Shortly after the 8.9-magnitude earthquake occurred off the coast of Japan on March 11th numerous rumors and speculation have swirled around the exhibition industry over its impact on the availability of digital cinema equipment. In part, this was spurred on by Texas Instruments reporting that their manufacturing plant in Miho, Japan, about 40 miles northeast of Tokyo, “suffered substantial damage” during the quake.

Because third of the output at TI’s Miho plant is dedicated to DLP production. The DLP chip is one of the most important parts in digital cinema projectors manufactured by Barco, Christie and NEC, so it was initially thought that the industry would once again face a shortage of equipment. However, since then both Barco and Christie have publicly said they have enough inventory on hand to meet demand for months, if not a year, into the future.

As the number of emails coming in to Celluloid Junkie with questions about the issue increased to more than two dozen, I felt it appropriate to give TI a call for an update. What I learned was that, most importantly, all of TI’s personnel are safe and unharmed. The company’s fabs in both Miho and Aizu-Wakamtsu (about 150 miles north of Tokyo) were damaged in the earthquake. At Miho, the building withstood the earthquake, though the manufacturing equipment inside was damaged as it got tossed around with all of the shaking.

By the end of March repairs at Miho were finished on the facility’s infrastructure systems that deliver water, gases, chemicals and air. Most significantly, the fabs cleanroom was recertified. At the time, 90 percent of the plant’s equipment had passed electrical tests.

According to TI’s manager of DLP Cinema, Dave Duncan, “We’re happy to report that the recovery is progressing really well at Miho, and is on schedule to return to full production. With this in mind, along with our ability to quickly identify and utilize our alternate manufacturing sites, and reports from our digital cinema partners, we do not foresee problems with delivering chipsets to them. We will keep their production going strong through the rest of the year and beyond.”

Keep in mind, that while the fabrication of DLP chip begins in Japan they are shipped off to Dallas, Texas where the mirror structure is manufactured. They are then sent to Taiwan where production of the Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) is completed. When dealing with a manufacturing process stretching across one or more countries it is important to remember that most experienced companies will tend to have enough inventory at every stage to account for quality assurance issues as well as problems with shipping and customs.

Presently, TI estimates that their Miho plant will resume production sometime in April and will be at full capacity by mid-July.

Of course, another major digital cinema projector company is the Japanese based Sony. It’s not hard to see how their inventories and ability to meet customer demand would be affected by the recent earthquake. So far, we’ve heard two public statements from the company. The initial claim was that the quake had no impact at all on their current manufacturing ability. In early April a representative of the company said Sony was still trying to determine whether the disaster would have any affect on the availability of projectors. This could actually be a positive sign since any damage Sony facilities suffered wasn’t extensive enough to immediately reveal a slow down in in manufacturing. Sony may instead be waiting for third-party component suppliers to inform them of any potential delays.

Indeed, rather than worrying about whether the Japanese earthquake will cause a digital cinema projector shortage, the industry might have a bigger problem when it comes to d-cinema servers, which rely heavily on numerous boards and chips manufactured in the region.

Dolby is using CinemaCon to announce a slate of new titles that will be released with Dolby Surround 7.1 audio.

Most of the films are highly anticipated summer tentpole releases and include Walt Disney Studios “Pirates of the Carribbean: On Stranger Tides”, DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 2″, Disney/Pixar’s “Cars 2″ and Paramount Pictures’ “Transformers: Dark Of The Moon”. Dolby also landed the first Indian film to feature their enhanced audio offering; Ramesh Sippy Entertainment’s “Dum Maaro Dum” will be released in April with Dolby Surround 7.1.

Since introducing the product to exhibitors in June of 2010, more than 1,300 Dolby Surround 7.1 installations have been completed. Dolby now says it is one of the “fastest adopted cinema audio formats” in the company’s history.

Of course, what makes the enhanced audio offering possible are the 16 audio tracks, or channels, within digital cinema packages (DCPs). Including additional audio tracks in digital releases seems like a no brainer, however exhibitors still have to be equipped to playback the extra channels. That means having wiring in place for left rear and right rear surround channels, not to mention an audio processor that can route the audio to the proper speakers.

It has been argued by industry techies that distributors could include two additional channels in a DCP since the DCI spec calls for uncompressed audio. True, there isn’t necessarily a proprietary Dolby technology (that I know of) used to create 7.1 surround sound. On the other hand, Dolby has been aggressive in working with studios to mix their films properly for 7.1 surround and has supported exhibitors installing the necessary technology in their auditoriums.

After launching their 4K projector at ShowEast, Belgium based Barco is ramping up their global sales effort with the announcement of two new deals.

The first was a reseller partnership arrangement with Real Image in India, a country presently experiencing high growth in new multiplex openings. Real Image may be familiar to some as the company behind Qube Cinema. Barco will provide training, service and customer support to Real Image in a deal that should help the projector manufacturer strengthen marketing efforts and increase its install base throughout the territory.

Real Image will be able to offer Barco’s entire digital cinema product line to their customers, a necessity in a country where cinemas range from small single screen complexes in remote geographical areas to state-of-the-art venues in large urban areas. Arvind Rangnathan, Chief Executive Officer of Chennai based Real Image pointed this out in the press release announcing the partnership:

“The complete range of digital cinema projectors offered by Barco are ideal for this market, be it the mid-sized multiplex screen or the large single screen… we are now able to provide a stunning experience in 2D and 3D even on larger cinema screens.”

Screen and theatre size may not be the only variables accounted for when Indian theatre owner select digital cinema equipment. Many distributers release films in a multitude of languages and wide range of budgets. Because Hollywood is not the primary source for content virtual print fees (VPFs) are historically low in the region. Thus, having products at different price levels is important since equipment cost will play a factor in the type of projector an exhibitor can afford.

Overall, the partnership makes sense for both parties; Barco needs someone to help support their digital cinema product line in India where Real Image has a history of successfully representing media technology companies such as Avid, Orad and DTS.

The second agreement was with Cinemark who has chosen to install Barco’s DP2K-23B and DP2K-32B projectors throughout their 132 cinemas in Latin American countries. The 23B is capable of projecting onto screens 75 feet (23 meters) wide and the 32B can throw images on screens as large as 105 feet (32 meters). Both projectors utilize DLP Cinema’s chip set and can be upgraded to 4K resolution.

Barco will expand their already strong presence in Latin America with additional technical support and service staff, as well as local parts depots. The company already has a training facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Cinemark also has a large footprint in the region operating more than 1,000 screens in 13 different countries. Cinemark has already rolled out a significant number of Barco projectors in its North American theatres, so their decision to enter into an exclusive agreement with the manufacturer isn’t a huge surprise.

Cine Packewaia in Ushuaia, Argentina

Quick, tell me what is the southernmost location in the world where you can see a movie in digital 3D? Silly question I know, but it’s thanks to Christie, the projector company, that I can even ask it.

The company sent out a press release yesterday announcing their digital cinema projectors had been chosen by The Packewaia Cinema (Cine Packewaia) in Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city on earth. The city of 65,000 rose out of a former naval facility only ten years ago and is now the capital of Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego province, otherwise known to English speakers as the “Land of Fire”.

The Packewaia Cinema is run by Gama Producciones and appears to have only one screen, which is now not only equipped with a Christie projector, but also Dolby 3D.

The release was filled with gems such as this from Craig Sholder, Christie’s vice president of Entertainment Solutions:

“It seems appropriate that ‘the land of fire’ has embraced the ‘hottest’ trend in the industry: 3D digital cinema.”

Probably the most interesting information contained in the announcement was the unique way Xenon Cinema Technology had to install the projector. Not all films are released digitally in Argentina, in fact it can sometimes take weeks before a film print makes its way as far south as Packewaia, so the 35mm projector couldn’t be completely abandoned.

Alex Mir of Xenon explained how they overcame the obstacle:

“The chief projectionist designed an elevator system that allowed them to lower the Christie projector out of the way for a 35mm screening; then raise it to its operating position for digital screenings.”

Given Christie’s role as the market leader in most of Latin America is this major news? Not really. But was it a really fun headline to write? You bet!

Sony's SRX-R320 Projector

If Sony wanted to make a big splash at Cinema Expo in Amsterdam this past week then they did one heck of a job. On Tuesday, the second day of the conference, Sony announced two exhibitor agreements with National Amusements and AMC Entertainment’s United Kingdom based theatres for digital conversions. The company, known for its 4K digital cinema solution, also struck up partnerships with three European digital cinema dealers.

National Amusements
The biggest of these announcements had to be the news that National Amusements had chosen Sony as their integrator. The theatre chainis one of the largest in the world, operating 950 screens across venues in the U.K., United States and Latin America. National Amusements is the fifth largest theatre chain in North America.

Under their existing virtual print fee (VPF) agreements with Hollywood studios, Sony will install their 4K digital cinema projectors on all of National Amusements’ screens. They will start immediately with Showcase Cinemas, National Amusements’ U.K. theatre chain where Sony Digital Cinema 4K systems will be deployed on all 276 screens. In an effort to quickly ramp up the number of 3D screens at the circuits disposal, Sony will install the first 24 systems before the end of July.

There was no mention when installation of d-cinema equipment would begin in the U.S. or South America.  In fact the press release seemed purposefully non-committal, referring to the deal as an “expected global exhibitor agreement”. One could read into the use of the word “expected” or assume that Sony will be deploying equipment to the 450 screens National Amusements has in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island. The theatre chain owns 16 theatres in South America which would probably be included in any worldwide rollout.

It should also be noted that the release specifically referred to the equipment being installed as Sony Digital Cinema 4K Systems. That’s because the Sony media block (LMT-300) which plays content to the 4K projector (SRX-R320) is actually inside the chassis of the projector. This is for security purposes; the locked cabinet protects against tampering and negates the need for encryption such as CineLink 2 between the media block and the projector. Sony will also be providing their theatre management system.

The statement given by Duncan Short, Vice President of International Operations at National Amusements, specifically mentioned Sony’s technology as one of the reason’s the circuit chose them:

“The Sony 4K digital systems provide outstanding image and sound quality, and will enable us to extend our programming to 3D and alternative content, delivering exciting entertainment experiences to our existing and future customers.”

AMC In The U.K.
Sony’s announcement regarding AMC’s theatres in the U.K. was not all that surprising. After all, AMC has already chosen (through DCIP) Sony’s 4K systems for their North American theatres. In the U.K. Sony will install their d-cinema kit at both AMC theatres; the Broadway Plaza 12 in Birmingham and Great Northern 16 in Manchester.

AMC’s decision to stick with Sony in the U.K. may be an indication that they are satisfied with the technology and support they are getting in North America. If there was ever an opportunity to move away from an agreement that wasn’t working out so well, then converting cinemas outside the U.S. and Canada would have been it. Another theory might be that the circuit simply wants some continuity in the equipment it is installing in all their venues.

European Dealer Partnerships
To help Sony extend its reach in the European market the company has entered into partnerships with three respected dealers; Hulskamp Audiovisueel in the Netherlands, Protronic in Switzerland and Sound Associates in the U.K.

Sony already has some very good representation in the territory thanks to Oliver Pasch, the head of digital cinema at Sony Professional in Europe. In the press release announcing the partnerships he explained that Sony is committed to growing their distribution channels throughout Europe:

“Working hand in hand with these specialist dealers, we can jointly deliver outstanding 2D and 3D technology to support cinemas exhibitors across Europe.”

The partnerships were describes as “strategic” though not exclusive. This means the dealers will likely continue selling DLP projectors and add Sony’s 4K projectors to their offerings. Sony not only increases its ability to distribute their technology in Europe, but will also now have reliable local service groups to support deployments in each country.

Datasat's AP20 Audio Processor

It is a very rare occasion when I have any personal involvement, however small, in one of the many press releases that make their way to my inbox. This past week was one such occasion when two announcements arrived from an old employer, Datasat Digital Entertainment (formerly DTS Digital Cinema). Both press releases pertained to the company’s new cinema audio processor, the AP20.

While still at Datasat I was tasked with product management for the next generation of their cinema audio processor. The XD10P, which was the complementary audio processor for the XD10 Cinema Media Player, was nearing end-of-life and parts to manufacture it were increasingly getting hard to come by. Besides, Datasat wanted an audio processor that would be capable of handling the more technical demands of digital cinema and other pro-audio applications.

After a great deal of market research and engineering work, the AP20 Audio Processor was developed. The processor can handle digital audio from both eight channel 35mm film prints and 16 channel digital cinema content. It has a touch screen interface, Dirac Live room tuning, more digital signal processing power than anyone could ever ask for and enough input/output jacks to make the crankiest of theatre techs happy. Even the three expansion slots made the final cut allowing for additional channels or the integration of emerging technologies.

I was quite proud that the initial functional requirements we put together for the processor wound up actually getting built. However, I left Datasat shortly after the product launched and once outside the company I could never really be certain how successful the processor was in the market.

The AP20 Around The World
Any concerns I may have had completely vanished this past week upon being told all Datasat’s sales projections were being “comfortably” met. In fact, one of Datasat’s releases boasted that the West African theatre chain Au Cinema Ce Soir chose the processor for their digital cinema screens, including their flagship cinema, Théatre National Daniel Sorano in Dakar.

I’ve also heard that Krikorian Premiere Theatres has installed the processor on a number of screens, though this wasn’t in the press announcement.

Just as impressive, at least to me, was that when the AP20 was demonstrated at the AMC Framingham in Massachusetts, John Allen, President of High Performance Stereo was quoted as saying:

“The AP20 sounds brilliant with a clarity that is the best I’ve heard coming from a cinema audio processor.”

Allen not only makes his own award winning sound system and has tuned the audio for some of the world’s greatest movie theatres, but he is infamous for being picky when it comes to cinema audio.

7.1 Surround Sound Capability
Earlier in the week Datasat announced the AP20 was capable of handling the 7.1 sound format employed by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar on their latest release, “Toy Story 3″. This is really just Datasat’s attempt to keep pace with Dolby who helped produce the 7.1 mix.

From an oversimplified viewpoint, there are two key reasons this is not a huge surprise:

• The 7.1 mix of “Toy Story 3″ was only supplied for digital prints, not 35mm film prints. This means that the audio tracks are not compressed with any proprietary technology and any eight channel audio processor could conceivably play them.

• The AP20′s basic setup can handle eight channels of audio for both film and digital content simultaneously.

Dolby did however work closely with theatre owners to upgrade the sound systems in certain cinemas to handle the two new channels ( Back Surround Left and Back Surround Right). In fact, Dolby has a neat little feature on their website that allows visitors to search for a local theatre playing “Toy Story 3″ in 7.1 surround.

Datasat says they followed the same strategy in working with exhibitors, as well as instructing their customers how to set up their audio processors (including the XD10P) to play back all eight channels. Quite honestly, any company manufacturing eight channel cinema audio processors could be, and should be, taking up the same tactic.

What do you think of the 7.1 sound format? Would you seek out a theatre playing a film in 7.1 surround sound? If you’re a theatre owner, have you or do you plan to upgrade to 7.1 surround sound? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

Christie's CP2220

It’s been a busy week for Christie. The company’s CP2220 was the first series 2 digital cinema projector to pass the Compliance Test Plan (CTP) put in place by Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) to gauge whether equipment meets their published specification. As well, they announced the opening of a new manufacturing facility in Shenzhen, China.

While many d-cinema equipment manufacturers claim their products are DCI compliant, it wasn’t until October of 2007 that a testing process was made public and testing entities were selected. Christie can now officially say the CP2220 is DCI compliant, having fully passed all tests that make up the CTP, including procedural and design reviews. Because Sony says the SRXR320 is compliant on their website I’m not sure if it’s the first digital cinema projector to pass the CTP, or just the first series 2 projector to pass it.

In the press release announcing the test results, John Hurst of CineCert, one of DCI’s icensed testing entities, said:

“We are very pleased to confirm that the Christie CP2220, featuring Texas Instruments’ Series 2 DLP Cinema technology, has passed all the requirements of the CTP.”

Passing the CTP is a huge milestone for a d-cinema technology vendor as it is the only way for equipment to become DCI compliant. Hollywood studios require all equipment playing their content to be DCI compliant. In making sure a piece of equipment meets all of the DCI specifications, one of the CTP’s main goals is to verify a device’s interoperability and content security features.

Commenting on the importance of the announcement, Brian Claypool, Senior Product Manager of Entertainment Solutions at Christie, said:

“Now that CineCert has confirmed the Christie CP2220 meets the CTP’s requirements, exhibitors have another level of assurance about our commitment to providing them with industry-leading products and services.”

The CP2220 is part of Christie’s Solaria Series which are capable of being upgraded to 4K. According to the company, this upgrade can be done in as little as 15 minutes. The projector can throw 22,000 lumens with a 3kW lamp onto a screen as large as 15 feet (16.8 meters). As Hurst mentioned, the CP2220 uses a 1.2″ 2K DLP Cinema chip made by Texas Instruments. To upgrade to 4K this chip would be swapped out for one that was 1.38″.

The news that a series 2 digital cinema projector passed the CTP does not come entirely as a surprise. There have been a number of murmurings at industry events that one if not more of the projector manufacturers were close to successfully completing the CTP. Of course, there has also been talk, especially among exhibitors, that it is difficult to actually take delivery of a series 2 DLP projector. There have been complaints circulating for some time that its taking projector manufacturers months to fill orders.

Though have no fear. Christie has found a way to solve this problem. They have opened a new manufacturing plant in Shenzhen, China which will produce Solaria projectors such as the CP2220, CP2210 and the CP2230. The facility will focus on inventory mostly for the Asia Pac-Rim, with the first products rolling off the assembly line as early as July. This will add to Christie’s manufacturing capacity which has been carried mostly by their North American facility.

It’s not hard to see why Christie chose Shenzhen. It’s one of China’s largest cities (third largest actually) and is primarily known for industrial manufacturing and a population filled with millions (literally) of skilled workers. It’s also next door to the port city of Hong Kong which will make it easy to ship all those projectors to their final destinations.

Oh, and did I mention it’s in China? As Ihor Stech, Vice President of Operations at Christie, pointed out in the press release, sourcing parts and avoiding tariffs were key reason’s for opening the new facility:

“It is the ideal location because much of our raw materials come from the Asian region, so we can more efficiently convert them to final product. With the initial projectors feed the markets in Asia, we will also save on import duties.”

Panavision continues to modify its 3D glasses

Earlier this week Panavision took their first public steps into the 3D motion picture exhibition market by announcing a new system that will work with all projectors, film or digital, and all screens, white or silver. While we had already reported that Panavision was working on such a solution, this was their first official statement about the product. The company, primarily known for high end motion picture camera systems, will demonstrate the system next week at Cine Expo in Amsterdam on a screen 56 feet wide (17 meters).

Last Tuesday Panavision invited the press to their offices in Woodland Hills to see the 3D system in action. We were greeted by John Galt, Panavision’s Senior Vice President of Advanced Digital Imaging, Eric Rodli, Senior Vice President of Panavision and Bill Bevins, President and CEO of Panavision. They explained all the technical specifications about the system as well as some of the business details pertaining to its marketing.

First let’s quickly review some of tech bullets all of which are the same as they were back in March when we first saw a demo:

• The system uses spectral comb filtering, not polarization, to separate the visible light spectrum into ten band of even and odd wavelengths of light. One set of bands is presented to the left eye, the other set to the right eye.

• Dichroic passive glasses allow the viewer to view distinct images in each eye. Though the image reaching each eye is actually different, the viewer’s brain puts the images together providing the sensation of seeing a full color spectrum.

• No ghost busting, color correction or image processing is required.

• Film-based 3D uses an over/under method. Each frame of film contains two images, stacked on top of one another, two perforations high. The system will use the same film prints made for Technicolor’s 3D system.  A specially designed split lens mounted on the front of the projector combines the images on screen.

• Digital 3D being shown on a DLP projector employs a split filter wheel placed before the integrator and in front of the lamp house that rotates at 4320 RPM to provide 144 flashes per second. For Sony’s SXRD projectors a specially designed split lens will be used to separate two stacked images from the 4K chip.

• The system will work with any digital projector on the market today.

• Panavision worked with Omega Optical to develop the product.

Unlike systems that use polarization, the glasses are not reusable. Despite the less expensive material required to make glasses for polarization 3D systems, Galt explained, “The problem with polarization is that you have to maintain the polarization from the projector, to the screen back to the eyeball so it requires a metallic screen.” Because there is no polarization a white screen can be used, Panavision’s system is more comparable to Dolby’s 3D system.

The glasses for Panavision’s system has special lenses and will cost between USD $5 to $7 a pair. The company will provide a washer for the glasses which can clean 1,200 pairs per hour. Panavision feels that in territories such as Europe, the reusable glasses will be readily accepted, especially at low prices, since they cut down on ecological waist such as plastic wrappers, cardboard boxes and even freight.

Another competitive advantage Panavision sees is that the same system can be used with both film and digital, thus providing a “migration path” for exhibitors who might want to start out with film-based 3D. “You can start with film and migrate to digital without changing your operating procedures,” said Rodli. “The same glasses will work fine. It will make it seamless to the audience and we’re going to make it very attractive to the exhibitor to make that migration. It’s a fairly trivial and low cost transition.”

Speaking of cost, Panavision said they were still finalizing on the business model and are working with exhibitors and studios to discuss the best way, and best price, to bring the system to market. “We realize there is a competitive marketplace there so as good as the technology is, we have to find an economic model that will work for everyone,” Rodli stated. “We think we can.”

Whatever model Panavision adopts, whether it’s outright sale of the system or a lease agreement, it will definitely include an ongoing royalty payment. On the other hand, it may cost nothing to initially install the system.

Panavision uses a special split lens for film-based 3D

“There are a lot of things that go into the negotation – the size of the screen, the number of screens involved, the term of the contract – so there is no one size fits all for this,” said Bevins when talking about pricing. “Leasing is in our DNA. We are not yet at a point where we’re absolutely clear what the business model is. Whether we will pay the upfront installation cost, pass it through, bill it up front. In fact that’s a negotiation we’ll have with everybody and that up front installation cost will be handled differently in each instance.”

While the idea of leasing 3D motion picture technology may seem like an odd model, it’s not such a foreign concept to Panavision. Keep in mind this is the same company that manufacturers multi-million dollar 35mm film cameras and rents them to individual productions. Indeed, Bevins reports that Panavision will continue to broaden their offerings in the industry.

“We think of ourselves as a very high end supplier of equipment for the motion picture industry,” he said. “As far as Panavision is concerned we will continue to be very opportunistic if we see a place anywhere in our base business to be of service.”

Panavision’s 3D system will be available to theatre owners worldwide sometime this fall.

Both at ShoWest and in the weeks leading up to the conference, I was able to speak with some of the folks over at Texas Instruments working on the company’s digital cinema offerings. They were happy to report that development of their 4K chip was right on schedule and some of the first 4K DLP projectors should be available for purchase in the first part of 2011, if not a little sooner.

For those who are just tuning into our industry, TI is the group that has been making DLP chips for cinemas since 1999.   Each DLP chip is an array of 2.2 million microscopic mirrors that move and rotate at high speeds to reflect the appropriate light and provide 2K image. Projectors based on the company’s DLP digital micromirror device (DMD) have been installed on over 19,000 movie theatre screens worldwide, giving them at least 90% of the digital cinema install base.

However, last year for the first time TI’s dominance in the market was threatened when two of the world’s largest cinema chains, AMC Theatres and Regal Cinemas, announced they would be installing Sony’s 4K digital cinema projectors. While the DCI spec may only call for 2K, the marketing advantage of 4K was hard to overcome with exhibitors who were looking for a future-proof solution. So in June of last year TI announced they would be developing a 4K DLP chip for their OEM manufacturers, which include Barco, Christie and NEC. No development timeline or release date for the new chip was given. 

TI execs are still as leery of giving out specific dates as they are about being quoted on the record when it comes to 4K, but more recently they have begun talking more openly about their development schedule. The good news is that TI is meeting their internal deadlines for 4K development. The company is looking to the early summer time frame for having the first DMDs completed for testing with OEMs. There may even be a unit or two ready for demoing at IBC, though TI is realistically aiming to go into production on the new chips in the late part of this year. Of course, that is if there are no issues with raw materials, manufacturing and testing goes according to plan.

The 4K DLP chip will be 1.38″ with 4096 x 2160 pixels and will have an equivalent life-expectancy the same as the 2K chip, which is well over 10 years. I confirmed that the entire surface area of the chip, every single pixel, will be used for both 2K and 4K imaging, meaning the talk about TI only using a portion of the pixel area was incorrect. Theatre owners who have already installed 2K Series 2 DLP projectors may be able to upgrade to 4K on-site by replacing the light engine. Initial thinking is that the same lenses used for 2K can be used when projecting 4K content.

When TI hasn’t been working on their 4K chip they’ve been developing boards for Series 2 projectors. Production on Series 1 chips ended in December of 2009 and, as anyone who has tried to buy a digital cinema projector recently knows, OEMs are quickly running out of inventory on those units. Presently one OEM is up and running with Series 2 projectors and the other two should be online in the next few months. This is also about the time that all the manufacturers will be finishing their DCI compliance testing.

In addition, TI has a split development team working on subtitles for DLP projectors; one team works on SMPTE subtitles for Series 1 projectors and the other is completing CineCanvas subtitles for Series 2. CineCanvas subtitles should be ready for Series 2 projectors in the middle of this year and SMPTE subtitles will follow before the year is out.

Surfing around the Internet last week I stumbled across a promotional trailer for Christie, the motion picture projector manufacturer. The new trailer (see below) can be found on Christie Digital’s YouTube channel. To date, it has been viewed 280 times since it was uploaded on January 14th. The trailer is 25 seconds long and promotes Christie’s line of digital cinema projectors powered by DLP chips. It seems 3D content was taken into consideration during its production.

With the conversion to digital the number of equipment manufacturers that can be found in any given projection booth has potentially doubled. This could potentially lead to at least two minutes worth of preshow for d-cinema vendors, promoting servers, projectors and 3D technology. This isn’t even taking into account satellite content delivery providers, integrators or theatre management system developers. And I’m sure I’m leaving someone important out.

Have a look at Chrisitie’s new trailer and let us know what you think.

Click here to view the embedded video.