Sandell even better with new projector

The Sandell Drive-In has gone digital this season with the purchase of a new $68,000 projector that eliminates the need for film.

 Movie-goers will notice that the picture at the Sandell is much clearer and brighter than ever before thanks to the higher wattage of the new system, and the Drive-In also has many other new things it can do with the upgrade.

Owner John Morrow says he pretty much had to make the change after Sony, Fox, and Universal studios all said they would be ending support for 35mm film after 2012. So after some research, he decided to purchase the Barco DP2K-32B system.

Now instead of reels of flim, Morrow receives a hard drive that plugs into the system, and a keycode is sent to him electronically that allows the movie on the drive to be accessed for a limited time.

Trailers are pre-loaded digitally instead of having to splice them into the film, and Morrow says the time-saving aspect is the greatest advantage of the new system.

“It used to take one to one and a half hours to get ready to show a movie,” Morrow said. “This loads itself. It used to take 30 to 45 minutes to rewind the film, but I can delete this in seconds.”

Morrow said the projector comes with a 3D option for another $15,000, but he has been told it doesn’t work well at drive-in theatres due to light pollution. He hopes to visit a 3D drive-in theatre in Kansas sometime to see for himself how well it works.

With the new technology, Hollywood productions aren’t the only thing that can be shown at the Sandell. Already two birthday parties have been held that featured a DVD slideshow of pictures of the birthday child, and Morrow said his family put some their old home movies on a DVD and put them on the big screen following his mother’s funeral.

“We got to see her alive the day we buried her,” he said. “There was no sound, but we all added the sound by recalling stories about her.”

Morrow said he hopes to be able to run advertisements for local businesses before the trailers of movies, and the projector can also show PowerPoint presentations.

Morrow said he thinks the late Gary Barnhill, who opened the Sandell in 1955, would like the new system because it is easier on the projectionist. Morrow re-opened the drive-in ten years ago this Labor Day after it had been closed for 16 years. He says he has plans to celebrate his anniversary and will make those known as time gets closer.