PINE GROVE — While Louise H. Miller was able to secure a 35 millimeter print of “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation” in July, she knew her days of running reels on platters were numbered.
“My booking agent said if I didn’t go digital soon, I wouldn’t have any films until Christmas,” Miller, owner and operator of the Pine Grove Theatre, 213 S. Tulpehocken St., said Tuesday.
To keep the lights on at the 105-year old landmark, Miller knew she had to ride the wave of the future and, by summer’s end, she got on board.
“We went digital in the second week in September. It was a very big decision for me,” Miller said.
On Tuesday, she demonstrated her NEC-brand NC900C-A digital cinema projector by screening “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2.”
“The system cost approximately $60,000. That’s just for one projector. And I wondered, ‘Would the business at our theater support the monthly payments?’ ” Miller said.
Uncertain, she came up with a plan to help her afford the pricey system. She and a group of local volunteers launched a series of fundraisers, from special screenings of vintage films to sales of memorial bricks.
“And that’s been a blessing,” Miller said.
She keeps her customers informed about how much she’s raised with a hand-made poster in her lobby. Across the top is the name of her campaign, “Dollars For Digital.”
“So far we’ve raised $13,162,” Miller said Tuesday.
The theater was built in 1910 by Gregory Achenbach and was first The Hippodrome Theater, which was open for stage shows as well as films, according to Miller.
After being closed in the mid-1950s, there was a complete reconstruction and the theater reopened in late 1962. That’s when “the Hipp” became The Pine Theatre. It closed in 1999.
In January 2001, Miller and her husband, Douglas E., bought the building from The Pine Theatre Co. for $35,000, according to the online Schuylkill Parcel Locator.
The couple did more than $30,000 in renovation work there and reopened it as the Pine Grove Theatre on April 13, 2001.
In recent years, Louise Miller, 58, has become the sole owner and operator. She is the theater’s only employee and she runs it with the help of family and friends.
The Pine Grove Theatre has two screening rooms, one with 200 seats and the other with 38.
The new digital projection system is in the larger theater.
A brief description of the machine is available at www.necdisplay.com, the NEC brand website:
“Designed for theaters with small screens, NEC’s NC900C DLP cinema projector delivers an enhanced theater experience with pristine images. With its S2K chip set from Texas Instruments, the NC900C is the most compact 2K DCI-certified digital cinema projector on the market. Its small size enables it to be installed in small projection booths within the theater or transported for mobile applications.”
Miller’s set-up includes a laptop computer, the projector and a storage cabinet.
She explained how the new system works.
“We used to haul boxes of 35 millimeter film up to the projection booth. Now the films come in on a device about as big as a VHS tape,” Miller said as she held up the one containing Jennifer Lawrence’s latest performance as Katniss Everdeen.
That’s a Digital Cinema Package, which contains a digital file, according to an article on the website Film Journal International.
“A DCP usually arrives at a cinema theater on a CRU hard-drive or USB Flash drive. The DCP is ingested into the theater’s Digital Cinema Server. Once verified, it is played off the server through a Digital Cinema Projector,” according to the website for indie Digital Cinema Services, Burbank, California.
“And I get an email which has a code. You log that into your projector. It tells you how long I can show that film,” Miller said.
The key to unlocking the film is called KDM, according to www.indiedcp.com.
“KDM is an acronym for Key Delivery Message. A KDM is a special electronic key that contains a code which ‘unlocks’ an encrypted film,” according to that site.
“When the code expires, the movie is no longer here. Uploading a movie onto here can take about two hours,” Miller said.
She said it took some getting used to.
“There are pros and cons. It can be a very quick process. I don’t have to put a film together like I used to, but I understood projectors. It’s all about gears. So when there was something wrong with the projector I could understand what was happening. Even with the platter system, nine out of 10 times if there was a problem it was because of human error. And that stuff was built to last. The film projector up here is probably from the ’50s. It’s tried and true,” Miller said.
“So now you’re learning an entirely new system,” Genavieve Moyer, Pine Grove, one of the theater’s supporters, said.
She deals with technical support personnel, sometimes on the phone.
“Three weeks ago, I had one talk me through how to change the bulb,” Miller said.
The Pine Grove Theatre will keep its vintage 35 millimeter projector, which includes a Strong-brand Super Lume-X lamphouse.
“It’s still functional,” she said.
She said she is considering holding special screenings of 35 millimeter films.
The format will always have a following.
“And Quentin Tarantino said he will always make films on 35 millimeter,” Miller said.
But, to keep up with changing times, Miller said she has to invest in new equipment. She said she hopes one day to be able to buy a second digital projector for her 38-seat theater.
When she was able to acquire 35 millimeter prints, she could run both theaters.
“But now my income is cut,” she said.
Upcoming fundraisers for the theater include:
• A screening of “Titanic (1997),” 1 p.m. Feb. 14.
• “Women’s Empowerment Day,” 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 27.
For more information, visit the theater’s website at www.pinegrovetheatre.com.