Business screen magazine (1946)

SOUND MOTION picture projector with ^ a compact hand-held, two-hour capacity n magazine that permits instantaneous shbutton selection of any one of six subts was unveiled recently by Panacolor, Inc. The new concept promises to broaden the Id for motion picture projection in business, luslrial. edcational and governmental fields. The Panacolor projector incorporates a mber of innovations in the state-of-the-art. is the first to offer a capstan drive together th a new advance in prism optics. This ipe recorder" drive permits operation of : projector with an exclusive remote con I for forward, reverse, stop motion, frame-frame or slow motion viewing. The capstan drive differs from conventional mon picture projection in that it does not II the film down frame by frame with a w action, but passes it horizontally and itinuously before a revolving prism proling the "shutter"' action. Leading up to this development, many perimenters in past years have proposed i actually produced models of projectors ng prism optics, oscillating mirrors and ler de\ices including a so-called "drunken ew drive" to replace the claw puU-down d intermittent movement, but none were le to pro\ide the image quality to which wers had become accustomed. In 1963. Dr. Leon W. Wells, president of nacolor's wholly-owned subsidiary', Pano1 Research. Inc., together with optical engi:rs at Zeiss Ikon-\'oigtlander, West Geriny. developed a unique "prism core"' asnbly by cementing 12 symmetrical lens ele:nts to an optical prism. With this assembly as its "heart" Dr. :11s designed a continuous capstan driven n transport mechanism similar to those iployed in tape recorders, with their high gree of reliability. With no drive sprockets claw pull-downs to apply stresses on the rforations. print Ufe is now said to be greatprolonged. .A further advantage claimed of this transrt mechanism is its quietness since it elimites the sometimes distracting noisiness of nventional claw-action projectors. Use of low -voltage 100-watt halogen lamp also oids the need for a blower, and its noise. The Panacolor Maaazine Motion Picture May broaden field of projection V aaaanaaaoaa TT r r «■ " ' — • — r '■ ■ — vrt^nfrrn-rrrrrrrrrrrrn ^^ %'^ %■> A NEW Projection System is is how the 12 rows of picture images and 12 /% of optical sound appear lengthwise on the nm filia System's revolutionary aspects he in the creation of a new film format and large capacity storage magazine to provide automatic reelto-reel projection of up to two hours of film with no threading or rewinding. Reel-to-reel projection makes the Panacolor magazine the only cartridge to provide reversal features. This is accomplished by printing 12 rows of picture images and 12 rows of optical sound lengthwise on Kodak 70mm film. Each frame approximates the area of the new Super 8 format which is about 50% larger than standard 8mm. The film is projected at 24 frames per second, but since each frame travels lengthwise, a speed of 30 feet per minute is achieved, resulting in sound reproduction quality comparable to 16mm optical sound. The capstan drive eliminates looping and improves the smoothness of the sound. The 70mm film is specially perforated by Eastman so as to provide synchronization of the optical faces of the prism core assembly with each frame. Since each film carries only two rows of perforations and 12 rows of pictures and 12 rows of sound tracks, 93% of the film area is used for audio-visual information storage as opposed to 60% of the film area on 8tiun film. .As a result of such economical film usage, plus high speed printing and processing of 12 rows of pictures and 12 rows of opUcal sound simultaneously with one pass through the printer and processor, the potential of truly low cost release prints by volume production can be achieved. It is now estimated that based on orders of 100 or more, cost of film plus printing and processing can be brought to approximately one-half that of 16mm film. At a priming speed of 150 feet per minute, a 30-minute film can be printed in 30 seconds. And unlike "dual" or "quad rank" printing of 8mm and Super 8 film which must be precision slitted after processing into individual strips for packaging and projecting. Panacolor's 70mm prints are cartridged and projected with no extra handling. (Panacolor has contracted with Du .Art Film Labs to print and process the 70mm Film.) The increased use of motion picture projectors for teaching and training have created a need for fonvard. reverse, stop motion, frame-by-frame projection and slow motion to provide repeat and review capability. All of these features are provided for the first time by remote control for greater accessibility and convenience. Other features built into the Panacolor projector include "two-way projection" — the ability to project on a self-contained 7V4 X 10' 2-inch rear projection screen, or by turning a knob, onto any standard screen Panacolor Projection System boasts impressive versatility. It offers "two way" projection, either on its built-in rear screen or onto any standard front screen for large group showing. It is also easily adaptable to closed circuit or off-the-air TV reception since its prism system eliminates the shutter system, which in conventional projectors must be synchronized with the TV scan rate. for large group showing. A larger, attachable 12 X 18-inch screen is also available. Although the Panacolor audio-visual system is basically a motion picture film medium, it is readily adaptable to closed-circuit or off-the-air TV reception since it has no shutter mechanism (or flicker) which in conventional projectors must be synchronized with the T\' scan rate. One of the most valuable features of the Panacolor system is the storage capacity and rapid retrieval of audio-visual information provided by the multi-row format and the Panacolor magazine. Up to 120 minutes of sound motion pictures may be stored in a single magazine requiring no film handling. To operate, the magazine is placed on a spindle, a safety cover is closed, and by pressing the "start"' button, the film leader is automatically threaded onto a take-up reel. A single magazine may contain as many as six different film subjects, and any one of them may be projected instantly. As it is a reel-to-reel system, ends of the film are not spliced together into a continuous loop, and there is no rubbing of film layers against each other. The film is projected which traveling in both directions. Changeover and reversal at the end of each ten minutes of running time takes only 2 5 second. At the end of the film, after 120 minutes, the projector shuts off automatically. No rewinding is necessary. A single Panacolor magazine load of 300 feet of 70mm film contains over 230,000 individual still frames. Almost a quarter of a million pages of information can be stored in a single magazine. The technology to search and rapidly retrieve any frame with or without a computer already exists. JMBER 4 ■ VOLUME 29 45