KITCHENER, Ontario – (April 13, 2012) – Christie® hosted a high frame rate (HFR) Summit yesterday at Christie’s worldwide center for engineering, research and development in Kitchener, Ontario, touring cinema-industry luminaries through its manufacturing facility and providing the first-ever laser projection of high frame rate cinema and alternative content on to a 30-foot white screen.
Recent Gordon E. Sawyer Academy Award winner Douglas Trumbull, Ian Bidgood, Technical Director, Park Road Post Production; Matt Cowan, Chief Scientific Officer, RealD; John Helliker and Bert Dunk, Directors at the Screen Industries Research and Training Centre and Demetri Portelli, Stereographer met with Christie engineering and product development staff for a vibrant information sharing session and discussion on high frame rates, laser projection, and the future of 3D and 4K projection.
“Our guests were very impressed with our demonstration of high-frame rate content using one of our prototype laser projectors,” said Don Shaw, senior director, Product Management, Christie Entertainment Solutions, “as well as the laser projector development roadmap we shared in these frank discussions.”
Big, Bright and Crystal Clear Will Spark Cinema Industry Renaissance
The consensus of the assembled industry experts was that the industry needs to differentiate itself from the plethora of varied viewing options, from tablets to home theaters and all manner of exhibitor setups, to raise itself out of its current malaise.
Doug Trumbull said “Spectacular movies delivered at high-frame rates, on to big and vividly bright screens, will enable the production and exhibition of amazingly immersive cinema experiences that will be far more powerful than any other medium.”
Echoing Mr. Trumbull’s sentiments, Ian Bidgood suggested that “…3D images must be awe-inspiring to bring back the crowds to theaters worldwide, and the higher brightness levels that are required to do justice to these images, along with higher frame rate material, will be delivered by Christie’s technology in the laser field, with new projector and cinema solutions for today and the future.”
Christie plans on incorporating laser projection technology into its cinema product line, business products line and visualization and simulation solutions where it benefits its customer base.
The Kitchener facility for projection, visualization/simulation, DLP Cinema and LED-based products and solutions is Registered to ISO14001 (Environmental Management System) and Registered to ISO9001 (Quality Management System).