You are right on Harold.  I used to work as a projectionist in theatres
with the old-fashioned system which had 2 projectors.  We would have the
projector with the next reel ready to go and when we saw the first
cuemark, we would start the projector motor, then move the dowser open
to let the light shine on the now moving film.  When the 2nd cuemark
appeared, approx. 8 seconds later, we would operate switches to change
picture & sound.


-----Original Message-----
From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf
Of Harold Hallikainen
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 09:58 AM
To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
Subject: RE: [OT] PDFs/DRM (Digital Rights Management) -- how to
disable?


>
> For years I wondered what the brown oval blob that occasionally showed
up
> on
> cinema screens during the movie was (usually top right corner).  A
couple
> of
> years ago I discovered it was an anti-piracy thing.  Not sure how it
was
> supposed to work, apparently it upset cameras somehow.  It was also
> supposed
> to be invisible to people.  Right.  Annoys me more now that I know
what it
> is.

I think the top right corner blob is just a signal to the projectionist
to
start the next reel. It is something like 10 seconds before the next
reel
starts. If you watch the movie, there's typically a scene change 10
seconds (or whatever it is) after the blob. Theatres now splice all the
reels together for playback, so the blob is pretty meaningless (unless
some still play the show reel by reel).

Harold


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