For several years, Christie Digital has showcased demos at I/ITSEC to demonstrate the benefits of moving to 120fps display solutions for reducing motion artifacts. Last year the company had a nice side-by-side demo showing the trade-offs between increasing the resolution of a solution vs. increasing the frame rate (see video http://tinyurl.com/k4ruosy). The latter was clearly more beneficial.
This year, Christie showcased the 120fps capability in a three-channel demo. This featured three of Christie’s Matrix StIM WQ projectors (LED-based 2560 x 1600 resolution with 800 ANSI lumens) automatically aligned using Christie AutoCal and Christie Twist which warps and blends the image into a single, uniform display. Powering the system was FlightSafety International’s VITAL 11 Image Generator showing a North Sea visual database optimized for 12fps update rates. FlightSafety’s glass-collimated display was used for this demo.
Optimization in this case means that the database creates two 60fps output streams that contain the even and odd frames. Each projector then composites or interleaves these two 60fps inputs to achieve true 120fps RGB operation. Running at 120fps eliminates motion-induced blur and spatio-temporal aliasing and thereby dramatically improves dynamic image quality.
This ability to accept dual 60fps inputs and display at 120fps is a better way to enable this capability than a single connector to the projector, believe it or not. That’s because many IG pipelines are optimized for 60fps so it is much easier to create two 60fps outputs than a single 120fps output.
The capability has another advantage. It can be used to allow one input to be 60fps visible RGB data while the other can be an Infrared channel. Christie calls this mode InfraScene, allowing for seamless transition between low light and NVG imaging and daylight modes.
In the demo we saw at I/ITSEC, the 60 fps scenery was clearly motion blurred when we were close to the screen but from the back of the room it was less noticeable. What that says is that the decision to move to a 120fps solution may be application dependent.
And, according to Keith Klentz, Director or Simulation and Visualization sales at Christie, moving to 120 fps also means the addition of a second channel, which costs money. Even though Christie has been showing the benefits of 120 fps for four years now, only about 10% of the current applications opt for the capability.
But that may be starting to change. One key selling point is that you can run IR and visible on two channels for low light and NVG operation, then for daylight, you can use those same two channels to run at 120fps – so “more bang for the buck”.
Elsewhere on the show floor, JRM Technologies showcased a simulated Night Vision Goggle (NVG) demonstration using a Christie Matrix StIM WQ dual-input projector and Christie InfraScene at I/ITSEC 2014.
