This year’s CinemaCon event did not disappoint. Samsung continued to impress with their LED screen, which we saw at CinemaCon and prior to the event in a post production house and commercial theater in Los Angeles. The Sony CLED display is much brighter (1000 cd/m² vs. 300 cd/m²) and it is currently undergoing DCI certification. But remember, for Hollywood content, only 14fL (48 cd/m²) DCI compliant content can be shown on these screens until Hollywood (perhaps with manufacturer support) begins to master versions specifically for these screens – or a new HDR cinema standard can be developed.
But the big surprise this year was the debut of the Cinionic/Barco/MTT Innovation light steering projector. This is a device that does not do double modulation of the light, but has a technology to redirect light from darker regions to brighter one, thus creating a projector that is much more light efficient, can produce deep black and highlights that can reach in excess of 1000 cd/m²! That’s incredible for a projection system that used a 30’ (9.1m) screen to showcase the technology.
Cinionic is the new name for the cinema-focused joint venture between Barco, China Film Co. Appotronics and CITICPE. The company had an expansive booth at CinemaCon with lots to showcase including high contrast projectors, 3D VR station, AR for lobbies and the light steering projector demo.
Christie showed their RGB laser projectors and they remain very bullish in the technology forecasting that 50% of their cinema sale in 2019 will be RGB. They may reach this target as pricing has come down to mainstream level now – just as they predicted.
IMax launched a new RGB laser projector but Sony went with a laser phosphor design for their laser projector.
We also saw three companies offering RGB laser sources for retrofits, which could become a very good market as many aging projectors are coming off of their VPF deals and exhibitors will have to decide if they want to buy new machines, refurbish them or simply continue to maintain them.
While the U.S. and European markets remain flat, there are good growth opportunities elsewhere in the world. We also report on the opening up of the Saudi Arabia market, which has had no cinemas for 37 years! (2,000 Projectors Likely in Saudi Arabia)
4D effects that turn the theater into a theme park ride continue to be popular with a number of new screens going in worldwide. AR and VR continues to be developed for theater lobbies as a way to keep audiences engaged and spending money. The jury is still out as to whether this will be a long term trend.
All in all, a very good event. – CC
