Tag Archives: Sony

Euroscoop and Apollo Cinemas Set To Go Digital

June 24, 2009

euroscoop If there was any debate over whether digital cinema would ever roll out in the European market one would hardly know after the past two weeks. Sure there have been lots of discussion at the European Cinema Summit and Cinema Expo about which European countries would be eligible for virtual print fees, which would have to go it on their own and wether the European Commission would offer any subsidies, but at the same time several theatre chains have been announcing their plans to deploy the new digital technology.

After yesterday’s announcement that Hungary’s Palace Cinemas had selected XDC for the conversion of 170 screens, Euroscoop, a chain with theatres in Belgium and The Netherlands, has also signed an agreement with the European integrator. Finance by their VPF agreement, XDC will install DCI-compliant digital cinema equipment on Euroscoop’s 61 screens starting in September and finishing before the end of the year.

Euroscoop will be using XDC’s CineStore Solo server and central library server, the CineStore Plaza. Each of the circuits six theatres will get XDC’s theatre management system and will be fully networked. Euroscoop has elected to go with Barco projectors. Read More »

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Posted in Digital Cinema, Integrators

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Daily Cinema Roundup-Monday 18 May

By Carolyn Giardina

May 18, 2009

regal-entertainment1 –Sony and Regal released a press release this morning, officially announcing that Regal will install the Sony 4K digital projections systems across its entire circuit. (See Celluloid Junkie’s Friday post below on this news).
According to the release, the installation of the systems is expected to take 3-5 years, but the financing is being handled through DCIP. So the question is, when will installations start?
There is still no word on DCIP securing the needed funding to begin its planned wide rollout. DCIP represents AMC, which also plans to deploy Sony technology; as well as Regal and Cinemark.
images1 Sony also reported that approximately 1,500 of the Regal screens will be outfitted for 3D using Sony’s dual-lens adaptor technology.
Amy Miles, Regal Entertainment Group’s incoming chief executive officer, is quoted in the press release as saying: “The rollout of these Sony 4K systems gives Regal the opportunity to utilize the latest technology to provide our patrons the best available presentation. Sony’s state-of-the-art 4K systems produce the highest levels of resolution, contrast and overall image quality.”

–Another example of the growing interest and potential of alternative content, The Financial Times is reporting that a June 25 production of Racine’s Phèdre at London’s National Theatre is to be screened live in 170 cinemas worldwide. Dame Helen Mirren stars in the production, which according to the article is nearly sold out in the d-cinema venues. See the complete article, titled “British Theatre to be Seen Around World,” here

–An interesting feature on CNN Money/Fortune titled “Every Blog Becomes a Cinema” examines a new model of distribution, as well as advertising. SnagFilms aims to distribute documentaries—which have always been challenged to find a theatrical release—on the Internet. The article is here

smpte_logo1 –Call for Papers: SMPTE is seeking proposals for technical papers and tutorials for the 2009 SMPTE Technical Conference & Exhibition, 27-29 October in Hollywood.
The organization is seeking papers on a range of topics including digital cinema exhibition, d-cinema production and post, advancements in film technologies, content security and stereoscopic 3D Imaging.
Interested parties are invited to submit a one-page abstract, no later than June 12. Further details on how to submit a proposal are here

Call for Entries: The Hollywood Post Alliance has issued a call for entries for the Engineering Excellence Award, part of the 4th Annual HPA Awards. The call for entries is now open and will run through July 1. Entrants will be given the opportunity to present their technology during the Engineering Judging Day.
The HPA Awards also accepts entries in categories for compositing, DI/color grading, editing, audio post, as well as for the new Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation in Post Production. For more, see the website here

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Posted in Alternative Content, Daily News Roundup, Equipment Vendors

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It Was A Very Good ShoWest 2009 For Sony

By Patrick von Sychowski

April 6, 2009

The popcorn has been swept away, the 3D movie banners folded, the quiet talk about how cinema is holding up in the recession has faded - ShoWest 2009 is over.

While VNU will continue to host the Las Vegas-set cinema trade show and exhibition for one more year before NATO is rumoured to take the show back (and move it to Ceasar’ Palace) in 2011, there was something of an End Credits roll feel to the confab. The number of attendees was down, the studios were (with two exceptions) largely absent, the parties scaled back and nowhere was there any open celebration of the fact that this year’s box office easily looks set to cross $10bn.

So who did well in this year’s conference? Digital Cinema? Old hat. 3D? Sure, “Monsters vs. Aliens” did well, but that was to be expected. Instead it would seem that ShoWest 2009 will go down as the year that Sony and its 4K SXRD technology took its decisive step into the limelight. No, it was not a case of audiences waking up and suddenly finding 2K resolution inadequate and demanding 4K, as Sony still hasn’t figured out how to create a pixel-fetish driven demand amongst cinema goers (free hint: don’t call it ‘4K’ - call it an ‘8 megapixel projector’ versus DLP’s ‘2 megapixel’ - sure, it’s not correct, but since when did that stand in the way of aggressive marketing?).

No, it was three interlinked announcement that helped crown Sony Electronics (not SPE - Sony Pictures Entertainment) the unofficial King of the ShoWest hill. Read More »

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Posted in Equipment Vendors

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AMC Set To Deploy Sony 4K Digital Projectors

By J. Sperling Reich

March 29, 2009

On the eve of ShoWest, the largest trade show for the motion picture exhibition and distribution industry, AMC Entertainment is set to announce that it will install Sony’s 4K digital projectors on all of their screens. According to Variety and the New York Times, the world’s second largest cinema chain will begin installing the equipment in the second quarter of 2009 and complete the rollout by 2012. Presently AMC has 4,628 screens across 309 theatres.

The circuit is no stranger to Sony’s projectors having already installed 150 units to date.

The announcement comes on the heels of last Thursday’s news that AMC chose RealD as the 3D technology provider for 1,500 of its screens. The cinema chain already has 29 screens capable of showing 3D films. Together the two announcements are the culmination of the agreement made public in February that Sony and RealD would team up to merge the two companies’ technologies into a combined 3D product offering.

Besides being the kind of news the industry was hoping to hear at ShoWest, given the stalled digital cinema rollout, this is a huge win for Sony. As the Times points out, there has been little competition for Texas Instruments, which as installed it’s DLP projection technology on nearly 5,500 screens. Read More »

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Posted in Miscellaneous

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Sony Teams Up With RealD To Offer 3D Solution

By J. Sperling Reich

February 25, 2009

Sony's 3D Dual Lens Adaptor Prototype

Long criticized for their inability to project 3D films, at least inexpensively, Sony may have finally found an appropriate solution for its 4K projectors. Earlier today Sony announced they would be working with RealD to merge the two companies’ technologies into a combined product offering.

Sony already manufactures a 3D dual lens adaptor for their 4K projectors which splits pre-polarized images into two 2K images. Unlike DLP projectors that use “triple flash” (144 frames per second alternating for each eye), Sony’s 4K projectors serve up a simultaneous image to both the left and right eyes when used with the adaptor. RealD will add to this mix a special customized optical filter that will enable Sony’s projectors to throw images onto silver screens as large as 55 feet while maintaining a light level of 4 foot-lamberts.

In a second deal, Sony gave RealD the “exclusive” rights to distribute Sony’s 3D lens adaptor for projectors installed in the United States, Canada and Europe. Of course RealD will also be offering the rest of their 3D kit to go along with Sony’s gear, especially there new 3D EQ technology which provides “ghostbusting” directly on digital cinema servers. The technology is meant to better separate the left and right eye images and eliminate the ghosting of 3D images, known as cross talk, which RealD’s system accentuates. Up until recently, content owners had to create special digital cinema packages that were pre-ghostbusted for RealD installations, a fact they were not altogether happy about.

Popularity: 55% [?]

Posted in Digital 3D

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Sony Selling B-Stock Projectors at 50% Off

By J. Sperling Reich

February 10, 2009

SXRD Demo Equipment Sale

Who said recessions can’t be good for something? After spending the last two years lugging countless 4K projectors around the world to show them off to exhibitors Sony now finds itself with an inventory of B-stock units they would like to unload. Last week the manufacturer sent out an email to industry executives and equipment vendors announcing a a 50% off promotion on its SXRD 4K projectors. According to the email all of the units that are up for grabs are completely refurbished and carry the same warranty and service options available on A-stock units.

So if you find yourself with a spare USD $34,000 and have a movie theatre you have always wanted to convert to digital, you can pick up Sony’s low-end SRX-R105. The top of the line model, the SRX-S110 projects 10,000 lumen and is going for a mere USD $51,000. Heck at those prices you may as well pick one up for your home so you can enjoy the upcoming Academy Awards telecast in all its 4K glory!

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Sony’s new 4K can now do 3D

By Patrick von Sychowski

June 26, 2008

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: 37% [?]

Posted in Technology

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NYT Wakes Up To Alternative Content As Royal Opera House and Sony Reveal Plans

By Patrick von Sychowski

March 24, 2008

The New York times gets in on the non-film digital shows in cinemas (ODS? alternative content?) with the in-depth article: At Cineplexes, Sports, Opera, Maybe a Movie (with the tag line: ‘As ticket sales slow, theaters are turning to the Mets and the Met.’ - arf, arf!). Main message is, this is going mainstream for a range of events:

Simulcasts of the Metropolitan Opera over the last year helped turn the tide. National CineMedia, a competitor of Screenvision, said nearly 300,000 people attended screenings in 2007, which was the inaugural season; in 2008, simulcasts of Met performances in movie theaters are expected to draw upwards of a million people.The New York Mets could not have been happier with a simulcast last August at Ziegfeld Theater in New York, where a live organist and the team mascot led viewers in singalongs as though they were in the ballpark.“Tickets to watch the game in the theater sold out so quickly that we’re in talks to do a bunch more of them this summer,” said Dave Howard, executive vice president for business operations for the Mets.

Demonstrating amply that the winds are firmly in the alternative content sails, both Sony and London’s Royal Opera House announced that both are getting into the game. Sony smells an opportunity to become an alternative content distributor, according to the article Sony Enters Digital Contents Market in Japan:

First Sony will work with Human Design Co, distributing its musical “Metro ni Notte (Riding on the Metro)” in May. The musical was originally performed last year at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, and was a huge success. It was performed 13 times and all seats were taken on each live performance.Now in a digital format, the performance will be shown in 3 theaters in the Kanto area initially, and in more areas nationwide, targeting a larger audience than the total number at the live performances combined.

“We hope to appeal to the audience who could not see a live performance, and offer a real, vivid experience on a superior screen, and better access to the show,” says Tomihari.

The company will have to overcome the problem that digital cinema installations have been slow in Japan:

In Japan, 3 per cent, or 102, of 3,221 screens supported digital as of February. Tomihari said that this was the current target of the entertainment company.

However, Sony is also considering expanding its new business outside Japan. “The market for digital contents is larger abroad,” explains Tomihari. “As of last September, 4,869 of nearly 70,000 screens were equipped for digital contents. And this is the market we are aiming at.”

One such market, the United Kingdom, has just seen it’s most prestigious ‘content company’ (terrible term, but then this is the same industry where motion pictures are ‘properties’) announce itself in this space. Despite having been upstaged in the live digital cinema arena by New York’s Met, the Covent Garden Royal Opera house is fighting back by offering both live opera AND ballet this year. From The Telegraph’s Live opera and ballet to be shown at cinemas. For as little as £12 you will get a front row seat in any one of 60 UK cinemas:

The deal comes at the conclusion of almost five years of talks with performing unions to give singers and dancers extra payments for the recordings.

Covent Garden has signed contracts with two cinema chains in this country, Odeon, which has 106 cinemas, and Cityscreen Picturehouse, with 16.

A number of independent cinemas are also expected to sign up and separate deals have also been struck to show Covent Garden’s productions in Europe and America.

The opera house, which plans to film 14 productions a year, said the transmissions would be of the highest quality with High Definition digital technology and Surround Sound.

What is interesting here is that these will be shown both at Odeon and Picturehouse, who were previously exclusively affiliated with Glyndbourne and the Met. So the biggest change is not so much these events appearing in cinemas (that dates back to the thirties) but that the audience is now considered large enough to constitute that much needed critical mass. Roll on fat lady and the skinny ballerina!

Popularity: 42% [?]

Posted in Alternative Content

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NBA to be shown live in 3D with stacked 4K

By Patrick von Sychowski

March 19, 2008

Dallas Mavericks cheerleaders Maverick billionaire Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks will have their upcoming 25 March game captured, beamed and shown in live digital 3D, through a partnership with Pace Fusion 3D. From the press release:

The March 25 game against the Los Angeles Clippers from the American Airlines Center will be beamed across town via satellite into Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban‘s Magnolia Theatre in Dallas‘ West Village where an invitation-only audience will watch unforgettable images through special 3D glasses using Sony‘s SXRD 3D Projection System on an 18×42-foot screen, making it feel as if you‘re sitting courtside. In addition to VIP guests, the audience will include over 100 lucky Mavericks fans, who can win tickets to the event by entering an online sweepstakes at mavs.com

FSN Southwest will utilize the proprietary PACE/Cameron Fusion Sports System to capture the action on the court and deliver a unique depth of field perspective to the Magnolia Theatre audience. Each of the four 3D systems that will be used is designed with two high-definition cameras that capture the left eye and right eye imagery separately and create one three-dimension effect. The result is a ‘wow‘ visual experience that makes the action seem so close and spectacular most viewers will probably forget they‘re sitting miles away in a movie theatre.

To display the game stereoscopically two SXRD’s will need to be stacked. While some may scoff that this highlights the SXRD’s inability to handle 3D from a single projector, it should be noted that a growing number of theatres are opting for stacked DLP 2K solutions instead of signing a long term licensing deal with RealD. Call me sexist or call me just-not-interested-in-basketball, but I’m wondering how well Pace will capture the cheerleader action in 3D.

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Posted in Alternative Content, Digital 3D

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

By Patrick von Sychowski

December 5, 2007

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.

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Posted in Countries, Technology

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