Alcorn McBride's Digital Video Machine DVM 8400/HD continues to meet the demanding schedule of numerous high profile Film Festivals, where Boston Light & Sound is responsible for all feature and non-feature content in scores of venues for hundreds of screenings. The Boston-based specialty projection company has employed the machines at numerous film festivals including The Doha Tribeca Film Festival, The Turner Classic Movies Film Festival and The Traverse City Film Festival.
"For years, we have been looking for a device that could be encoded for screen washes, sponsor tags and trailers" says Chapin Cutler, President of Boston Light & Sound and Technical Director of the Sundance Film Festival. "We needed something that was easy to program, ingest content and was reliable for the almost 1000 programs we present in little over a week."
"We typically install one DVM 8400/HD in each venue to play back screen washes, trailers, sponsor tag packages and static screen washes for Q&A sessions," explains Michael Rome, a projection engineer with Boston Light & Sound. "Every unit is in a projection booth with the projectionist. Most of the units are operated via AMX control systems customized to integrate into the projection environment; alternatively they can be operated from laptops."
The Alcorn McBride systems feed Barco digital cinema projectors and Christie Roadster HD12K and HD18K projectors as well as DPI 45 HDs, which screened films from HDCAM sources.
"A lot of these festivals have always been on the cutting edge of technology," notes Rome. "Moving from DVD players to this type of device is an example of that. We needed a better solution than DVD playback. We needed something with higher definition that could be controlled in a presentation environment."
As an Alcorn McBride dealer, Boston Light & Sound was very familiar with the Digital Video Machine product line and knew that the system could perform successfully in demanding film festival venues. "We have been using it for over year and have employed it at festivals ever since," Rome reports. "We have adapted the system to a live presentation environment, with manual and AMX controls, and it's been working great."
He says that Alcorn McBride "has always been right there when we have questions to address, so we're pleased with their support. We're really excited to have a new tool like the DVM 8400/HD that helps us give the best presentation possible at film festivals in terms of format resolution and controllability."
About Alcorn McBride:
Founded in 1986, Alcorn McBride is the leading manufacturer of show control, audio and video equipment for the themed entertainment industry, and a rapidly growing provider of audio and video systems for retail environments and transportation applications. Staffed by some of the industry's best engineers and backed by outstanding customer support, the company has demonstrated great agility in bringing new designs to market. A hallmark of Alcorn McBride products is their durable, zero maintenance design. The company's products provide consistent, reliable operation for audio and video playback applications worldwide. For more information, visit www.alcorn.com.