International. Christie announced demonstrations of laser projection architecture and Dolby 3D to be held at the Christie Innovation spaces at CinemaCon 2014 (Caesars Palace, March 24-27) and at the National Association of Broadcasters' NAB Show (Las Vegas Convention Centre, 5-10 April).
The Christie DLP Cinema laser projectors, which use the 6 Primary (6P) color laser modules that will begin to be mass-produced in early 2015, will highlight that it is possible to considerably improve 3D lighting levels, image uniformity, the comfort of viewing and the sense of immersion – especially in combination with advanced separation technology such as Dolby 3D – in relation to conventional 3D systems currently used in cinemas around the world.
"The drop in the number of 3D movie theater viewers that has recently been detected would indicate not only that novelty has ceased to be: also a lower willingness of the viewer to overpay for what is often a rather mediocre experience. The poverty of this experience is the result of a series of technical limitations in current 3D architectures. The most serious is the limited light levels, between 10% and 30% of those achieved with 2D presentations," said Don Shaw (photo), Senior Director of Product Management at Christie Entertainment Solutions.
He adds: "Christie's latest laser projection technology, which uses six specific primary colours instead of filtered or polarized broad-spectrum white light, radically improves the efficiency of 3D projection systems, whatever the screen size of large cinemas. We think that this advance is the future of 3D film projection, a future that is just around the corner and that will be a fundamental factor in increasing 3D box office revenues around the world. Our demos at CinemaCon and NAB Show — the first 6P laser events held for the wider film community, from film directors to exhibitors — confirm Christie's eighty-year commitment to cinematic innovation and that it goes beyond the promise of "moving beyond digital cinema" launched by some other agents in the sector".
Christie's 6P laser projectors, which at least double the efficiency of today's best 3D, result in a proprietary mix of photooptically optimized wavelengths of light for each eye directly from the source, eliminating the need to go through a highly inefficient stage of filtering or polarizing the light coming out of the projector. In the demos, Christie will use Dolby 3D glasses prepared specifically to couple to the wavelengths of 6P laser light and thus achieve a light efficiency close to 90%. As Shaw points out: "Professionals in the sector rightly see this color separation technique for 3D as a key reference, especially for its chromatic realism, compatibility with low-gain white screens and for its good behavior against crosstalk. To all this is added that it can now be incorporated into an infinitely more efficient system from the light point of view".
Doug Darrow, Senior Vice President of Cinema at Dolby Laboratories, said: "Dolby 3D's advanced color separation technology is perfect for the next generation of laser projectors. With a very high light efficiency, practically no crosstalk and with images of great sharpness and vivid colors we think that the combination of Dolby 3D and laser projection generates an unbeatable 3D viewing experience for film audiences".
