i suppose that's why you end up with so many splices.

another thing that annoys me is when the projectionist breaks down the film they wind the film back on to the hubs head first

Depends on wether they have towers or platters and how lazy they are.

Do you have towers or do you use changeover?

I could see why it might irritate you on changeover, but for towers you just start on the last reel and work backwards (and hope).

yeah we have two projectors and have to change over half way..... i did the film cars the other day and the changeover dots were missing on the third reel for some reason

Ahh we had towers, so no real problem with the films being backwards

The cinema i used to run had a vicky 5, but we moved up to a vic 8 during a refit.

Out vic 8 was one of those used in the millenium dome I was told

I used to moonlight as a projectionist, started off on Erniman's with carbon arc rods (which originally showed Nazi propaganda films at the Luftwaffe base, then went to the bielefeld museum) and WOW when we got a Vicky5 at the cinema in Gutersloh it was an amazing bit of kit ........ no reel changes, no sitting with baited breath for pro cues and best of all no hand winding the reels.

brings back memories

Think ill stick to downloading HDTV