About Submit News Contact Archives Advertise

Category Archives: Technology

China claims cinema-laser first, but details sketchy

Posted by Patrick von Sychowski | July 22, 2008 5:28 am


Paul Simon sang about ‘the are the days of lasers in the jungle’, but these days it is cinemas in China where lasers are putting an appearance. Or so an article in THR.com would have us believe:

 ”Beijing Phoebus Vision Co. provided us with the world’s first set of laser-screening instruments” Han Jie, spokeswoman with Beijing UME said Monday.

The projector was installed in an existing 120-seat hall in the Chinese capital at a cost of about 1.2 million yuan ($176,000).

“It is the first laser-screening set in the world,” a Beijing Phoebus Vision spokesman said. Han said that UME’s normal cinema projectors cost about 700,000 yuan ($102,000).

Several companies, including Mitsubishi, have demonstrated laser projection systems, said industry analyst Matt Brennensholtz of Norwalk, Conn.-based research firm Insight Media. These systems are usually very costly, he added.

“I’m not aware of anybody that’s used a laser projector in a movie theater before,” Brennensholtz said. “There were a number of tests, but I’ve never head of a public theater where you pay your ticket and go in and see one of these.”

A Google search for Phoebus Vision does not yield any results other than the THR.com article itself. That an unknown company should have come out of nowhere and perfected laser technology is not impossible, but it is highly unlikely.

The only time lasers have been used for a paying audience was at the 2005 Expo in Japan where Sony demonstrated the GLV projector (based on techonlogy developed by Silicon Light Machine) in the ‘Sony Dream Theatre’ (PDF link here) that it has since kept under wraps while it promoted its SXRD 4K projector.

There is no mention of the brightness, resolution or even of the laser are direct projection CRT-style or whether they are just used as a light source. So for now this one is to be taken with a big pinch of salt.

Popularity: 51% [?]

Posted in Countries, Technology
Tagged as , , ,
Comments

Sony’s new 4K can now do 3D

Posted by Patrick von Sychowski | June 26, 2008 1:25 am


Sony appears to have overcome one of the biggest drawbacks of its SXRD projector - the inability to do stereoscopics without resorting to two stacked projectors. The new wonder was unveiled at Cinema Expo. From THR.com:

Sony has unveiled a 4K digital projector with easy adaptability to 3-D projection. Previously, two of the pricey projectors were necessary to rig an auditorium for 4K 3-D, preventing the wide use of the high-resolution systems for 3-D exhibition.

Once considered the next-generation technology for digital cinema, Sony’s 4K systems have been struggling to overcome cost and manufacturing woes, and more conventional 2K d-cinema systems have remained the prevalent hardware in the marketplace. So Sony executives — hoping soon to remedy the additional 3-D headache — are demonstrating prototypes of the new 4K projectors with the aim of bringing the hardware to market by Christmas.

“It’s from the customer that you get the best feedback,” said Tore Mortensen, a Sony business manager now working with theater operators in Norway to test 3-D 4K projectors in four multiplexes.

Elsewhere at the confab Wednesday, Arts Alliance Media announced a 3-D addition to its alternative-programming offerings for d-cinema.

Interesting to see Tore being quoted, but then it is in Norway where the 4K SXRD has had the largest European installed base to date thanks to the NORDIC Project. [Full disclosure, I have worked in the past to assist the NORDIC project, which looks on course to help make Norway the first country to switch all of its cinemas to digital.]

Popularity: 27% [?]

Posted in Technology
Tagged as , , , , ,
Comments

Q: Which 3D technology is best? A: Dolby’s!

Posted by Patrick von Sychowski | December 6, 2007 6:19 am

All stereoscopic cinema technologies are not created equal, or rather, the presentations are not identical. But it is not just, say, the size difference between, say Imax and a RealD presentation that is noticeable, but even differences between different types of digital 3D presentations stand out (if you pardon the pun). cNet’s Stephen Shankland (NB: NOT the man in the picture above - that’s scary looking CrunchGear Guy sporting Dolby 3D specs) sat through three of the four different types of 3D cinema solutions available commercially today (NuVision/XpanD’s active glasses screenings appear not to have been available to him in the US).

It turns out that it was not so much an apples, apples and oranges as Granny Smith, Golden Delicious and clementines type of experience. It is worth reading the whole article (Who shows the best view of 3D ‘Beowulf’?) for many interesting insights. For those who want to cut to the chase (and missed the headline of this item), the winner was the newest kid on the stereoscopic technology block:

Based on watching the movie start to finish three times, the 3D winner is Dolby 3D–and not just by a nose.

Dolby’s technology gave a sharp image that showed every beard bristle, the colors were relatively rich, flicker from moving objects was nonexistent, but most significantly, the sense of depth was strong. Even the subtle differences between a character’s facial features were perceptible, and group shots with a host of characters showed as true depth, not as a number of gradually more distant two-dimensional layers. I was truly impressed.

Now there are several things t be said about this comparison. The first is that it was a ‘comparison’ and not a ‘test’, let alone a ’shoot out’. I cannot voucher for Mr Shankland’s vision, but chances are that he is not what Hollywood considers a pair of ‘Golden Eyes’. He is a knowledgeable and perceptive writer. So while I don’t doubt his judgment - and not having seen ‘Beowulf’ in ANY 3D form I’m in even less of a position to comment - it is important to remember that this was not a controlled experiment but an assessment of the average viewer’s experience.

As such, it is in some ways more important than a test in the old Pacific Theater that was the ETC’s Digital Cinema Lab. The writer says as much himself, so with all these caveats in mind it is interesting to dig deeper into his findings. The first is that artistic interventions have obviously been made in calibrating the 3D experience, particularly between Imax and digital 3D. This is an area that is just beginning to be understood and discussed Disney’s Howard Lukk has given several excellent presentations on this, talking about the ‘plane’ of the stereoscopic image.

Imax is ‘in your face’, whereas RealD is more the type of 3D that has been described as ’surround sound for your eyes’, ‘box’ or ‘Doll House’ type of stereoscopics. Yet Dolby appears to have won out on the strength of the three ‘C’s (coherence, colour, clarity). This is surprising to industry observers, as the colour separation that underpins the Dolby (it was licensed from Germany’s Infitec) was long thought to cause it problems with accurate colour separation. Now the talk is instead that the struggle is to make the glasses that employ 16 or more layers of colour-separating film, cheap enough to manufacture in volume to compete with the disposable RealD circular polarized glasses.

Ultimately ‘Beowulf’ is not the best films to judge the merits of all three technologies (or even four or five, if you add active glasses and the Korean system under development) because it is CG-animation and mostly takes places in dark and dim caves, so the light-loss that all 3D systems suffer is masked. But this article is not just the first but a very, very good comparison that will hopefully stimulate more discussion and research around the subject.

Popularity: 40% [?]

Posted in Analysis, Technology
Tagged as , , , , , , ,
Comments

When d-cinema leaves audinces in the dark

Posted by Patrick von Sychowski | December 5, 2007 5:49 am


black screen You are not a frequent film goer if you have not sat through at least one instance of a 35mm reel breaking and the projectionist (or the kid who sold you the popcorn) taking forever to fix it. I once waited 45 minutes to get to see the last underwhelming five minutes of ‘Mission to Mars‘. Boy was that not worth the wait.

Thanks to the miracle of digital cinema, there is now a 21st century version of this annoyance, except now the film won’t even start and the chances are slim-to-none that even the most competent projectionist will be ever to sort it out, as several audiences in Australia recently found out. This from AdelaidNow:

PREMIERE Australian screenings of much-hyped 3D spectacular Beowulf descended into farce on Monday night when the digital projection technology failed simultaneously in Adelaide and Perth.

That follows a similar incident in Sydney last week. Cinemagoers at all three venues were unable to watch the 3D blockbuster after security access keys, provided by the distributor as an anti-piracy measure, failed to work.

Roadshow Films said they were confident the problem had been solved and would not affect audiences when the film is released tomorrow.

Ouch! Whoever was responsible for the Australia distribution of Warner Bros’ Beowulf (Paramount handled it in the US) will have been in deep trouble as a result of screwing up the KDM decryption keys. (Based on previous studio-lab digital relations I’m guessing Technicolor, but I could be wrong). Re-funding the audience is never cheap or popular, either with the cinemas, distributors or even audiences themselves:

Valley View resident Damian Woodards said he was disappointed. “We were all looking forward to the latest 3D technology that’s supposed to be getting more people along to the cinemas,” he said.

Roadshow Films general manager Joel Pearlman said he believed the glitch had been ironed out. “This was incredibly unfortunate and disappointing, but these are all issues to do with the security key which have been addressed,” he said.

Yes, but only until the next screw up. Even with 99.99% accurate KDM creation and matching, that will still leave hundreds of dark screenings every year. And it just doesn’t look as interesting as 35mm film getting stuck in the projection gate and melting. It’s just black and absolutely nothing happens. Call it the Black Screen of death for digital cinema.

Popularity: 24% [?]

Posted in Miscellaneous, Technology
Tagged as , , , ,
Comments

Sony’s 4K finds home in Singapore’s Cathay

Posted by Patrick von Sychowski | December 5, 2007 5:15 am

Slowly-slowly Sony is starting to make inroads into multiplexes with its 4K digital cinema projector. It hasn’t been helped by the recent Beowulf 3D near-hysteria, which was strictly 2K (and Imax), but we should see some more deployments before the end of the year. In time for CineAsia comes the news of the deployment with Singapore’s Cathay Cineplexes, whose involvement with digital cinema dates back to the pioneering day of Christie 1.3K DLP Cinema projectors in May 2004.

From the press release:

Sony is equipping two Cathay Cineplexes in Singapore, including their flagship The Cathay Cineplex, with the ultra-high-resolution SRX-R220 Digital Cinema Projectors. Combined with Sony’s LMT-100 Media Block servers and LSM-100 Screen Management System, the projector systems are specifically designed for digital cinema applications. The project is expected to be completed early next year. Upon the completion of the installation, movie-goers are able to enjoy the ultimate viewing experience jointly presented by Sony and Cathay Cineplexes.

“We are very impressed with the CineAlta 4K technology, as well as the professional services rendered by Sony. The deployment of the enhanced digital technology in our cinemas demonstrates our continued commitment to provide quality entertainment to our valued patrons,” said Suhaimi Radfdi, President of Cathay Organization Holdings Ltd. “We are now planning to introduce this advanced technology to our cinemas in Malaysia and Dubai, so that more movie-goers can immerse themselves in the superior cinematic experience.”

So Sony can stick at least two more pins into its world map soon. Rumour also has it that there will be some Central European 4K announcement as well soon, but not until after CineAsia. Let’s if any 4K movies will be distributed to these cinemas from Technicolor’s newly-announced Singaporean digital cinema hub.

Popularity: 27% [?]

Posted in Countries, Technology
Tagged as , , , , , ,
Comments

IMAX vs. RealD Beowulf 3D smackdown at Regal

Posted by Patrick von Sychowski | November 6, 2007 3:52 am


An epic battle is brewing at Regal Cinemas this month, with ‘Beowulf‘ going up against itself in on both IMAX analogue 3D and RealD’s digital 3D systems. According to the Regal press release there is even two different names for the movie experience, depending on which one you opt for Beowulf: An IMAX 3D Experience and Beowulf in DIGITAL 3D:

The movie is being offered in IMAX 3D and DIGITAL 3D in a total of 123 Regal Entertainment Group theatres across the country. The new Paramount Pictures release of Beowulf will be available in conventional 35mm format, digital projection, DIGITAL 3D and IMAX 3D. Regal Entertainment Group will host advance screenings of the film beginning at 9:15pm on Thursday, November 15.Beowulf 3D is a terrific and entertaining experience. We are certain moviegoers will enjoy the unique 3D presentation.

“Regal Entertainment Group is proud to offer Beowulf in this exciting 3D format. In numerous cities across the country Regal is pleased to be programming IMAX 3D and DIGITAL 3D versions of the epic tale,” stated Dick Westerling, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Advertising for Regal Entertainment Group. “Beowulf 3D is a terrific and entertaining experience. We are certain moviegoers will enjoy the unique 3D presentation.”

So with Beowulf being shown 35mm analogue print, standard 2-D digital cinema, RealD digital 3D and Imax digital 3D, this must be the most formats that a film has ever been released in simultaneously by one exhibitor. Would it have been too much to ask that they also make red-blue anaglyph analogue 3D print as well, just for the fun of having three 3D format and three print formats? I’m sure that most movie goers given the choice will opt for one of the two 3D formats over print or 2D digital. But which one? Here is where it gets even more interesting:

Beowulf: An IMAX 3D Experience will be available at 16 Regal Entertainment Group IMAX theatres across the country. In IMAX 3D, films virtually jump off of the screen and float around the theatre. This is made possible by a combination of IMAX’s powerful 3D projector – which projects two strips of large-format film – and polarized 3D glasses that audience members wear to fuse the left and right eye images. The result is an amazing three-dimensional cinematic experience where the screen disappears and the film becomes a virtual reality.

Regal Entertainment Group will present Beowulf in DIGITAL 3D at 121 locations utilizing REAL D Cinema Systems. REAL D Cinema Systems are comprised of several components, including a specially-treated movie screen; polarized 3D glasses; and the REAL D Cinema Z-Screen lens that mounts in front of the digital projector, enabling the projector to show three-dimensional images. Customized software by REAL D integrates the components to deliver a flawless 3D movie experience.

So if we do the math then 16 Imax 3D screens plus 121 RealD locations should make it a total of 137 3D Regal sites. But the press release clearly says 123 locations. So this must mean that there will be Regal multiplexes showing both Imax 3D and RealD 3D versions of the film! Which one will people opt for? Will the ticket price be different? How will the various versions be promoted in cinemas? There will be some very interesting number crunching going on at Regal, Imax, RealD, Paramount and elsewhere after the opening weekend. Unlike in the movie, one adversary will not finish off the other completely, but it might give us an interesting pointer of where the 3D battle is headed.

Longer term neither will be the true winner as 3D is already heading to the home. Taiwanese researchers are predicting 3D LCD TVs for the home within two years, which should be just in time for the network TV premier of ‘Beowulf’, so people will now be able to say that they don’t feel like going to the cinema but will catch in 3D at home later.

Popularity: 33% [?]

Posted in Technology
Tagged as , , , , ,
Comments

Has Brazil cracked cinema-on-demand concept?

Posted by Patrick von Sychowski | November 5, 2007 9:23 pm


Rain Network logo While Tivos and iPod have liberated consumers from the tyranny of fixed TV schedules and pre-set playlist orders of songs, cinemas remain a viewing-by-appointment medium. So could digital technology end this and make it a more show-by-show consumer demand oriented medium? The Brazilians appear to be the first to try this on a large scale, with e-cinema pioneers Rain Networks launching a cinema-on-demand (CoD) trial. From Variety article:

Rain Network, Latin America’s biggest digital cinema operator, will launch a pilot theatrical-on-demand (TOD) system in Brazil in the first quarter.

Rain has already aided the installation of digital projection systems and software theater management systems — allowing digital systems to function — in all of Brazil’s 134 arthouse screens.

It has also begun to access indie and Brazilian movies for screening at these cinemas. Beginning early next year, Rain’s novel TOD will allow moviegoers, grouped in online YouRain Internet film clubs, to recommend what films play when and where over Rain’s digital cinema network.

Virtual cinema club members can also refer wishlists to friends, and, exploiting You Rain’s social networking system, let other people know what films they’re attending.

While the idea of films-on-demand in the cinema hs some appeal, it is important to remember that already with 35mm films, large multiplexes are able to screen the biggest blockbusters at staggered 15 to 30 minute intervals across multiple screens. However, for smaller releases and single screen cinemas the idea of TOD/CoD could help to better anticipate customer demand and preferences. However, this would severely impact existing rental terms if cinemas were able to pull or ramp up the number of screenings based on perceived demand (or lack thereof) for a particular title.

As so often with digital, the new technology enables, but it is existing contractual relationship that ultimately determines what gets implemented and what will have to wait for practices to catch up with possibilities. We have also yet ot see this tested with a proper 2K DCI digital cinema set-up, as opposed to Rain’s Windows Media 9 e-cinema network. Trials for this are underway in the UK, but NDAs prevent me from spilling the beans on it just yet.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Posted in Technology
Tagged as , , , ,
Comments

DCI’s testing plan clears last hurdle for D-Cinema equipment makers

Posted by Patrick von Sychowski | October 19, 2007 2:03 am


DCIThe long awaited compliance test plan (CTP) has at long last been published by Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) on its website. This plan will allow the independent verification of digital cinema equipment as being ‘compliant’ (a much misused word in digital cinema circles) with the DCI specifications and - more importantly - the emerging SMPTE and ISO standards. From the press release:

DCI is considering several entities that have expressed interest in becoming licensed facilities to perform the tests detailed by the Compliance Test Plan. A selection process is underway, and testing entities are expected to be named in the near future.

In a joint statement, the DCI member studios said, “We are very pleased with the quality of work performed by CineCert. The test plan is comprehensive and provides the necessary insight and guidance to manufacturers, integrators and exhibitors on the details required for testing and compliance.”

John Hurst, Chief Technology Officer of CineCert, added, “CineCert is grateful to DCI for the opportunity to apply our expertise to completing the Compliance Test Plan. We hope the Plan helps create an atmosphere of certainty in manufacturing, purchasing and deploying digital cinema equipment.”

The last point is particularly important, as for five years digital cinema equipment have operated in a great deal of uncertainty what the Hollywood studios will and will not approve of as far as the technology goes. This should now eliminate that. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dolby was first in line to get this stamp of approval for their server, seeing that they are already the first to have earned FIPS certification.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Posted in Technology
Tagged as , , , , , , ,
Comments

4K projectors coming to the home already

Posted by Patrick von Sychowski | October 12, 2007 11:19 pm


JVC 4Kx2K No sooner has Sony not succeeded in making the SXRD 4K the preferred projector standard for cinemas (unless you count Muvico and Norway) then Japanese rival JVC launches a 4Kx2K projector for the home at the CEATEC trade show in Japan:

Victor Company of Japan Ltd. exhibited a projector with the display pixel count of 4096 x 2400 at CEATEC Japan 2007, which runs from Oct. 2 to 6, 2007.

Supporting the so-called 4K x 2K resolution, the new projector has an enhanced definition compared with the company’s existing 4096 x 2160 model, Victor said. The projector can throw a 200-inch picture from about 7 m away. The contrast ratio without an iris mechanism is 10,000:1, and the luminance is 3,500 lm.

The projector employs a 1.27-inch (3.2 cm diagonally) Direct-Drive Image Light Amplifier (D-ILA) microdisplay device, which is Victor’s proprietary product, for the display device. Compared to the 1.7-inch D-ILA microdisplay device used in the company’s existing projector, the size of the device in the latest model is reduced by about 43%.

It will not be out until the first half of 2008 and I’m not sure what you would want to play on it (four Blu Ray movies at the same time? Or 16 standard DVD players as inputs) but I’m sure someone will come up with innovative use for it.

The irony is not lost on Sony that JVC was the first to push the SXRDish D-ILA technology in cinemas, but ceded the ground to Texas Instrument’s DLP techonlogy after the Star Wars: Episode 1 shoot-out. Sony is actually turning out extremely good home cinema projectors based on the SXRD - better even than the DLP ones - but they are still not swaying cinemas, with about 98 per cent of the market opting for 2K DLP Cinema projectors.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Posted in Technology
Tagged as , , , ,
Comments

What’s that sound? It’s the sound of problems with alternative content audio

Posted by Patrick von Sychowski | October 12, 2007 10:55 pm


Yes, you really are seeing double

A good article in Variety takes alternative content music events and cinema design to task for not being perfectly suited for each other. Particularly older cinemas might have to upgrade both the audio systems and the sound proofing to properly play alternative content music concerts such as the upcoming ‘U2 3D‘. The article (Concert films pump up the volume) makes the point that:

“Movies have a tendency to be very large hills and very deep valleys. You may get things that are very dynamic and very loud, but they’re generally short and things calm down. Then it happens again.

“In a concert, generally speaking, you have more sustained sound that is probably louder for longer periods of time. That means leaking into adjacent theaters becomes more of an issue.”

Whether the issue is soundproofing or theater sound systems, all these experts agree that older theaters may need upgrades if they’re to support concert programming.

Listen to a Dolby person give a presentation and they will always tell you that audio is the overlooked aspect of digital cinema, but it is true. too often it is badly done. Take the ‘U2 3D’ footage, which when it was played at IBC 2007 was pumping six channel mix through an 8.1 speaker configuration. Not good, even before Bono’s hand reached out towards me. And it was not much better at Cannes, “While viewers were high on ‘U2 3D’ at Cannes, the band was not thrilled with the audio quality,” Variety tells us.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Posted in Technology
Tagged as , , ,
Comments

 

Entries RSS