisp… Everything was just so… clear. Add to that the elimination of the little signal blip (or whatever they call it) that tells the operators when to switch reels, and the elimination of the annoying little dirt specks you see on the screen.
I realize the digital theater projectors aren’t all that new, but I don’t get out to movies very often, and that was my first exposure to it. When I first heard about them I thought, “oh, no big deal”. But after seeing it for myself, all I can say is, “Wow!” It’s like the difference between an old CRT monitor on a scuzzy old PC and a snazzy new 24 inch iMac. There’s just no comparison.
Tonight, Ian & I went to the Century theater to see Transformers (should’ve waited ’til it hit the cheap theater). I was hoping the Century had also updated their projectors, but they’re still using film. They still charge more than the Carmike though; go figure. The difference was was a real letdown after Ratatouille from a digital projector. I am forever spoiled.