Cottages are a great place to study antiquated movie formats. From the cobwebby 8mm projector in the basement to the workhorse Betamax deck next to the beer fridge to the rabbit ears and the obscure RCA Selecta Vision, it's clear that collective society has experienced cinema in a rush of ways, ever since the Lumière brothers turned out the lights in a Paris basement.

But just recently, one of the most compelling ways to watch film was handed a pink slip, like just another worker in the factory line of history. The IMAX Corporation announced its disappointing quarterly earnings last week - over $10 million in losses. But, it did so with a certain caveat, as if to say: 'Things will get better when we go digital.'

As things stand, the Toronto-based company is looking ahead to late 2008 when it will get to write off millions of dollars in antiquated equipment as it converts its theatres to digital projection. Remember peering through the glass to see the impressive 70mm projection room during your Grade 5 field trip to the IMAX? Well, no more, unless they put flashing lights on the buttons of the new film-less units or something.

By way of newsreel background, let me tell you that IMAX was founded by employees of the National Film Board as a commercial offshoot of their experimental innovations with 70mm large-format film at several World's Fairs. But, as one IMAX deep-throat recently told me, the sell-off of the company in the early 1990s heralded the end of the operations-run-by-innovators business model. At that point the emphasis of profitability became a driving force and, looking at the TSE stock price of 'IMX' as I write this, can be seen behind this decision to basically subject audiences to a lower-quality digital image, even if it comes with the near-infallible rubric of 'High Definition.'

Devoted reader, 70mm film - with its 7,000 lines of resolution - is already higher than high definition. And, if the new U23D film is any indicator, audiences are in for a corporate runaround as IMAX HD is being pushed as having superior image quality to IMAX film. This is the same marketing strategy that made legends of the three letters 'VHS,' when Sony Betamax technology was actually superior in quality, and which spelled the end of Cinerama when the three-projector format was replaced by the bargain solitary Super Panavision projection process in the 1970s.

So, to bank a story for your grandchildren, go see a real 70mm IMAX film (one shot on 70mm film, specifically) before it's too late. And wave to the projectionist, too. It'll soon to be too late for him or her.

Walter Forsberg is a filmmaker with l'Atelier national du Manitoba.