I think I’ve talked about this paper before.
The main issues with their testing procedure are:
The low contrast test patterns
The projection lenses at the cinemas chosen
The screen textures at the cinemas chosen
The sine wave test patterns used.
The gates and gate pressure of the projectors used.While the test was worthwhile and produced some useful data, the resolution findings are pretty arbitrary, apart from comparing resolution loss at a relative level between the negative, inter positive, answer print and release prints.
The ‘absolute’ resolution figures are not really useful, all they really tell us is the quality of the projector and screen being used at those particular cinemas.Also, it is at 1.85:1 so the numbers are off compared to a 2.35:1 or other ratio image.
Had they tested the projection lenses, and the gate pressures and done some analysis of the screens in use, the numbers would have been far more useful.
Cinema presentation varies radically, and gate wear and pressure has a huge effect, as does the light scattering properties of the screen in use, and of course the projection lens, and the lens mount.
As for discerning the resolution of a release print, you can find that out directly and much more accurately by shooting a wider variety of test patterns and then examining the release print with a microscope or a scan of the print.
The resolution discernible in the cinema itself when projected, will be lower than that number, but will vary massively from cinema to cinema, even with the same projector and lens, the wear and aetup and screen properties could halve the discernible resolution compared to different setup.
The resolution present on a release print can easily exceed 1080P. I can show that directly on the scan we just did of the SE, and it isn’t a very sharp print. When projected, well, that number could literally drop to anything, depending on the cinema.
However, even in a terrible cinema, it will look better than a 720P digital projection, the fixed 720P grid will look clearly pixelated at normal projection sizes, whereas even with a poor setup, the release print will look a lot smoother and more detailed, and the effective resolution will be higher due to image information not falling between pixels or being averaged across them.
Great, thanks! I was hoping for an answer like this. 😃