ALMOST 70 years ago, the Scottish television pioneer John Logie Baird tried to turn cinemas into places where you鈥檇 go to watch live events on the big screen. This month, his idea approaches reality.
Four Odeon cinemas across Britain are being equipped with digital video projectors that will run a series of test screenings. The first shows will include recorded Broadway musicals and a video transfer of Brief Encounter, David Lean鈥檚 poignant 1946 tale of unconsummated temptation. Eventually, the Odeon group has its sights set on screening live sports events.
In June 1932, at the Metropole Theatre in Victoria, London, Baird used projectors with spinning mirrors to show grainy, flickery images of the Derby. Now, four Odeon cinemas鈥攁t Swiss Cottage in London, and in Aylesbury, Brighton and Glasgow鈥攚ill use video projectors to do the same. In a neat twist, the new projectors also rely on mirrors鈥攖he 鈥渄igital micro-mirror鈥� chips made by Texas Instruments. Baird鈥檚 mirrored drums scanned the cinema screen with the 30-line TV pictures of the day. The digital projectors use mirror chips that produce a 1280-by-1024-pixel image.
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Brief Encounter represents a tough test for the technology because black-and-white movies need a very wide range of contrast to reproduce subtle shadows. If audiences are convinced that the electronically projected pictures are good enough, the Odeon group will begin installing digital projectors in many more of its cinemas.
The test cinemas will be getting their video from broadcast-quality digital cassettes or DVDs. But eventually, satellite and fibre-optic links will bring in live footage from football or horse racing.