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More complaints about poor picture and sound quality have surfaced around digital format movies screened at arthouse cinema Rialto Newmarket.
The Herald has received numerous complaints from Rialto Newmarket patrons following Richard Hodges' less than stellar experience with espionage film Breach last week.
Matthew Liebmann, general manager of
SkyCity Cinemas and Rialto, put the problem down to an issue with the copy of the movie supplied to them, which was later replaced with a 35mm film print from the distributor.
But Herald readers have written in with complaints about other movies they've watched at the Rialto.
Frances Woolcott was disappointed with a Peruvian film screened as part of a South American film festival.
"The film's colour and definition were appalling. All colour was completely washed out and outlines were continually broken up into shimmering pixelated boxes."
Patrice Delmas experienced the same problem twice, once with Academy Award winner The Lives of Others and with another movie.
"Each time it ruined the movie: you kept losing concentration because you kept noticing the pixelisation and the fuzziness of some fast scenes."
James Brookman has complained to the cinema several times.
"Rialto should be required to clearly advertise in the newspaper and on their website if a film is a DVD or film projection."
Peter McCully made a written complaint about the poor DVD projection when As it is in Heaven was screened at Rialto, but received no reply.
"This practice must stop and I hope there are more howls of protest from disgruntled movie patrons."
A spokeswoman for the cinema said it replaced its commercial DVD system in its digital format auditoria with e-cinema digital technology designed specifically for the exhibition of digital format movies in June.
"There are sometimes issues with copies of films, whether they're on a commercial DVD or on a 35mm film print. And we do everything that we can to quickly rectify that."
But with film festivals, organisers bring in their own films, which can come in various formats.
The cinema - and customers - sometimes do not have a choice of movie format, she said. "We stand by our product in whichever format it comes in. We don't hide which format it comes in. We've never shied away if people ask.
"Obviously if there is customer demand, we'll tell people what format it's being delivered in."
Bad experiences with two films, Aramoana shooting movie Out of the Blue and an Argentinian film, prompted film lover Richard Dale to lodge an unsuccessful complaint to the Commerce Commission.
The commission did not consider it to be a breach of the Fair Trading Act.
Commission's contact centre adviser Dave Annals wrote: "It is my opinion that an assumption is being made regarding how the movie is being projected. The cinema is making the representation that it will screen the movie, but it is not making any representation as to how it will screen the movie."
