It is a digital age and Creekside Cinema is ready to join in.

This week, crews from Sony are working to install new Sony 4K digital projectors which just came out in October.

Frank Theaters, the parent company for Creekside, is the only theater group in the country undergoing a full deployment of the new projectors and is the only group deploying the new technology in the Carolinas.

“I think it’s fantastic,” said Deborah Bishop, manager. “It’s really going to be nice for the customers. We’re ahead of some of the big cities in this.”

The most noticeable difference between the new system and old 35mm film system will be the increased quality of picture the audience will see. The 35mm film showed pictures at 1,000 to 1,100 pixels. The new digital system will have a resolution of 4,000 pixels, 10 times the resolution before, according to Tim Whitsitt, Sony field service representative. Sony is the only company that has the 4K technology, most have the 2K digital technology.

“You’re going from the old technology to deeper, brighter colors, a higher resolution and a brighter screen. The movie-goer’s going to see a much better presentation,” he said.

In addition to the increased resolution, the new technology will eliminate the scratches and hairs that are sometimes seen with the use of film.

“The resolution and the presentation stays more consistent. It’s just a better experience,” said Whitsitt. “On movies with lots of color like animated features, the colors are so much more brilliant. They stick out. For me, when you see trees or buildings, the outlines are so crisp and clean that I notice the detail.”

Installers were quick to point out that there is nothing wrong with the 35mm technology. The equipment the cinema has been using is still good. However, the old equipment has a number of moving parts that can break or simply wear out. The new equipment does not have moving parts and everything is contained in a box.

While some people are sad to see the 35 mm film begin to go by the wayside, the newer technology has advantages beyond just providing a better quality. Old films were delivered in canisters with projectionists having to load each film onto the reel individually and feed it into the projector.

With the new technology, the film will be on hard-drives. Employees simply have to load the films onto a computer rack so that the computer absorbs the content. Then, each film can be sent to the right theater through an Ethernet cable. The projectionist would be able to call up the right film, send it to the correct theater’s projection system and even program in the time it is supposed to start playing all from behind a desk.

Another advantage to the new equipment is that for films with big premieres, such as the Twilight films, Harry Potter or the Chronicles of Narnia, all of which have new installments due out this year, the cinema will be able to show the film on multiple screens using only one copy of the film.

Crews began work removing the old system and installing the new Tuesday morning with the hopes of having many of the theaters up and running this past Thursday afternoon and completely installed by Friday, just in time for this weekend’s movie rush.

The cinema will have the new digital equipment in all 10 theaters with 3-D lenses in three of them.

Contact Morgan Wall at mwall@mtairynews.com or 719-1929.