Monday, October 30, 2006

Some Technical Upgrades / repairs at Western Film.

Last week turned out to be an unexpectedly busy week. A company called K Service came down from Toronto to do an overhaul on our Popcorn machine. It had developed a bunch of little problems that could only be fixed by someone who knew the machine well enough to adjust everything properly. He showed me all sorts of little things to adjust and get the machine running great.

The same day I got as call from a company called CinemaTronix that services and installs movie theatres. I had ordered a new rectifier and they wanted to install it. It turned out between the schedule of the McKellar Room and the technician's schedule the best day to do the install was the next day.

A Rectifier converts the AV power from the grid into DC power that powers the Xenon lamp that illuminates the screen. We used to have a 3600 watt lamp. About a year ago we put in a special reflector that allowed us to drop to a 2000 watt lamp. This saves energy and the bulbs are cheaper (but still $800). Over time it became apparent that even turned all the way down the old 4000 watt rectifier was overpowering the new lamp. The first bulb didn't last as long as it should have and the picture was a little too bright.

So we put in a 2000 watt rectifier last week. The bulbs will last longer and the picture looks even better. It focuses better now and it doesn't strobe any longer. I had noticed it had a tendency to strobe in bright scenes with the old rectifier because the lamp was too bright. It's the kind of thing only a projectionist would consciously notice.

The Technician also checked over the machine, fixed a small misalignment in the sound head etc.

So it was a busy week but at least I shouldn't have to worry about any technical issues for a while, knock on wood.

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