IMAX requires a 21-year old Palm Pilot to run in theaters
Several fascinating tidbits in this article, primarily around the use of the 21-year old Palm Pilot, but also just around the fact that only 30 theaters in the world can actually project the film as Christopher Nolan intended.
The Palm-powered QTRU system is actually a relatively high-tech part of an otherwise extremely manual process. Yves Leibowitz, a longtime projectionist, has made a number of popular YouTube videos documenting the process of loading a film, which requires setting up the enormous reels in exactly the right place, manually threading film through a number of rollers and platters, and constantly checking and rechecking to make sure everything's lined up and ready to go.
In most of his videos, you actually get a brief glimpse of a Palm device set up next to the QTRU, but Leibowitz never seems to need to touch it. In every case we've seen, though, it's an actual physical device. The emulator appears to be a new phenomenon, and in fact, IMAX told Vice it was created specifically for Oppenheimer. "IMAX Engineering designed and manufactured an emulator that mimics the look and feel of a PalmPilot to keep it simple and familiar for IMAX film projectionists," the company said. The emulator, if you're curious, appears to be running on a Winmate W10IB3S-PCH2AC-POE Panel PC, a 10.1-inch Windows tablet that appears to have been designed to live outside of conference rooms and help people control schedules and video conferencing.
The obvious question here is, why in the world would IMAX still run its systems on a 21-year-old device? And why, when faced with the need to update it, would it choose to simply emulate said 21-year-old device on a crappy Windows tablet? Other QTRU systems have a controller built into the machine itself, which seems better in every imaginable way.
For IMAX, like so many other companies that rely on generations-old technology, the answer is simple: it works. And it's not like it's a booming industry in need of reinvention. There are only 30 theaters worldwide that can even show a full 70mm print like Oppenheimer, 19 of them in the US. Most IMAX experiences are digital now, like most moviegoing experiences in general.
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Women's World Cup is On and Streaming It
So last night the World Cup began again, this time in Australia and New Zealand. As a result the wife and I agreed to sign up for a streaming solution which would guarantee our ability to watch it. It airs on Fox and Fox Sports 1, which is the one network we don't have completely covered from viewing, because 99% of what it airs is stuff we don't need. But, this is that one percent of content we wanted. So, off I go to figure out our best option.
After investigating the options I decided I would try Hulu Live, since we already had Hulu as part of our Disney+ bundle - easy, right? Wrong.
It is literally impossible for me to sign up for Hulu Live currently.
I even waited in queue and chatted with a customer service agent who was also flummoxed as to why I didn't have it as an option. I suspect I would have had to cancel my subscription altogether and then maybe it would have worked, but as it turns out - their loss ended up saving me money.
I discovered Sling has a promotion going on now where the first month is half price. And, as luck would have it, a month is what we need for the World Cup.
So, for the next month, we have a Sling subscription!
Interview with the organisers of Major League Cricket
I knew it was coming, as I remember hearing Seattle had a team (the Seattle Orca) but I haven't been following it. I don't understand cricket yet, I'll have to try and understand it. But I do think that it will do moderately well. The Desi community around Seattle love cricket. Every weekend you will drive by a park and see a group out there playing cricket including just down the street from my home.
Automated Archives for July, 20th 2023
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Wallabag Additions
These are articles that which I saved today so that I may read them later. Substance and quality will vary drastically.
Chess For the Day
Record: 1-1-4
Net Elo Change: -17
Games Played
Blog Posts On This Day
- 2021-07-20 (1 post)