The following

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/13/business/media/13projector.html

might be of interest. Discusses how Hollywood wants to move to digital projection. Notes audiences seem to prefer the digital image.

Interesting, but the "audience preference" in this case is an assumption based on increased ticket sales--probably more attributable, at this early stage of digital projection adoption, to the novelty and rarity of digital screenings, and to the hype associated with the word "digital" (witness how theater owners use the word "digital" just to describe the sound system in advertisements). When STAR WARS--Episode II came out, people flocked to the area theaters with digital projection just to judge for themselves how the digital versions looked vs. prints.

A better test would be a double-blind screener preference study. Probably SONY and TI have some data of this nature--anybody want to call them up? I think the SONY new technologies division where they run preference demos is still to be found in the Frank Capra building on the SONY lot.