Sony organized a meeting for the media to showcase and discuss their Crystal LED (CLED) screen. Unfortunately, they did not show a version optimized for cinema, but they did say that a version is in testing right now for DCI certification with Keio University. They expect this to be complete this summer, so it seems likely we may see demos for theatrical in the fall. It is working with a partner to develop an audio solution as well.
In the meeting, Sony executives reiterated some of the technical specs of the CLED display:
- 1,000,000:1 contrast
- Each RGB pixel is only 0.003 mm² in size, allowing the remaining surface area to be more than 99% black
- The surface-mounted light source improves light use efficiency
- The technology has a viewing angle of nearly 180ºs, with corner-to-corner image uniformity in terms of brightness and color, even on a large screen
- The canvas has a brightness of 1000 cd/m² , and supports High Dynamic Range (HDR) content
- The CLED display can support 3D also using active shutter glasses. They showed this capability two years ago.
- Lifetime is speced at 89.5K hours to 50% brightness when run at 1000 cd/m² full screen white
Some content was then played back on the screen (clips from new Spiderman movie, the new Jumanji movie and the Emoji movie). They came from a server, but looked like the UltraHD HDR Blu-ray versions with the 1000 cd/m² peak luminance. They were played on a 2K version of the CLED screen and looked great – but kind of like a giant HDR TV image.
Some gaming content (Grand Turismo) was also shown where the highlights were really pushed to high brightness to demonstrate the range of images that game developers can offer. It was a bit over the top, but it proved the point that HDR can deliver very bright glints and highlights to make the CG look more lifelike.
The only newer aspects of the screen are a matte finish and “cinema” input, which we presume means SDI connectivity (it also has DP and HDMI).
One clear message from Sony Electronics was that they want to work with industry to develop a new standard for HDR in cinema. They are “not in a hurry” but “need to collaborate with studios” to get HDR right for the cinema. They would like to see the industry develop one specification and workflow for the cinema HDR DCP with metadata delivered to the display to do the tone mapping for the capabilities of that display. This is very similar to how content is delivered in the consumer market.
Sony confirmed that they will have a cinema HDR CLED solution within the year and that they have a lead exhibitor for it as well, but no names were disclosed.
Sony is also looking at a number of options for financing the purchase of the CLED screen, which is reported to be even more expensive than the Samsung screen. A home product is quite a long way off, said executives.
Sony is opening the Sony Entertainment Center in the LA area in the fall and one of these screens will be installed there (it’s not yet clear if this will be a cinema version), and they will install one on the Sony Pictures lot this year as well. – CC
