Making Movies
70mm Strikes Back

by William Kallay

An Interview With Robert C. Weisgerber & Barrie O'Brien, Super Dimension 70™

      Just who does this guy think he is, anyway? For a couple hours of your time, inventor Robert C. Weisgerber wants you to turn off your multichannel amplifier, turn off your DVD player and put down your universal remote. He wants you to get in your car and go to a premiere movie theatre in your hometown. And he wants you to see what movies should look like, on a big screen with images so sharp and clear, you might once again believe in the power of film. Who is Robert C. Weisgerber? What can he offer you, the movie connoisseur with a vast DVD collection and killer speakers? You may think to yourself that the cross-convergence of digital projection in theatres, and the rapid growth of DVD at home, is the next best thing since the invention of the remote control. You may wish to think again.

      Weisgerber has invented Super Dimension 70™. It is a strikingly breathtaking 70mm process, which uses a combination of 65mm photography, shot at 48 frames-per-second, and super steady 70mm projection with multichannel, uncompressed digital sound. What sets it apart from the widescreen and 70mm formats of the past, including Cinerama®, CinemaScope® and Todd-AO®, is that Super Dimension 70 is hyper-realistic without being overbearing. The images are very sharp, detailed and have a 3D-like appearance, without the need for glasses. Watching the demonstration film for Super Dimension 70™, featuring Walter Cronkite as the host and narrator, one has second thoughts of watching movies any other way. It is truly that spectacular.

      The projection system is intended to be installed in commercial theatres around the world. If successful, Super Dimension 70 (a.k.a. SDS-70™) would certainly bring a significantly elevated film standard to the exhibition industry. It's backward compatible with 24 frames-per-second (fps) 35mm film, and can be transferred to high definition videotape and standard DVD. As for shooting in the 65mm format, the idea is to get certain studios to make a movies in SDS-70. Movies of all genres could be filmed in the process: action-adventure, science fiction, comedy and of course, widescreen epics. The use of digital special effects (CGI), as evidenced in the demonstration film, lend themselves well to SDS-70.

      With the recent discussion of the revolution of digital cinema at a theatre near you, film has taken a backseat to the new format on the block. It seems that film has suddenly become an antiquated capture and delivery system, at least according to various studios, technology companies, the media and most notably, George Lucas. But before the last mound of dirt is shoveled upon canisters of film, SDS-70 is a format worth considering in principal photography, exhibition and home theatre.

      Robert C. Weisgerber is the CEO and President of Super Vista Corporation, the company behind SDS-70. Barrie O'Brien is Vice President, who also heads production. Recently, WSR Research Editor Michael Coate and I discussed SDS-70 with them at the Harmony Gold Theatre in Hollywood, California.

WSR Kallay- Could you tell us about yourself?

Robert C. Weisgerber- I have an extensive background in motion pictures and television. I started a film laboratory back east in New York. From there, I migrated into television, mainly because the opportunities in television were far superior than film, at that particular time. Currently, I have television studios in New York, all digital television facilities and post-production, where we provide facilities for the networks.

WSR- How did you come up with the Super Dimension 70 process?

Weisgerber- In 1992, I was thinking about where film was. The future didn't look very bright, in so far as the quality of filmed entertainment in theatrical exhibition. Barrie and I formed a company called Super Vista Corp. We applied for numerous patents on the process and we eventually trademarked the process, Super Dimension 70. The thrust of the whole scenario was that I, as a media person and as a filmgoer, found that there was a certain lack of entertainment value that I felt was needed in the filmed marketplace. Of course, I know that content is king. But, with the way the industry had been going, it seemed to me that the only hallmark for improved exhibition and production was IMAX (in the area of special venue, at the time). It was either 35mm or it was IMAX. There was nothing in between, except for rare 70mm blow-ups.

WSR- Why did you choose 5-perforation 70mm for SDS-70?

Weisgerber- As I went through the whole range of formats, it seemed to narrow down to the fact that the 5-perf, 70mm format was still a very viable format, because of its aspect ratio. It could fit into existing theatres, megaplexes and multiplexes. There is still equipment available to shoot with, so that you don't have to design things from square one. I focused on the 65/70 format as the production side. I started looking at how to raise the bar for 70mm.

WSR- When you were developing SDS-70 in 1992, there was a transition taking place with Far and Away coming out in 70mm, the first film shot in the 65mm format in years, and multichannel digital sound on 35mm prints. Unfortunately, Far and Away wasn't a success and 70mm was needlessly blamed for it. That same year, Dolby Digital came out, followed by DTS in 1993. Sound, rather than picture, became a priority.

Weisgerber- Well, a lot of things happened from the time that 70mm had been introduced to the industry, to the time that Far and Away was released. When the roadshows were first used in the '50s first for large format exhibition for Oklahoma! and Around the World In 80 Days, Lawrence of Arabia, etc., you had a scenario where it was an extremely upscale execution of exhibition. The prints were right off the negative, so the prints were of great quality for that time. And then you had operators that were dedicated to the execution for the projection. You usually had equipment that was very well maintained, and you had an auditorium that usually held a thousand or two thousand seats. There was a whole re-formatting of the auditorium, so that the screen was immersive to the audience. The audience had great viewing angles of the screen, in a lot of cases. These theatres were the cream of the crop. And you had pictures that were pretty darn bright, because in those days, they were using lenticular luminescence screens. The picture was so bright, 48hz flicker could sometimes be perceived. You fast forward to Far and Away and you've got all these multiplexes that are 70mm capable. You've got projectors that are set up for 70mm, but they couldn't find the aperture plates and gates. The lenses were maybe old, or maybe they were new. You've got these people who are operating the booths; one guy running 8 auditoriums...

Barrie O'Brien- And selling popcorn and taking tickets.

(Laughter)

Weisgerber- Yes. And you've got a screen that might be 30 ft. or 40 ft wide. You might not even have all the speakers fully functioning behind the screen. The end result was "in 70mm" or "in Panavision Super 70™," didn't mean anything. As the exhibition industry became split off from the studios, in their process of trying to run more efficiently, they started to streamline their theatres. They started to stick to common screen widths. They eliminated the masks and they eliminated curtains. They diminished that experience to the point where you didn't see anything different. It was basically what it was. So, now you've resized the screen to fit the smaller auditoriums. And you've eliminated the differences in aspect ratios. What you've done is taken away a lot of the value-added entertainment that the theatres were able to produce, versus what you'd see on t.v.

WSR- What makes SDS-70 so much different from previous formats?

Weisgerber- The important aspect of the process was to raise the bar of cinematography and exhibition so high, that whether my mother or grandmother came to the movie theatre or a big name studio-head came, they would be impressed with what they saw. Not just because it was big, but because it was sharp, clear and dimensional. What we're trying to do, in so far as Super Vista company and the Super Dimension 70 process is concerned, is to try to get a handle on all these issues and attempt to organize them. We want to focus and execute it in a fashion so that we can jumpstart a system of production and exhibition that provides the best film-going experience. One of things we felt was that we wanted to be is a service company, much like how Panavision is. And we wanted to be able to act as an agent for the studios and producer of the film, to make sure they get the best out of the cinematography and production, using the large format film. In postproduction, we want help and support that.

WSR-What kind of theatres would show this new process?

Weisgerber- We're looking at, more than likely, premiere showcase theatres. They would come onboard and commit to criteria that would ensure the best possible presentation, because a lot is at stake here. We have an extra expense in the production and post-production and the release prints. So we want to make sure that we get the best out of the whole thing from the first day of shooting, to the last day that the print is run.

WSR- Tell us about the process of SDS-70.

Weisgerber- The idea was to go with 65mm. The issue came down to compatibility. How do you get a film shot, other than in 24fps, into wide distribution? You couldn't do it with Todd-AO at 30fps. And you couldn't do it artifact free with Showscan. The second factor in production was that when you have an immersive experience, like IMAX or Showscan, it's very hard for an audience to sit for 90-minutes to two hours watching a movie in those formats. You always tend to overload the audience with too much information. So, my thought was that we should be able to mix frame rates. If we wanted to reduce the impact to the audience, we'd shoot at one frame rate (24fps). If we wanted to get the audience to see it more as a first person experience, then shoot it at a higher frame rate (48ps). I thought that 48fps sounded like the right number; that 24fps-to-48fps could be done, and 48fps-to-24fps could be done. The next step was exhibition. How do you get the best possible picture? One of the things that was nice about Showscan was that it was very bright, as was Todd-AO was. Todd-AO ran at 30 frames, with a double bladed shutter and you had sixty images on the screen. Showscan was shot at 60 frames with a single bladed shutter on the projector, and you had sixty pictures, and you didn't have flicker and you had a lot of brightness. My idea was double-blade chop 48 frames, so that you double chop like 24 frames; 24-to-48 double chops and 48 double-blade chop equals 96 images per second.

O'Brien- Which had never been done before.

Weisgerber- It's the same as a computer display refresh rates. The idea was at 96 you could end up without any flicker on the screen. The most critical part of the whole deal was to keep the filmic quality there and retain the film look. After the testing, we found that the 48fps was very good. It looked like film, but it was at a higher frame rate, so that the motion artifacts were reduced; there wasn't any film grain. The image was very transparent and there wasn't any jutter (a.k.a. strobing effect).

WSR- The projected image shown from the SDS-70 system is incredibly steady. How did that process come about?

Weisgerber- Well, once we had the patents, the next thing was to build a projector that could project at 48 frames with a double chop 96. We took a Century projector and "jazzed it up." We took out all the linkages inside the projector. We basically separated the shutter from the drive of the projector. What we had to do to achieve fifty-percent light transmission at 48fps, we had to pull down the film very quickly in the projector, so that you had the greatest length of display time possible. Pulling the film down to five milliseconds was feasible, versus approximately 10 milliseconds with 35mm. In the process of developing the projector, we basically set some new standards for registration for jump and weave, to the point where the projector exceeds the jump and weave of the test films that SMPTE makes for projection.

WSR- How many times could a film run through on the SDS-70 projector?

Weisgerber- We found that we could get about 2000 passes out of a film before it became an issue of jump and weave. The average on any 35mm print is dependent on how well the projector is maintained. Multiplexes, if they run the print 300-400 times, that's a lot. If you've got a popular movie, like Titanic, it might run a thousand times over the course of its run. But, the quality could potentially diminish. What I found was that the benchmark for IMAX, in their testing, was 2000 plays. They felt that they could get 2000 plays on their rotor loop projector. I thought that was pretty darn good.

WSR- Who coordinated the demonstration film?

O'Brien- It was my responsibility to put together a demo film while the projector was being developed. We felt we had to have something to show to people that were interested in making movies, or interested in our company. And I had looked at a lot of the demo films that had been done before. The Miracle of Todd-AO, the Showscan demo, and the IMAX material. I felt that there wasn't any sense in trying to make a mini-feature film. There was a wonderful film that Doug Trumbull did in Showscan called New Magic. But it was an expensive proposition. I didn't want to go there. What we really wanted to do was to let the images sell themselves. It took us awhile to coordinate getting the demo and projectors finished.

WSR- How come?

O'Brien- Because this was being self-funded by us. The bottom line was that we wanted to always make sure we didn't go beyond the point-of-no-return. Research and development is sort of like a bottomless pit. You keep putting money into it. It's like a downdraft. There's a thousand gone, five thousand gone, twenty thousand gone, and so on.

WSR- The opening prologue is reminiscent of This Is Cinerama.

O'Brien- Absolutely. I fell back on the Cinerama and Around The World In 80 Days, with Lowell Thomas or Edward R. Murrow doing a prologue. And we retained Walter Cronkite to do one for our film. We filmed him in the Edison Museum, and we had him talk about motion picture photography, much like Lowell Thomas did for This Is Cinerama.

WSR- What format did you shoot that in?

O'Brien- We shot it at 24fps in the old 35mm Academy Aperture, and we used that part of the film as our lead in.

WSR- Tell us about the editing process.

Weisgerber- The tried and true way is that you would do reduction prints to 35mm, and then edit like you would normally edit on a KEM or Steinbeck. Instead, I wanted to do it on an AVID. I checked around town and found out that 65mm negative could be transferred to video. Lo and behold, there wasn't any software to support 48fps for 65mm. There was 35mm 24fps, 30fps and 48fps VistaVision®. The way we solved the problem was to transfer the film to 24fps, which allowed us to resolve the keycode issue. And then we played the master tape at two times real-time speed, and then dubbed it over to another tape or over to the AVID, and now we had accurate timecode. You could read the keycode and we solved the problem. We cut the negative and it ended up fine.

WSR- Could you give us some numbers on SDS-70 versus 35mm and DLP projection in resolution?

Weisgerber- There are over 22 million pixels per frame being presented in this format, versus with 35mm on a steady projector, which may be 3 to 4 million. And a DLP projector is 1.3 million. SDS-70 on an 80-foot screen is going to look just as good as it would on a 40-foot screen.. We're basically under-utilizing the frame. We have almost forty-foot Lambert's of light coming off the screen (versus the recommended 16 Lamberts in 35mm projection-Kallay). We actually have to cut it back, because it makes the print too thin.

WSR- What did you shoot this demo in?

Weisgerber- We shot it full frame 65mm and we used Panavision, Arri and Showscan equipment. They all worked flawlessly. They have a broad variety of lenses. And with the stocks that are available today from Kodak, you don't really have a big issue about f-stops, speed or aperture. As you know, large format lenses are usually slower than 35mm lenses. In this case, it was never really an issue.

WSR- Who shot it?

Weisgerber- The Director of Photography who shot the footage in New York was a D.P. by the name of Michael Huss. And the aerial photography was shot by Ron Goodman, who is the developer of the Space Cam. They're both top-of-the-line guys.

WSR- What was the size of your crew?

Weisgerber- Very minimal. Six people.

O'Brien- It was a very tight budget. We weren't making an epic.

WSR- One shot in particular that impressed me was with the horse and carriage in Central Park. How'd that come about?

O'Brien- The genesis of that shot was from Oklahoma! Because the first shot you see, after you go through the cornfields, is Curly on the horse. To me, that was an impressive shot with the horse almost looking like it was going to come out of the screen. I said, "Okay, why don't throw this at the beginning of the show? And let's do something with the horse coming diagonally across the screen, pulling the handsome cab driver and the couple. I chose the carriage that had the bright red leather. So that when it was presented, it did exactly what we wanted it to do. It just jumps out at you.

WSR- Literally, my jaw dropped when I saw that. At least, in my opinion, your demonstration film was more impressive than Todd-AO, and that's no mean feat. Now, you demonstrated SDS-70 to the ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) at one point.

Weisgerber- The cinematographer who shot our demo film is very friendly with some members of the ASC. The ASC has meetings and presentations from time-to-time on new film technologies, cameras, film stocks, etc. These are done at the ASC Clubhouse once a month. In discussions about what we were doing, we met Robert Primes (ASC), who runs these presentations. I think at the outset, he was a little reluctant. He basically said, "You can't show me anything new."

WSR- What was his reaction to the demonstration?

Weisgerber- He was blown away by what he saw. And there was a session coming up in three weeks. We moved it from the Clubhouse to here (Harmony Gold Theatre). We had the Rembrandts of the industry here. When the first shot came on, which was the horse and carriage scene, right after the montage, there was just "oohs" and "ahhs". The net end result was when the presentation was over, we did a Q & A session. The consensus was they'd love to shoot in this format. This was a way of keeping movies alive and healthy. This is the way to make movies an event. I got a lot of calls at the office. I even got calls at home from a lot of these guys. I had only seen their names on the screen! They were calling me up and asking me, "How do you do this, and how did you do that?" It was very satisfying.

WSR- How is the exhibition industry responding?

Weisgerber- Anybody who has seen this has walked away awestruck. And I don't brag. There's one exhibitor, president of one of the largest chains, who said, "What you just showed me is brighter, sharper and clearer than IMAX. And best of all, the format fits into any of my theatres." To me, that was an enormous testimonial. And this was nobody to slouch at.

WSR- What is your opinion of film versus digital, in both cinematography and exhibition?

Weisgerber- There is an interesting crossroads occurring in this whole-filmed entertainment business. If you talk to people in the industry that are knowledgeable on the facilities side, they'll all tell you that electronic cinematography and electronic presentation has a place. That it will be there. But if film is going to survive, which they believe it will, most of them feel that it's going to be in the likeness of large format film for theatrical. Now there is a leading scientist who's working very diligently in the image capturing digital process, much like what Panavision and Sony have done. This guy is a big time scientist. Basically, he has told people in several meetings that he thinks that digital will never be able to replicate the dynamic range that film has, in both its contrast and its color depth.

WSR- There are certain entities, like Disney, AMC, Texas Instruments, Sony, Technicolor and Boeing, who are pushing d-cinema into the public's eye, though.

Weisgerber- The exhibitors basically feel that they must have a catch to keep the audience wanting to come to the theatres, besides the cupholders, the stadium seating and digital sound. So, if they could say, "digitally projected," that also would be something. And, of course, you have a lot of monies being invested by some very large corporations that have a lot to gain out of their technology being adopted, or their brand name being associated with the theatrical film experience, and how you can get that at home. THX started using their brand name on amplifiers and other products, and it was sort of like a little thing just to keep that name going, compared to what you see in the theatres. And all of the sudden, THX marketing is making money for Lucasfilm. And it's an actual profit center. So, you can translate that to either Sony, or Hughes, or to Texas Instruments, that their name is part of this digital presentation and they make units for the home. People could say, "Oh, that same system that I saw in the theatre, I'm gonna have it at home." But I believe that the bottom line to all this is keeping the public coming to the theatres. It's my belief that a multiplex has to be a multi-platform media center. It can't be just film-based. It can't be just electronic cinema. It has to be a variety of delivery technologies that provide different levels of entertainment, depending upon the content of the film.

O'Brien- If you go to the AMC Century City (Los Angeles, CA) multiplex, and you go to the right, they have very small auditoriums. That's perfect for digital cinema and it's perfect for small films. Young people who want to make digital movies could possibly show them on those type of screens. For those movies, you certainly don't need a big screen and there's an audience for them. There's also an audience in the market for what we have. So, you put us over here on the left side of the theatre complex in the two big auditoriums. That way, we've have two SDS-70 theatres. And then there's 35mm. Fine. You buy your ticket and go see a movie in 35mm. It's a perfectly good thing to see movies in 35mm. And we feel that should happen. We are not coming in and saying, "Hey, we want to throw everybody else out." But we feel you'll come and see us, and then the next day, you'll go down the hall and you'll see another film.

WSR- Before the demonstration film was shown, you had the audience sit fairly close to the screen. Almost everyone there seemed a little reluctant to movie closer.

Weisgerber- People find that the most comfortable place to watch a movie is the middle to the back. That's only because of the diminishing resolution of 35mm film, and people feel more comfortable there because it appears to be in focus. As you get closer and closer, the artifacts of 35mm projection start to become annoying to you or troublesome. What we have found is that in projecting SDS-70, that any reasonable seat in the theatre is a good seat. One of the fascinating things about this film, and this was a surprise to me, is that every time you see it, you find something new.

O'Brien- Frank Agrama is one of those people who has said that.

Weisgerber- Yes. Frank owns the Harmony Gold Theatre. He's been in the business for a long time. He took a look at it and he said, "Every time I see this, it gets better."

O'Brien- In his enthusiasm he said, "You have to get Spielberg in here. You have to get him. You have to get these important people." I said to him, "Frank, I'm trying!"

(Laughter)

Weisgerber- We know. We know. Another interesting thing is that we've spent a lot of time and a lot of effort in making a 35mm, 24fps version of this film. So, we can do what we claim to do, and that is wide distribution. You could run it in Super Dimension 70mm in our format, on our system, and you can also do a wide release in 35mm. And one of the fascinating things about it is that when we did the conversion and we perfected it, we finally realized the limitations of 35mm. We would run it and run SMPTE test film and we couldn't get the snap and the jump off of the film on a screen that's only 45-feet wide. And we'd run hours of footage from scenes with total fidelity and total resolution. It became very enlightening that there was a dumbing down that we went through. We didn't realize that 35mm does not have the kind of resolution that we thought it did. We've shown SDS-70 to a lot of people that we're in contact with on a regular basis. People have called me up, after seeing it, and they want to pop me in the nose. I said, "Why do you want to pop me in the nose?" They said, "I go to the movies now, I don't enjoy it! I go in there and I sit down and I can't believe how bad it is!"

WSR- What has been your experience with the studios?

Weisgerber- The studios are all very interested in what's going on. But they don't dictate to the director how a film is shot. The studios cannot say, "We don't have enough scope films lined up for distribution, so uh, Mr. Spielberg, the next film you do, make sure you shoot in scope." It all comes down to the directors and the producers of movies. It's their thing. Even the cinematographers only have so much influence. But it comes down to the content guys; the guys who are creating. Now, getting back to the point about distribution, because that's a critical factor for the studios. There's a lot of thought that the only way that a film is released is that you do a wide release, saturate it and you fold your tent and go away. I think that there's a lot to be said for that kind of marketing. But there are a lot of films that are distributed on a platform basis with SDS-70, where they go to limited release for word-of-mouth to create the momentum, and then they go wide. I think there's viability that you can do this platforming scenario and still be a win-win situation.

O'Brien- In other words, a film can be released in our system and it's not in 3000 theatres. It's maybe 300 theatres. But we feel if they're placed in the correct area, people will come.

WSR- Can this system go into any multiplex or megaplex?

Weisgerber- Two days of installing, if the screen is the right size.

WSR- Really?

Weisgerber- Yes. It doesn't take much to install this equipment.

WSR- How do you chose which theatres to install this in, besides the correct screen size?

Weisgerber- I've sat down with exhibitors and they gave me a list. They say these are the theatres, this is where they're located, this is their attendance, and this is their capability. And we cherry pick. That's what we're going to have to do when this thing gets off the ground.

WSR- How many locations are you planning on having?

Weisgerber- We plan to start off with a minimum of 75 locations, and then roll out to as many as 600 locations over a period of three years. We think that 600 would be more than enough. And we don't see more than maybe three to five films a year being presented in SDS-70. That way, you keep this thing as something that the audience wants to see. "I can't wait to see the next Indiana Jones film coming out in Super Dimension 70." It's like Star Wars. Everyone can't wait for the next Star Wars movie.

WSR Coate- Titanic did exceptionally well at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood or the Village theatre in Westwood, where they were shown in 70mm. There's always going to be somebody from the theatre company, or the studio that says, for instance, "Well, that was a popular movie. People are coming regardless." But you could also argue that those runs lasted longer because it was in 70mm. There are people that are traveling a farther distance to go there specifically because of that.

Weisgerber- I think this is like anything. It's like automobile companies saying, "You know what? It's got four wheels, it's got an engine. People just want to get from Point A to Point B. Why do we have to build this very expensive, high performance car? But people want the more elaborate cars. They don't want a commodity item. They want upscale. They want to be able to choose. And that's what this is all about. Right now, it's not by chance that the audience is going down. I think that if you improve the experience, I think you'll tap into age groups that normally don't go to the movies.

WSR Coate- You remind them that there is a choice.

O'Brien- Right now, there isn't any choice. The most famous line is, "I can't wait until the DVD comes out. It's going to look so good." I mean, what does that tell you? We hear that constantly.

Weisgerber- One of the critical points of our business strategy is that we believe that to get this thing off the ground, the exhibitors should not buy the hardware. We believe that this is a value-added entertainment. You can charge more, just like Fantasia 2000 in IMAX. Let's just say three dollars for it being in SDS-70 in these limited locations. A percentage goes to us to cover the cost of running a support network for the theatre circuits, servicing them and maintaining the equipment. A portion goes to the distributor to help cover the cost of the prints. There's also an extra bonus for the exhibitor making more money out of the take, on top of what it normally is. It would be a windfall for the theatre circuits.

O'Brien- We're not going to give you a projector and let you run any film on our projector, unless you agree that we'll come in and train your projectionist. We'll maintain the equipment. You have to maintain the auditorium.

WSR- How do you plan to have the first film shot in 65mm to being with?

Weisgerber- A producer who sees SDS-70 would want to shoot in the format. The idea is that we will sign on a studio to do a film. We would then go and identify the theatres that are best suited for the process, and get them to sign on. They would pay a nominal fee to be licensed to have their footprint unique and different, so that we don't have the four gasoline stations on the corner scenario. They sign on and they commit to criteria, which primarily is that the equipment will be maintained properly. They pay for consumables; the bulbs. The operator is dedicated, just like with IMAX. They don't take a guy from the other multiplex and operate it. You have a controlled environment. If it's an ideal location, but the screen is not right or not maintained, that will all be straightened out. And the theatre will have to pay for those fixes. Whatever they fix is going to improve their location and their 35mm presentation. It all comes down to professionalism and the execution. And that's what it's all about.

Thanks to Robert C. Weisgerber, Barrie O'Brien, Super Vista Corporation, Takuo Miyagishima (Panavision), Michael Coate and Gary Reber.

Super Dimension 70™ and SDS-70™ are trademarks of Super Vista Corporation

Differences In Film and Digital Projection Resolution Super Dimension 70 (SDS-70) 35mm negative 35mm print DLP   22 million pixels 12 million pixels 3-4 million pixels 1.3 million pixels

Frame Rates Showscan Super Dimension 70 Todd-AO Video formats (Digital Betacam, Betacam, Professional Digital Video, Mini and Consumer Digital Video, HDTV, NTSC, and consumer video) 60fps 48fps 30fps 30fps Cinerama IMAX, 70mm, 35mm and 16mm film Digital Panavision/Sony 24p   26fps 24fps 24fps