Starkville Hollywood Premier Cinemas has pulled out all the stops for this fall’s movie season. This summer, the cinema fixed parking lot problems, the poster frames outside, the exterior carpet was changed and, in May, the exterior was given a new paint job. The inside changes are less recognizable but equally, if not more, important to the movie-going experience. 
Three and a half years ago, the cinema installed its first digital projector. At present, they boast 6 digital screens out of 11 (the others are classic film screens and projectors), with a new one scheduled to arrive Tuesday, Aug. 30. Future changes include an LED sign for the front box office and an LCD screen above the usher box. The LCD screen, which has been a project for the cinema for several years, is scheduled for installation this week. The screen will show the seating status of movies — seating, not seating, sold out — and will be controlled by the usher.
You may wonder what the differences are between the new digital and old film screens and projectors. For the audience, the digital screen is brighter and clearer while also offering a superior presentation of the latest graphics. Old screens may have scratches while digital have none. Also, with digital, viewers do not hear the projector at all. It provides more control over sound, picture, focus and brightness. The old projectors required movies to be spliced together, causing a visible  horizontal line on the screen, whereas the digital is seamless.
All 3-D movies now have to be projected by a digital projector. If not, the movie is accompanied by the irritating red and blue glasses and not the dark plastic lenses that are used today. In addition, the 3-D effect is incomparable to old film style.  For example, in movies like “Avatar,” the 3-D is more thorough and recognizable. During the entire movie you can tell the difference between the background and the foreground.
Digital is a drastic change from the classic film model and an addition to some of the many changes the cinema progresses toward.
Doug Bedsaul, the general manager of the Starkville Hollywood Premier Cinemas, thinks the most recent changes are steps in the right direction.
“Every so often we change the image… When you have regular customers that come rather often, you don’t want them to see the same place. The image gets stale. You want them to continually see changes. If we don’t continually invest in the business, customers won’t invest in us,” Bedsaul said.
 The digital screens and projectors not only improve the show, but also the ability to present it. Bedsaul compares the old projectors with the new.
“Our first digital was an early version and it still gave us problems. The newest ones are flawless. Sometimes movies cannot play because of (the way the projector works). Old projectors are mechanical; with so many moving parts anything can go wrong—human error, any small thing. Digital projectors have a one button push operation. Rarely there are errors. There are no moving parts, except a cooling fan, to take out human error.”
The minimization of human error is what keeps the movies rolling, whereas on the older film projectors anything could happen: the movie could stop; the sound can be corrupted. Even small errors of the operator can severely damage a movie goer’s night. Luckily, Starkville Cinema plans to replace all film projectors with digital by the end of 2012.
With these advances in technology, it is a wonder prices for concessions and tickets do not rise. The prices of the first two digital 3-D projectors were $100,000 each.
Bedsaul said he strongly disagrees with raising the price of tickets or concessions despite the fact Hollywood Premier Cinemas beats out many other theaters in its low costs.
“In the area we live, we feel we need to keep our prices at this level so people will buy,” Bedsaul said.
“With the economy the way it is, we have to keep prices low or people will stop buying. We would lose money in the long run. If we increase prices but sell less, we make no money. We think we’ve found a good balance between price and sales volume,” Bedsaul said.