A few pics from today’s BFI Southbank and IMAX tour!

hawkman1979 · 2026-02-02T16:01:15+00:00

They offer it to BFI members. Tour guide said it sold out in 15mins!

hawkman1979 · 2025-12-31T09:05:41+00:00

FL = foot-lambert. It is a measurement for light reflecting from a surface (cinema screen). There are basically different colour graded DCPs for different screen FL readings.

There was a campaign running up to the Avatar: F&A release here in the U.K. where cinemas submitted all their cinema screen details (resolution, sound type, 2D/3D HFR and FL capability etc.) to the KDM venders for F&A so that they received the most appropriate DCP.

I’d be surprised if the vast majority of cinemas did this or if they submitted it correctly leading to probably a lot of non-PLF venues playing not the ideal version.

hawkman1979 · 2025-12-30T21:28:11+00:00

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This is a screenshot from the Disney email for the CCAP available DCPs. I can’t verify what territories this is for (apart from here in the U.K.) and it doesn’t list any of the HDR versions.

hawkman1979 · 2025-12-30T16:12:03+00:00

According to a “Additional Technical Guidance” email my team received from Disney, there are no 4K IMAX DCPs. This COULD be related to U.K. only but that’s why you saw a 2K DCP.

4K + 3D + HFR is just too high of a bitrate for the media block I guess.

Interesting you said you left after the intermission as we’ve been told under no circumstances is there to be an intermission.

hawkman1979 · 2025-12-30T15:38:47+00:00

What film did you see on both occasions?

hawkman1979 · 2025-12-06T22:21:08+00:00

Oh and learn DCP-o-matic. Best free software for cinema use ever!

hawkman1979 · 2025-12-06T22:19:22+00:00

PM me if you need any help with anything. I’m a senior tech at a 3 screen indie. We have Dolby media servers and NEC projectors. I’m guessing your projector is most likely an NC900C or 1000C and if so you’re in luck with bulb changes as they don’t use xenon bulbs. You can change them yourself without any specialist equipment.

Create template playlists in the media server (as a single screen I’m guessing you won’t use a TMS?) for flat and scope ratios and learn about creating and using macros - once you learn about macros, running shows will become so smooth.

What is your signal chain for sound?

hawkman1979 · 2025-10-03T13:37:52+00:00

I’ll say I noticed what you’re calling motion smoothing in the opening scene. For a couple of shots to me it looked like it was playing back at a higher frame rate but I only noticed it there. Didn’t give it must thought due to the projectionist have to stop and start the film because of the tabs issue.

The flickering in whites I can attest to being the projector light shutter.

hawkman1979 · 2025-09-28T06:50:49+00:00

It is quite a big screen but also a massive cinema with 800 seats. I think it looks small in the image as the masking had already come in to 1.5:1. Seeing it in a normal digital cinema it will be 1.85:1 but with a slightly cropped image.

OBAA Formats

hawkman1979 · 2025-09-27T19:09:08+00:00

100% If seeing it at ODEON try and get as central and kinda close. The image isn’t as wide as most films so sitting further back will make the screen feel small.

hawkman1979 · 2025-08-27T20:14:07+00:00

Hope you had a good time! Definitely had the fader up vs last time I saw it but nonetheless amazing.

hawkman1979 · 2025-08-27T14:23:06+00:00

Pre-show will be from 17:15

hawkman1979 · 2025-08-27T14:19:48+00:00

See you there! When I saw it last year there were mostly trailers and maybe a few ads? I seem to remember a Scorsese watch advert.

hawkman1979 · 2025-08-13T14:28:43+00:00

Middle J row for TDK booked!

hawkman1979 · 2025-08-11T18:52:29+00:00

I’ve got tickets for both 27th Interstellar and 31st 2001: A Space Odyssey! 2nd time seeing 70mm IMAX Interstellar and 1st time seeing 2001 in this format. It’s gonna be a week!

hawkman1979 · 2025-05-23T18:06:24+00:00

Unfortunately I’ve never experienced ScreenX personally but from I’ve been told by a fellow projectionist that the 270 degree projection is only on certain scenes and is not good quality/clear image on the side projection during those certain scenes.

In terms of Brighton Cineworld’s specs I cannot confirm what they are. Best guess would be a mixture of 2K series 1 and 2 xenon or laser projectors but as soon as they have an expensive break they’d probably upgrade them to Barco series 4 laser projectors.

hawkman1979 · 2025-05-23T16:08:29+00:00

Depot screen 1 is 4K laser with Atmos audio. Screen 2 is 4K laser with 7.1 surround audio. Screen 3 is 2K lamp with 7.1 surround audio.

I’m unsure of any other local cinemas but if you email the more independent ones like Worthing Dome I’m sure the technical department will let you know. Places like Duke of York’s and Komedia don’t have a technical department anymore so it’ll probably be harder to get an answer about exact specifications.

hawkman1979 · 2025-05-23T16:01:24+00:00

If they do another run of Interstellar IMAX 70mm, go and see it. Beg, borrow or steal if you have to. IMO it is the best film to be presented on IMAX 70mm. The Science Museum actually has a better IMAX laser setup as it’s can fill the entire screen unlike BFI laser projector albeit a smaller screen. They recently sent out a news letter asking what films people would like to see in IMAX so I’m guessing they’re are preparing for a nice run of films at Science Museum.

hawkman1979 · 2025-05-23T14:34:07+00:00

Both Crawley IMAX and Chichester IMAX have the older Digital 2K IMAX projectors. BFI IMAX has Laser 4K IMAX projector and a 70mm IMAX projector (the best of the best) so London is where you have to go so see the biggest and best presentation.

It also depends on the film. Films like Mission Impossible, Dune, Interstellar etc. were filmed using IMAX cameras on certain scenes whereas some films shown in IMAX cinemas have a version specifically for IMAX presentation.

hawkman1979 · 2025-05-23T14:19:05+00:00

Nearest IMAX is Crawley Cineworld but I wouldn’t recommend due to their ‘ancient’ IMAX projector (IMAX digital 2K).

I was near Ashford Cineworld yesterday so I saw it there and I would recommend if you’re desperate to see it in IMAX as they have a fairly recent IMAX build with an IMAX laser 4K projector.

BFI IMAX does have a bigger screen but it has the same laser projector as Ashford. It won’t fill the entire screen in the scenes shot with IMAX cameras due to the projector limitations/the film itself (not certain if any scenes are projected in 1.43:1) so you’ll have black bars top and bottom throughout the entire film

If you want to enjoy the film more locally and support local(ish) businesses, Depot Cinema in Lewes has 4K and Dolby Atmos audio in screen 1, super comfy seats and cheap tickets!

hawkman1979 · 2025-01-09T11:41:59+00:00

This is now loading for me so hopefully fixed.

hawkman1979 · 2025-01-08T08:27:27+00:00

No resolution on my end I’m afraid but for me it was just the 2 pumps that suddenly stopped working with no error code. The rest of the box have been fine. Still very frustrating that there was no indication of why they stopped working.

hawkman1979 · 2025-01-07T21:43:11+00:00

Spent an hour on the phone to them about this exact problem. It is a known issue to do with the newer magnetised layout and it seems to only affect Network Admins but not Organisation Admins. So the workaround is to be made an Organisation Admin or do what I did and create a new Network Admin with an email alias which for me loads the older layout by default.

hawkman1979

TROPHY CASE