Sony’s DV
Camcorder with true 16:9 Imager!
Xlogic DVD-838J ‘Bargain Basement’ Player
Britain’s ITV Digital Demise—A Warning for Australia?
30th September 1952 - 30th September 2002
Happy 50th Birthday By Brian Beatty
I first read about the CINERAMA system in 1953 in one of the issues of Popular Mechanics Magazine published in 1952. By this time I had seen “Bwana Devil” in 3-D at the Hoyt’s Esquire in Melbourne and know of the CinemaScope system coming to the Hoyt’s Regent in late 1953. Both the 3-D and CinemaScope widescreen systems interested me very much, but I was fascinated by the CINERAMA deep-curved screen system which finally came to the Hoyt’s Plaza theatres in Melbourne and Sydney in 1958.
For any of our readers who may be too young to have seen this widescreen process, it was quite an experience! CINERAMA used a three-lens camera shooting three strips of 35mm film simultaneously covering an angle of 140 degrees in width and 55 degrees in height.
The normal 35mm frame is about 18mm high by 24mm wide, but the CINERAMA frame was about 27mm high by 25mm wide. Whereas the size of a standard cinema screen at the time was about 18ft high by 24ft wide, the original size of the screen for the world premiere of CINERAMA in New York was 23ft high by 64ft wide. It was shown by three projectors, accompanied with 6 track magnetic sound. I cannot remember exactly, but CINERAMA may have gone to 7 track stereophonic sound for the later movies.
The screen was not a single sheet for the original three-strip system but consisted of over 1100 vertical strips of material, designed to reflect the light back to the audience without the problems of ‘cross reflection’ which a single sheet would have caused because of the deep curve of the 140 degree screen.
There were five travelogues and two feature films made in the 3-strip CINERAMA system:
This is CINERAMA, CINERAMA Holiday
Seven Wonders of the World, Search for Paradise, South Seas Adventure (This included scenes taken in Australia.)
Feature films were: The wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, How the West Was Won This was shot in three-strip and also in 70mm. You could see the difference between the pin-sharp deep focus 3-strip CINERAMA photography and the not so sharp 70mm version of this movie!
With the extreme depth of field camera lenses there was a special ‘magic’ seeing these movies on the so-called “Wrap Around Screen”. You were ‘in’ the picture, and if you sat in the ‘sweet spot’ - that is, if you were sitting close to the screen and in the centre of the row engulfed by the wrap around screen - the effect was incredible!
After the above movies were made, CINERAMA changed to 70mm photography and projection in the early 1960’s, maybe 1963. A special projection lens was made to spread the 70mm film image on a deep-curved screen with a sharp image edge to edge. But this was the end of the ‘you were there’ magic which the audience had experienced with the 3-strip movies. The 70mm projection was sharp and clear but the photography in 70mm was not shot in 146 degrees at all! It was mostly shot with lenses for close-up work and mid-distance work, sometimes with extremely shallow depth of field, and very little use of wide-angle lenses for photography. The screen was not as wide for 70mm photography, and some theatres changed to a single-sheet screen instead of using the vertical strips of the original presentations.
Some of the 70mm films like ‘It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World’ had rectified prints for the 70mm projection - that is, the images at the edge of the film were squeezed to compensate for distortion on a deeply-curved screen. Later films in 70mm were not rectified at all, and show straight onto the screen. Also some theatres changed from 146 degrees to a 90 degree curve! I did see ‘Ice Station Zebra’ in Tokyo and ‘Song of Norway’ in New York, both on 90 degree screens.
CINERAMA did develop a prototype single-lens camera that would take a genuine 146 degree movie without joins using 35mm film travelling horizontally in the camera with a 16 perforation pull across, but in the early 1960’s there was a change of management and the system was abandoned in favour of the 70mm system mentioned above.
Fifty years after the World Premiere, CINERAMA can still be seen at the Seattle Cinerama Theatre, the Bradford Museum of Film and Television in the UK, and from 4th October 2002, at the newly restored Pacific Dome Cinerama Theatre in Los Angeles. The latter has been closed for a while and has been installed with both the 3-strip projection system and the 70mm Cinerama system.
I must mention that a few enthusiasts in the UK and Australia have made 3-strip CINERAMA in Super mm - yes Super 8! I have several times seen the 8mm CINERAMA film in Melbourne taken by two members of the Australian Widescreen Association, Wade Hatton and Harvey Hutchison. Very impressive indeed!!!
If anyone is interested in learning more about CINERAMA, a very good web site is the American Widescreen Museum.
There is a lot of information about CINERAMA and other widescreen systems, plus many links.
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com
On a person note, I am a member of the Australian Widescreen Association since 1972, a member of the International Cinerama Society, the International Stereoscopic Union, and the Victorian 3-D Society. I take 140 degrees Widelux panoramic slides with two Widelux cameras in 3-D and projected onto a curved screen and viewed with Polaroid 3-D glasses.
Images for this article were used with kind permission from Ronald Lataille who has a great web site featuring Cinerama at http://cinerama.topcities.com/index.htm
From The President
We recently received several current film magazines from our ever-active member Rodney Bourke, and reading them, I note that Derann will change to the improved Kodak stock for their new releases.
Overseas filmers can obtain fresh CIRO and Fuji splicing tape and possibly a new Super 8 projector from Fumeo, not to mention new design 'scope brackets for projectors. With this and more, I wonder if film is old hat as some would have us believe.
With the 32nd Widescreen Festival on the 29th October, I would like to see 'scope films and slides from members and others among the entries. I am endeavouring to install a 'scope screen for the Festival and future screenings, which should give our comfortable meeting room a theatre atmosphere.
Our editor Tony is working hard to being our newsletters up to date. At the moment we are two issues behind. Tony has the next one well in hand and would like to hear from members with any interesting news regarding 'scope film, wide video or panoramic photography.
The next meeting is on 24th September when we will have a technical discussion about film striping and sound and watch some films. Enjoy the company of fellow filmers too.
From The Secretary
The year is flying by as usual and the closing date for our next Festival is less than two months away.
We have already had promises of some entries, but there can never be too many. Please support our Festival with your entry or entries and don't leave it to the other members.
As Les mentioned, I am trying hard to catch up with the issues of Scope and we should be back on schedule by the end of the year.
Tony Rees has ably assisted with a number of interesting articles which are greatly appreciated.
Feedback from members continues to be very positive, and we are always happy to publish members' contributions.
Xlogic DVD-838J ‘Bargain Basement’ Player
DVD Players have been reducing in price while at the same time including more and more features. This DVD Player has been seen at ‘Variety’ Stores in Australia for sale from AUD$189 (‘Go-Lo’—Melbourne & ‘Crazy Clarks’ in Brisbane).
While probably near one of the cheapest DVD Players on sale at the moment, the features are not to be easily dismissed. It comes with a 1 year warranty.
The Xlogic DVD-838J is made in China probably by the Malata Group, as it is very similar to their DVP-310 in outward appearance. It seems to have been sold in Germany under the 'Scott' name.
The major features of the DVD player is that it is REGION FREE, meaning it will play all region DVDs. Also it will play back both PAL and NTSC and will also convert say an NTSC Disk into PAL and visa versa for users with only single system monitor. It also has a 'Multi' mode for use with multi-system monitors. And it is MACROVISION disabled. It will also play back RCE Regional Code Enhancement protected disks.
4:3, 4:3 letterbox and 16:9 are the three output ratios. The unit has composite, S-Video and YCbCr video outputs. Audio outputs are AC-3, dts with optical, coaxial, and analog outputs. Also a stereo downmix is available.
It is silver (also gold & black are available) and slim (430(W) x 270(D) x 67(H) mm approx. 3 kg, and comes with a 24 page Users Manual in English.
The manual is a generic one, and lists many different models outputs (some with SCART & VGA). But the text is easy to follow and pertains to the DVD-838J in general. Other included accessories are a composite/stereo RCA tri-cable, AC Power cord, remote control and two AAA batteries + warranty detail sheet.
AUSTRALIAN WIDESCREEN FESTIVAL - 2002
Important - the date of the Melbourne screening has been changed to Tuesday 29th October at 8pm.
The closing date for entries has been changed to Wed 9th October.
Entry forms were enclosed in the Nov 2001 issue of Scope and are available from the Secretary Tony Andrews, or on our web site.
We look forward to receiving your entries of widescreen films and videos and panoramic slides.
The October meeting will take place as scheduled on Tues 22nd October.
Britain’s ITV Digital Demise—A Warning for Australia?
The May 1st demise of pioneering U.K. digital terrestrial broadcaster ITV Digital has sent shivers through the DTV world.
The failure of the ITV Digital terrestrial subscription platform has left 1100 television staff and 500 call center workers without a job and 800,000 subscribers with a sour taste in their mouths. Meanwhile, Britain's regulator, the Independent Television Commission, intends to offer ITV Digital's broadcast licenses to any interested parties, and a planned analog switch-off for the country of 2010 is looking shaky.
Commenting on the closure of ITV Digital, U.K. Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell said, "This is a very sad day for the thousands of people employed by ITV Digital, who worked so hard to make the channel a success. But we must remember that this is not the failure of a technology - it is the failure of one company.
"Digital TV - and the increased choice and quality it means -is here to stay."
But is choice the answer? Certainly ITV Digital was undone by an inability to cover the astronomical rights fees of £315m to broadcast English Football League matches. It also didn't help that satellite rival BskyB had started giving away receivers, but is that the whole story?
At a recent Australian Broadcasting Authority conference held in Canberra, attendees from Australia and around the region heard conflicting visions for the digital terrestrial future.
While Australia's Minister for Communications, Richard Alston, spoke of greater choice (including mandatory HDTV services) being a driver for digital uptake, others were not so sure.
One panel session saw Richard Hooper, Chair of the U.K. Radio Authority, issue a warning to TV broadcasters that too many digital terrestrial channels could dilute the traditional markets and strengths of free to air operators and lead to the "radioization of television".
Having seen ITV Digital for myself last year, I can only agree. Sometimes quantity does not mean quality.
Republished courtesy of TV Technology & Production Asia Pacific—June 2002 issue
Sony’s DV Camcorder with true 16:9 Imager!
On Sep 01, 2002 Sony released it’s DSR-PDX-10 Camcorder for DVCAM and MiniDV (SP).
The good news for widescreeners is that this is the first camcorder in the prosumer market to actually have a full 16:9 CCD imager. Previous camcorders have just masked the 4:3 CCDs when shooting 16:9 resulting in a low resolution outcome.
The PDX-10 uses 40% more pixels than the masked cameras. This is possible by using a 1.07Mega Pixel CCD. Still images are captured using this whole 4:3 CCD and moving pictures with the masks shown.
The camcorder is based on the popular TRV950 model with some major differences.
Manufactures List Price is ¥350,000 (approx. AUD$5,000).
Note: Japan model featured.
RECENT MEETINGS
WIDESCREEN NIGHT AT RINGWOOD FILM AND VIDEO MAKERS Friday 16th August
Leigh and Evelyn Ward and their friends, also Les Rechter and Tony Andrews visited Ringwood to present a Widescreen Night. Around thirty members were present. Tony started off the evening with an introduction to the various ways of achieving widescreen movies on film and video. This was followed up by a screening of 8mm widescreen package movies by Leigh Ward on his Elmo GS1200.
After an excellent supper, we continued with some of our own films "A Tale of Three Cities" by Ron Hall and Tony Andrews, "Pittsburgh" by Les Rechter, and finally "The Happiest Place on Earth" by Ron and Tony.
The Ringwood members enjoyed seeing film, something of a rarity in movie clubs nowadays.
Tuesday 27th August 7.30pm - STANDARD 8 MOVIES
This was a great chance to dust off some of those standard 8 films made years ago and let them see the light of a projector lamp again.
We started off with 50 feet of Scope shot by Les Rechter sometime in the 1980’s in Flinders Park before the Tennis Centre was built. A replica of the first steam engine Stephenson’s “Rocket” had been brought out from England and was running up and down a short stretch of temporary track
This was followed by “Moomba” by Tony Andrews. Shot on a very hot day, again in the eighties, we saw the parade down Swanston St, followed by water skiing on the Yarra.
Tony’s second film was “Phillip Island” and it was interesting to see the changes and also what has stayed the same in the years since it was made.
Les’s second film started with a display with Hawaiian dancers, but the location was not what we assumed. They were performing in a plaza in San Francisco and were spotted by Les on one of his visits to America. We also saw the steep streets, the trams, the tall buildings and the transit system. A fascinating personal view of a city we have all come to know so well through feature films at the cinema.
Everyone commented how well the colour saturation of the Kodachrome film had been preserved over the twenty plus years since it was shot. A interesting trip down ‘memory lane’ for those present.
COMING EVENTS
Thursday 12th September - we are invited to a DV Studio 7 demonstration presented by Oakleigh Movie Club. 8pm at Clayton Bowls Club, Springs Rd Clayton. Mel 79 A4. Please phone John Stevenson 9546 7254 if you are going.
Tuesday 24th September 7.30pm FILM STRIPING AND SOUND WIDESCREEN FILMS (time permitting)
Tuesday 22nd October 8pm Final preparations for Widescreen Festival
Tuesday 29th October 8pm 32nd AUSTRALIAN WIDESCREEN FESTIVAL We will present the widescreen movies and slides entered in our Festival. Please bring along your family and friends for an entertaining night. Supper provided.
FAMM-GRAM Q1 - August 2002
The Queensland executive advises members of the finalised Committee -
President - Ron Gregson
1st Vice President - Ray Soderholm
2nd Vice President - Bruce McDonald
Secretary - Martin Curtis
Assistant Secretary - Merv Peake
Treasurer - Val Reville
Assistant Treasurer - Jeanette McDonald
Convention (Sub-Committee) Chairperson - Garth Threlfall
Review (Subcommittee) Chairperson - Neal Reville
Non Committee Positions
Music Licence Co-ordinator - John Stevenson
Competition Chairperson and Honours Chairperson - Alan Beale
Film and Video Librarian (Restoration of Library only) - Don Hawkins
You will notice that Martin Curtis is now the Secretary of FAMM. It was with a great deal of reluctance that the committee accepted the resignation of Joan Rennie for personal reasons. However, Martin brings with him a lot of enthusiasm for the challenges ahead of FAMM.
The future of FAMM in reality rests with each and every member of the individual clubs/societies because without the growth of member organisations and the positive participation of members in their clubs/societies, FAMM will slowly wither on the vine, it will cease to exist. We must also encourage those clubs, societies who are not members to join the FAMM family, but first we must demonstrate that we have something unique to offer them.
To enable the Qld executive to carry out the task given to it at the Melbourne convention, we require the assistance of every member of each club/society. We need any and all suggestions that will assist in the rewriting of the rules and constitution. Some of the ideas already put forward are:
that the executive of FAMM be stable - i.e. remain at one permanent location.
that the term of the executive be for a minimum of 4 years.
that the constitution consist only of 'objectives'
that we don't need a Convention
that we get some publicity
What are your thoughts? Send them to the executive for consideration.
The Convention subcommittee has met and is considering the Gold Coast for the 2004 Convention.
The Review Subcommittee have also met and discussed a number of items including - discussion of a fixed executive for FAMM, establishment of an adequate web site, revision of the Constitution.
obtaining an ABN for FAMM.
Would you like the FAMM-Gram by e-mail?
The FAMM secretary has requested a list of our members who are on-line and wish to receive the FAMM-Gram this way. Your e-mail address will not be forwarded without your permission, so please send an e-mail to Tony at scopeawa@bigpond.com if you want your e-mail address sent to FAMM.