Tag Archives: Panavision

Designer Brands Give 3D Glasses A Makeover

November 30, 2010

Oakley's Limited Edition Tron 3D Gascan Glasses

Sometime last month I tagged a couple of blog posts about designer 3D glasses intending to write about them in the near future. After a Los Angeles Times story covered the subject yesterday, I figured it was about time to aggregate all the information into a post here.

More than a year after RealD announced that they would be teaming up with manufacturers to certify 3D glasses from name brand designers, the first models began hitting the market in October. Making waves first was Oakley, which announced they had created a pair of 3D specs with a proprietary technology named HDO-3D. The company claims their “premium glasses are engineered for unrivaled 3D performance, superior visual clarity and signature Oakley comfort”.

In a smart marketing move, Oakley is teaming up with Disney on the studio upcoming “Tron: Legacy” release by offering a special collectible limited edition “Tron” version of their Gascan 3D glasses which look as if they were take straight out of the sci-fi flick. A regular pair of Oakley 3D glasses will set you back USD $120, while the “Tron: Legacy” model goes for USD $150.

Gucci also began selling a pair of upscale 3D glasses last month for $225 and Marchon Eyewear has licensed their glasses to both Calvin Klein and Nautica who will sell pairs for between USD $95 and USD $150. Meanwhile, Australian based Look3D has been offering stylish RealD certified glasses since late last year.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Posted in Digital 3D

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Cinema Expo Thoughts: Frank de Neeve of Cineserver

By J. Sperling Reich

July 14, 2010

Frank de Neeve of Cineserver

Here is another entry in our series presenting the comments of industry participants on last month’s Cinema Expo.

Frank de Neeve is not only an experienced projectionist working in The Netherlands, but he also runs the digital cinema news website Cineserver.nl. For those whose Dutch might be a little rusty, the site can be translated by clicking on the U.K. flag in the upper right hand side of the navigation bar.

Without further ado, here is de Neeve’s thorough accounting of Cinema Expo:

Naturally this year’s Cinema Expo was the first one that was a joint production between UNIC – the European exhibitors Association and the Sunshines. I think the cooperation can work well; UNIC might not be able to manage on their own as NATO will do next year. Last year there were two conflicting shows: Cinema Expo and the week before that the European Cinema Summit in Brussels.

The European Cinema Summit was by far the worst show I have ever been to: it was badly organized, panels were boring and went on for too long, there were too many people that liked to hear themselves talk etc. No refreshments, hardly any companies on the trade show (Doremi even left after the first afternoon!). However, the topics they wanted to cover in discussions were good.

For years – although people flocked to Cinema Expo – Europeans have also been critical of the show:

It was too American, with only blockbusters, Coca Cola sponsored seminars, etc.

The trade show only being open a few hours a day as otherwise people might miss ‘important’ Hollywood films

There was not enough room for discussion that reflected the cultural diversity of Europe, with traditional discussion points like piracy and windows always popping up.

You could this year already see a shift in the panels:

Many were presented by Phil Clapp of the UK exhibitors association

There were even two instances where headphones were handed out, as one of the panelists was speaking in French. I think this has only happened once before.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Posted in Events, Trade Shows

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Cinema Expo Thoughts: C.J. Flynn of DCinemaTools.com

By J. Sperling Reich

July 10, 2010

We continue our series of posts featuring the comments of leading industry members about last month’s Cinema Expo with a robust entry from C.J. Flynn of DCinemaTools.com.

Theatre owners thinking about converting to digital cinema (or even those who already have) should swing by Flynn’s website for detailed information about long-term operation and maintenance of d-cinema equipment.

In the meantime, here’s what Flynn had to say about Cinema Expo:

C.J. Flynn of DCinemaTools.com

As usual, the most interesting parts for me at this year’s Cinema Expo were the the sporadic 15 minutes of hanging out with people of similar ilk, trying to stretch nuance and rumors thin enough to see a bit of truth through them. Reviewing them in my head, they seem to mostly to have centered on big-company finance and politics.

From a helicopter view, projectors and servers continue their momentum into being commodity items. This leaves some breathing room for other portions of the infrastructure. Audio systems have made inroads into the “Enhanced Experience” cinemas, which is a good sign, and hopefully one that will continue.

Unfortunately, it isn’t a “Build It and They Will Come” issue for the new Audio Processor offerings of QSC, Datasat and DMS Cinema. But it is good to see that they are incorporating fresh ideas like the Trinnov (DMS), Dirac (Datasat) and the systemic approach of QSC (plus Meyer, though their system is post AP.) I guess the common theme is getting feedback from the speakers to the processor… good feedback, that is, bringing quality assurance to those who care.

Dolby, to their credit, was casually elegant about the whole matter; they presented their 12.1 system with a work-in-process/got-any-ideas-for-us motif, letting the 7.1 take on the luster of a future standard-in-the-making that only costs $300 if you upgrade now (and politely reminding about the $700 amplifier that might need to be added to the system).

Popularity: 8% [?]

Posted in Events, Trade Shows

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Panavision Officially Enters 3D Market

By J. Sperling Reich

June 17, 2010

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.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Posted in Digital 3D, Equipment Vendors

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Panavision Heads Into Theatres With Hybrid 3D System

By J. Sperling Reich

March 14, 2010

When one thinks of Panavision, what immediately comes to mind is all of the motion picture camera systems they have manufactured since the mid-1950s, ubiquitous on the sets of countless hit movies and television shows. The thought of 3D, be it digital or on 35mm, is probably the last thing any industry professional would ever associate with Panavision. Well, that’s all about to change and I’ll explain why.

On Friday of last week, the European Digital Cinema Forum (EDCF) was kind enough to let me tag along on their annual pre-ShoWest industry tour through Los Angeles. When we arrived at Panavision I was a little baffled why a group of exhibitors and digital cinema manufacturers would want to visit a company better known for what happens on a movie set rather than a movie theatre. After a quick tour of their Woodland Hills, California facility, the group was ushered into a screening room and it became immediately obvious why were there.

We were greeted by John Galt, Panavision’s Senior Vice President of Advanced Digital Imaging, who gave us a very brief PowerPoint presentation on a project he’d been working on since the middle of 2008. Turns out while the media was busy hounding Panavision with stories about how labor strikes and production slowdowns had adversely affected the company, they have quietly been working on a 3D system for both film and digital projection. That would explain the reusable 3D glasses we were handed.

Popularity: 54% [?]

Posted in Digital 3D

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