On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 01:00:42 -0700, "steveo" wrote:


"Demosthenes" wrote in message
...

snip

but the flicker phenomenon would still occur.

I have no opinion on the issue one way or the other, but would like to
contribute a bit of mechanical knowledge of how modern film projectors work
(based on experiential as well as technical knowledge from the field). The
reason for the flicker is because the bulbs that put light on the screen are
filled with compressed xenon gas. Being a noble gas, it takes a lot of
electricity to light up the bulb-4000 watts, in fact, for an average bulb.
The electrons jump from one segment of the filament to the other, creating
an arc. As the bulbs age, pits are formed in the filaments, which causes
the arc to jump from one area to another.

Up close, the effect it is not visible, but since the light throw is upwards
of 300+ feet in large auditoriums, the small movements are magnified
immensely just as the 35mm print is magnified to 70' diagonal.

So, if you see a picture that moves, flickers, or dims and brightens
noticeably, that means that the bulb is approaching the end of its useful
life and needs to be replaced.

Hope this adds a little something!

steveo


[Hammond]
Na... the legendary "flicker" (which is why movies are called
"flicks") does not come from the bulbs.

It is known that 15-16 frames/sec is the "Picture Fusion Frequency"
of the average adult (IQ=100). This is why 16 frames/sec was
the STANDARD in silent Films.

However, movie makers (as early as 1880's) discovered that this
caised an annoying 16 Hz "flicker"... even though the movies
themselves were not jittering or anything. They quicly realized
that there are TWO major biological effects in movies:

1. The Picture Fusion Frequency (PFF) which is about 15 frames/sec
and is based on the perceptual speed of the BRAIN.

2. The Flicker Fusion Frequency (FFF) which is 50-60 Hz and is
a biological charactistic of the EYE.

What they discovered is that by "double shuttering" the movie
(i.e. showing each frame twice, but still maintaining 16 fps),
they could DOUBLE the Flicker Frequency without changing the
Frame Rate.

When "talkies" came out, they had to bump the frame/rate up to 24
frames/sec to keep the sound track from warbling, and using
double shuttering that then raised the Flicker Rate to 48 Hz where it
remains to this day.

The REASON (in hindsight) that Silent Film makers discovered that
the minimum rame rate had to be 16 frames/sec, is because (as
modern Science has discovered) the human brain only operates at
a "mental speed" of 15 bits/second of information processing
speed. (see: http://www.v-weiss.de/lehrl-full.html ).
It turns out that the perceptual desicison answer to the question:
"Is the picture I'm seeing the same as the last one or different"...
requires one-bit of information processing (Yes-No), and that is
WHY the Picture Fusion Frequency of the average adult is in
fact 15 frames/sec which is the figure on which the ENTIRE
MOVIE INDUSTRY is founded, and was discovered apparently
by Thomas Edison himself.. or possibly earlier!

Interestingly, the PFF is VERY SENSITIVE to Intelligence. In fact
it has been shown (Riedel 1966) that the PFF of a 7 year old is
only 10 frames/sec, but that for a 15 year old it is 15 frames/sec..
a wopping 33% increase. This of course is because a 15 year old is
33% more intelligent that a 7 year old, just due to brain growth!

Amaxingly therefore, we now see that the MOVIE INDUSTRY has
discovered the world's first scientific proof of God... since it is
known (the Secular Trend) that average adult is only about 80%
fully grown... this means that about 20% of the ordinary motion
of the world is INVISIBLE to us... just like 33% of the world is
INVISIBLE to a 7 year old as compared to an adult.

This INVISIBLE WORLD is called "HEAVEN" in the Bible... and in
fact this INVISIBLE WORLD is the "Supernatural World" of ordinary
Religion.

Thus MOVIE FILM TECHNOLOGY has provided us with the world's
first actual SCIENTIFIC PROOF OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD!

It's been sitting there right under our noses for 100 years... and
HAMMOND is the first one to notice it!

THOMAS EDISON was the first one to produce an experimental
proof of God.........How's that grab you?


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