We saw three companies that were offering RGB laser light sources for cinema projectors at CinemaCon: Power Technologies, Cinemeccanica and Laser Vision Technology.
Power Technologies offers an RGB laser source that can be used to power new projectors or to upgrade existing projectors with a new light source. At CinemaCon, it was showcasing this option and was partnered with Digicine to provide a media block upgrade for both Series 1 and 2 projectors. The combination can significantly extend the life of existing older projectors and offer up-to-date technology.
In their presentation, Power Technology listed some of the benefits of an RGB laser source including coverage of the BT.2020 color gamut, 50% less electricity and lower air conditioning costs vs. Xenon. Upgrades have a fast return on investment, although the company was not specific in this area.
Their Illumina RGB laser sources are air cooled, which is more efficient than water cooling and does not required an additional chiller. Christie has gone the air-cooled approach as well, they noted. Power technology recommends considering upgrading to an RGB laser source if the compatible projector outputs more than around 20K lumens. Below that level, laser phosphor is more economical. Nearly all DLP Series I and Series II projectors can be upgraded as well as Sony SXRD cinema projectors.
Partner Digicine then described how the media blocks can be upgraded at the same time. For Series I projectors, the IMB is not integrated into the projector so they offer a “sleeve” that contains a Series 2 IMB along with a choice of two outboard servers. One is a 4TB 1U RAID 1 server and the other is a 3U 40TB RAID 5 server with dual power supplies. These are Windows-based servers and the solution meets DCI compliance requirements. There are about 17K Series I projectors in the field today, said the company.
For series II projectors, the DCI decryption and 4TB 1U RAID 1 server are all integrated into a single IMB that slides into the projector. Digicine described their solution as “bringing COTs technology to upgrading the IMB.”
Power Technology then showed some clips using an upgraded Barco DP2000 DLP projector and the Digicine Series 1 system on a Severtson SAT4K screen with 1.18 gain. A clip from Ready Player 1 was shown. It looked good, maybe a little bluer than in other presentations, and there was no visible speckle. We also saw clips from Rampage and Crimes of Grindelwald.
Power Technology offered to do a custom cost of ownership analysis for any interested exhibitor.
Laser Vision Technology is based in Beijing and says it can offer both integrated and external RGB laser sources. If the projector is designed for less than 20K lumens, the light source can go inside, otherwise, it is an external source that is fiber coupled to the projection head. All the lasers are water cooled, we were told. They do have some internal despeckling technology but they were not at liberty to discuss it.
For the embedded lasers, the company seems to offer light sources with 10K or 20K lumens for a range of Barco or Christie projectors. For the fiber coupled option, sources with 25K, 30K, 35K, 40K, 45K, 50K, 55K and 60K are offered for Barco and Christie projectors. Lifetime is stated as 30K hours to 80% of the original brightness.
The company has sold units in China and Russia but was at CinemaCon to look for U.S. distributors.
Cinemeccanica is an Italian company that offers the RGB Lux 6A RGB laser light source. It uses liquid cooling (refrigerant, not water) for the lasers and offers single rack solutions in 8K, 12K, 18K and 24K lumens. Double rack options are offered in 36K and 48K lumens. These are all fiber coupled to the projection head. Lifetime is 30K hours to 80% of original brightness. Two types of despeckling are offered so there is no need for a shaking screen.
The company is offering retrofit services for Barco and Christie projectors. They have has sales in China and Russia and in one private theater in the U.S., we were told. – CC
