May 13, 2009 The 62nd Cannes Film Festival opens today in 3D, with a preview of Up, the new animation from Pixar/Disney. The 3D camera being used for the screening is the Christie CP2000-SB projector with built-in Brilliant3D innovative technology. Christie is a technical partner to the festival through its partner, digital cinema service company XDC.
Launched in October 2008, Brilliant3D enables digital cinema projectors to project 3D content in full 2K resolution at enhanced brightness levels but, because it uses a single lens system, at a reduced operating cost. Christie claims that the CP2000-SB projector offers double the brightness for 3D projection than any other competitive product.
3D is gaining traction in France. According to Christie, 392 screens in 113 commercial theaters went digital as of early March 2009, with about 80 screens equipped with a 3D system. With some 400 digital projectors, France ranks only behind the United States as the world’s best equipped countries.
“3D today acts as a catalyst for the conversion to digital cinema," says Fabrice Testa, vice president sales and business development, at XDC. "Exhibitors who are going digital, equip at least one screen per multiplex for 3D cinema projection, and many theaters plan to install two or three digital systems per multiplex."
Also, 50 out of the 53 official selection features showing at Cannes this year will be screened digitally compared to 20 screened digitally in 2007 and 37 in 2008. “We are pleased to see the progress of D-Cinema in the motion picture industry," says Jack Kline, president and chief operating officer for Christie.
Christie will provide more than 19 projectors for the world’s leading film festival: seven Christie 2K DLP Cinema projectors will be used for official competition, three Christie 2K DLP Cinema projectors for the film market and nine Christie high definition DLP standard projectors for other HD video rooms.
“As the most recognized film festival in the world, Cannes has a major cultural influence on the industry globally, reflecting the current technical, technological and commercial trends. It’s a fact that the digital format and the number of theaters equipped for digital projection is progressing very rapidly,” Kline says.
Meanwhile, Christie has launched the world’s first LED-based SXGA+ (1400 x 1050) and WUXGA (1920 x 1200) resolution projection display systems, purpose built for control room and video-wall applications.
Christie – which provides visual solutions for business and industrial use as well as entertainment – claims that its new line of Entero LED projectors has no equal in the industry for long life and dependability. Designed for 24/7 performance, the projector has no consumable components such as lamps, dust filters or color wheels. The LEDs are rated at more than 50,000 hours (over 5 years) of life on illumination, versus mercury lamps which last only about 10,000 hours.
The projection engine has 600 ANSI lumens of brightness and the high-speed LEDs have a wide range of brightness control using frame-by-frame brightness adjustment (mercury lamps offer only about 10-25 percent brightness adjustment). The LEDs turn on instantly, unlike arc lamps which can take up to a minute to turn on and reach full brightness.
Christie claims that the color spectral characteristics and color range of the LEDs surpass traditional wheel-based systems.
The Entero LED projector features Christie ArrayLOC innovative technology which provides continuous automatic intelligent management of color and brightness, minimizing the need for manual adjustments and maintenance.
Sean Edis
