Displaying footage on a cinema silverscreen?

[Macadoon]

Hi all,
I shoot avchd footage in 1440X1080i at 25fps, which I occasionaly render out to HDV 720p.
I've the opportunity to show a short film on a full-size cinema screen in a cinema complex with either 1440 or 720 formats. I'm a bit nervous about showing it on the big screen as the quality of image might be embarrasingly poor! In saying that, the film club I belongs to has seen the film via a standard projector in a church hall and has given it the thumbs up. Does anyone have any experience in showing their films on a massive cinema big screen that can offer some comment etc etc on what the footage looks like? THe cinema can play data files from a dvd, or PAL format DVDs, but not AVCHD or BlueRay discs.
Andy M

[Ken Berry]

No first-hand experience, I am afraid, but is there no way to test it before the big night?

I am also a little surprised that you use 1440 x 1080 as your AVCHD format, instead of the more usual 1920 x 1080. It is, of course, perfectly acceptable. Or perhaps that is the maximum frame size for your particular camcorder...

My own particular preference would be to use the large frame format video for projection on a larger screen. The 720p will still be excellent quality in general terms (particularly for large HDTVs), but projecting up from a smaller frame size to a much larger screen might be more likely to magnify any otherwise minor faults....

[Macadoon]

Hi Ken
I use a Sony HDRSR1, which shoots in avchd 1440x1080i. I can easily render this to 1920x1080, but there is an every so slight loss of detail, although not as much (quite little, even still) as rendering to 720p. I'm afraid I cannot get a trial run on the cinema screen .. let's just say a good mate is bending some rules and this is a one-off opportunity ... and to revisit an old kiwi maxim, 'All I need is one good run'!
I might try and do this trial via 1920, but are there any pitfalls I should be aware of? I'm using VS11.5+ for the rump of the editing. Some of the footage has had special effects added via Adobe After Effects, and has been rendered out to 1920x1080 AVI files at 25 fps and then put back into the VS11.5+ timeline.
Andy M

[Ken Berry]

What kind of 1920 x 1080 "AVI" files? As you may know, there is a huge number of video formats which use the convenient 'avi' as their wrapper extension. This runs from raw avi, which is absolutely huge (over 60 GB per hour of video) to the much smaller, highly compressed mpeg-4 formats at the other end, like DivX and XVid... The latter can present their own problems if you are then editing them, but should be OK for presentation if the theatre equipment is programmed to be able to play DivX...

[sjj1805]

Why not prepare a couple of discs using the different formats available.
On the Big Night get there early and test out them out to see which one looks the best.

Good idea to have a back up disc anyway just in case the disc has a fault.
This happens to everyone at some time, either a bad disc, scratch of a bit of dirt. You don't want to get caught out on the night!

[skier-hughes]

THe cinema can play data files from a dvd, or PAL format DVDs, but not AVCHD or BlueRay discs.
Andy M

Does this mean they can only play standard definition movies for you?

If so, then it looks like it would need an SD dvd, which would mean 720x576.

Also, what are they playing it through? A PC by the sounds of data or dvd.
If it is, then check which app they are playing it with and whether this works with interlced or progressive files.

If they can play data HD files, then I'd still check if they can play interlaced or progressive files.

Enlarging your 1440 to 1920 may make it look worse than playing it in it's natural size, so I wouldn't do that.

[erdna]

Can't you find out what brand/type of electronic cinema equipment they use, and/or what input connections are available, and signal formats can be processesd. After knowing this, we could advise you about the best players, and formats.

[Macadoon]

Thanks folks... all excellent tips and questions. I'll get some more info and come back.
Andy M