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IMAX Theaters to Ditch Film, Use Digital DLP Projectors

IMAX and Texas Instruments announced they will be working together to transition IMAX from a film-based projection format to a DLP-based technology instead. Starting in the middle of 2008, all new IMAX projectors will include the digital DLP technology and eliminate the need for elaborate film-based projector setups currently found in IMAX Theaters. This raises the question: which billionaire will be the first to have a digital IMAX theater installed in his mega mansion?

Texas Instruments Announces IMAX Digital Projection System to be Powered by DLP Cinema® 2008 marks the 10th Anniversary of digital cinema led by DLP Cinema LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - March 11, 2008: Texas Instruments (TI) (NYSE: TXN) DLP Cinema® announced today at ShoWest that IMAX® Corporation (Nasdaq: IMAX) has decided to incorporate the DLP Cinema projector solution in its IMAX digital projection systems to be deployed by commercial exhibitors around the world. "We are excited to cement this alliance with DLP Cinema, and believe their technology will help ensure that our digital projection system delivers the best cinema experience available to audiences," said IMAX Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs Richard L. Gelfond and Bradley J. Wechsler. "We've evaluated competing cinema projection technology and found DLP Cinema to be the ideal match for IMAX." IMAX's highly anticipated digital projection system integrates a suite of proprietary IMAX intellectual properties with the DLP Cinema projector solution in a way that creates The IMAX Experience in a digital format. IMAX expects its transition to digital to help to drive profitability for studios, exhibitors and IMAX theatres by virtually eliminating the need for film prints, increasing program flexibility and ultimately increasing the number of movies shown on IMAX screens. With the implementation of DLP Cinema technology, IMAX moviegoers will experience precise, lifelike images in vibrant colors, delivered through the millions of microscopic mirrors on the DLP Cinema chip. "We are proud to work with IMAX and look forward to the development and rollout of the best digital cinema experience in the market," said Nancy Fares, Business Manager for DLP Cinema Products Group. "DLP Cinema projectors are the heart of every digital 2D and 3D movie experience for traditional and now large format venues. We look forward to participating in their move to digital in the months ahead." Digital cinema installations continue to be catalyzed by the increasing release of 3D film. The 3D movie format is serving as a revenue driver for the film industry overall, and has gained a resurgence of interest by moviegoers. IMAX has been a leader in 3D content, especially since the overwhelming box office success of The Polar Express: An IMAX 3D Experience, which has grossed more than $65 million in IMAX theatres around the world since it opened in 2005. More recently, Beowulf: An IMAX 3D Experience grossed $25 million, representing a per screen average of more than $185,000. Celebrating its 10th year in the film industry, DLP Cinema projection technology is installed in over 6,000 theatres on every continent except Antarctica and is the only digital 3D single projector solution. Today there are more than 1,200 theatres in the country that offer the digital 3D experience powered by DLP Cinema technology, and this number will continue to increase as IMAX begins its rollout of digital projection systems powered by DLP Cinema. 10 Years of Digital Cinema 2008 marks the 10th Anniversary of DLP's entrance into the cinema industry, with the first fully functional and Hollywood endorsed digital DLP Cinema movie projector. After years of prototypes, DLP had delivered Hollywood's biggest image critics and cinematographers with a digital projector that met the world's highest standards on color, brightness and reliability and therefore pioneered the digital cinema concept. A year later in 1999 the studios released the first movie in digital format on DLP Cinema which was Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace. DLP Cinema honors the heritage of the ultimate viewing experience while incorporating the latest technology innovations, such as the 3D single projector solution, and cutting costs for cinema exhibitors, distributors and ultimately the consumer. About DLP Cinema DLP Cinema is a proprietary technology that delivers clear, sharp, bright and accurate images to movie theatres globally. To manufacture and market under the DLP Cinema trademark, technology licensees, including Barco, Christie and NEC, must meet stringent standards and guidelines meant to ensure the best possible performance and picture quality. This digital picture and standard of excellence ensures that a DLP Cinema movie screening looks flawless and each showing is as perfect as the first with no annoying scratches, tears or weaving that detract from the movie-going experience. For more information, or to find a DLP Cinema theatre near you, please visitwww.dlpcinema.com. About Texas Instruments DLP Products DLP display technology from Texas Instruments offers clarity down to the most minute detail, delivering pictures rich with color, contrast and brightness to large-screen HDTVs and projectors for business, home, professional venue and digital cinema (DLP Cinema®). 50 of the world's top projection and display manufacturers design, manufacture and market products based on DLP technology. DLP is the only HDTV technology built from a foundation in the digital cinema where it set the industry standard demonstrated by the deployment of DLP Cinema technology in 5,971 theatres worldwide. At the heart of every DLP chip is an array of up to 2.2 million microscopic mirrors which switch incredibly fast to create a high resolution, highly reliable, full color image. DLP technology's chip architecture and inherent speed advantage provides razor-sharp images and excellent reproduction of fast motion video. Since early 1996, more than 15.5 million DLP subsystems have been shipped. For more information, please visitwww.dlp.com. About Texas Instruments: Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) helps customers solve problems and develop new electronics that make the world smarter, healthier, safer, greener and more fun. A global semiconductor company, TI innovates through manufacturing, design and sales operations in more than 25 countries. For more information, www.ti.com. DLP and DLP Cinema are registered trademarks of Texas Instruments. About IMAX Corporation IMAX Corporation is one of the world's leading digital entertainment and technology companies. The worldwide IMAX network is among the most important and successful theatrical distribution platforms for major event Hollywood films around the globe, with IMAX theatres delivering the world's best cinematic presentations using proprietary IMAX, IMAX 3D, and IMAX DMR technology. IMAX DMR is the Company's groundbreaking digital remastering technology that allows it to digitally transform virtually any conventional motion picture into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience. IMAX's renowned projectors and new digital systems display crystal-clear images on the world's biggest screens. The IMAX brand is recognized throughout the world for extraordinary and immersive entertainment experiences for consumers. As of September 30, 2007, there were 296 IMAX theatres operating in 40 countries. IMAX®, IMAX® 3D, IMAX DMR, and, IMAX MPX The IMAX Experience® are trademarks of IMAX Corporation. More information on the Company can be found at www.imax.com.

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Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 03-12-2008, 08:39 PM:
 
Oh Wow! I can hardly wait for old Imax projectors to start showing up on e-bay!
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 03-12-2008, 09:26 PM:
 
Yeah, that's not going to look like ass or anything.
 

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Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 03-13-2008, 10:14 AM:
 
I can see how they could use DLP to fill those Imax Jr. screens they put in with the MPX systems, but I just can't see them running DLP on the full-size Imax screens.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 03-13-2008, 11:11 AM:
 
Never underestimate the stupidity of the suits. Yet another idea from someone that should just stick to counting someone else's beans. My favorite description for such plans (seems to be getting used a lot lately): "Breathtakingly stupid!"
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 03-13-2008, 12:50 PM:
 
Oh well. Another marriage of "digital equals perfect" and "good enough" ethics of American style big business.

R.I.P. IMAX.

Just what exactly do they intend to do with 2K DLP chip projectors? Install about 10 of them in one booth and try to tile the image?

I wouldn't put it past the "suits" to use only one 2K projector with an over-powered lamp house and blast the image up big enough where each pixel is the size of a kitchen table top.
 

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Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 03-13-2008, 12:57 PM:
 
Sad even a 4K can't put an image up equal to the 70MM quality they are getting now. I just cant see this working on todays technology. I would think 8K might make it not even sure about that.
 

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Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 03-13-2008, 03:47 PM:
 
The current IMAX digital system is designed for a MPX sized theatre and aspect ratio using 2 2k projectors.

There had been talk about Sony 4k projectors being used but there seems to be a problem as they can't accommodate lamps of an high enough wattage to fill an IMAX sized screen.
 

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Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 03-13-2008, 08:32 PM:
 

quote: important IMAX people

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... their technology will help ensure that our digital projection system delivers the best cinema experience available to audiences.

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I'm really sure that the audiences are their primary concern. Did they conduct audience surveys or something? "This feature that you just paid $16 to see, this wasn't the best experience, so would you come back again once we make it better? Yes or no?"

The profitability bit for the distributors sounds more like it. Audiences aren't going to be buying any more tickets than they are now. And, of course, the "best experience" is hardly guaranteed to be the digital one.
 

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Posted by John Plasket (Member # 2201) on 03-14-2008, 02:57 AM:
 
I have to wonder what they're going to do with the IMAX theater at the Franklin Institute (science museum) in Philadelphia (the Tuttleman Omniverse). The entire projection setup is located behind glass inside the main lobby, making the booth itself an exhibit.

Digital projectors in use aren't as cool to watch. Stupid science.
 

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Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 03-14-2008, 01:25 PM:
 

quote: John Plasket

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I have to wonder what they're going to do with the IMAX theater at the Franklin Institute (science museum) in Philadelphia (the Tuttleman Omniverse). The entire projection setup is located behind glass inside the main lobby, making the booth itself an exhibit.

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The McWane Center in Birmingham, AL does that also. They also have the IMAX Dome setup which the manage to keep consistently out of focus. So a switch to digital won't be noticed;>
 

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Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 03-15-2008, 09:34 AM:
 
The Mugar Omnimax Theatre at the Museum of Science in Boston, Ma has one wall of thier projection booth completely made of glass so that people can see the QTRU, The platter, all the racks etc... Im not sure how common this is but the actual IMAX projector is on a lift, after threading it is raised like 2 stories up to the port. Pretty cool in my opinion.
 

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Posted by Joseph L. Kleiman (Member # 3097) on 03-16-2008, 12:24 PM:
 
The current IMAX digital projector is a replacement for the MPX system. According to IMAX's technical people, the replacement for the GT and SR projectors is another three to five years off.
 

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Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 03-17-2008, 04:03 AM:
 
Yes, the digital projectors, once they get them working, are meant to replace the MPX houses ... but MPX projectors aren't, after all, truly IMAX. Okay, they may have patented the technologies, but what MEANS "IMAX" to me does not exist in MPX, no matter what IMAX itself has to say about it.

I know IMAX is just a company, and anything they do is subject to their redefining what their own name means, but they successfully (in my eyes) synonymized their brand with 15/70 film and the quality of image the format can produce on a 7-storey tall screen. DMRed super-35mm movies on a regular screen via MPX is a far cry from the peripheral-vision-filling "experience" of IMAX from, say, ten years ago.

To keep up with cinema trends, they have to go digital, and yes the capabilities of digital replacing what the GT system can produce are AT LEAST three-to-five years off. And that's IF digital cinema is successful enough (and there are enough surges in digital cinema technological advances).
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 03-17-2008, 07:11 AM:
 
Mark G. in another thread explained that they were going to use multiple projectors, possibly more than 2, and at the time, they were talking about using Sony 4K in multiples....guess that was shelved. Thing is, you do have to concede that if what the CEO said in a speech in a shareholder's meeting is true, that the cost of each IMAX 15/70 print was around $20,000 and going up, and multiply that for each one of their 250 plus theatres, you can see how eliminating that nut for every new IMAX release would bring tears of happiness to the eyes of the bean counters.

On the other hand, eliminating the quality which 15/70 produces and which has defined the IMAX "experience" for decades may just be the same thing as eliminating the very thing that makes IMAX worth seeing and paying a premium price.

So will all those IMAX theatres that have a library of many of the 15/70 IMAX titles be able to keep the film projectors and just ADD the digital projector so they can still play the film library or will the digital system not only replace film for upcoming IMAX digital screenings, but will make the film library worthless so those IMAX theatres can no longer play the older film titles that they've invested in? I thought the thing that made the IMAX theatres profitable was that they could cycle the IMAX classic titles over and over for the life of the prints that they bought. So this kills the theatre's ability to play the film prints they've already invested in? So future generations...the public, which they all keep saying will be so well served by this, will never get to actually experience those great, earlier IMAX films? I can't wait for NORTH OF SUPERIOR, THE LAST BUFFALO, et al to start showing up on Big Reel!
 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 03-17-2008, 08:05 AM:
 
This sounds like a bad idea, but I haven't seen an MPX (or SR, actually) setup, so I don't really have a sense of the screen size. I can imagine that 2x 2k DLP units might work OK on a 70' or so screen (too big for 35mm, but good for 5/70). I will reserve judgment on this until I see it, but it doesn't sound like an improvement.

To me (and most consumers, probably), Imax doesn't mean 15/70 so much as it means "biggest screen" and "best sound." The problem that I can see is that Imax screens keep getting smaller and the company risks diluting its brand image. They need to somehow make the distinction between the GT houses and the MPX houses. Maybe call the MPX setup "Imax Lite" or "Imax Express" or call the GT houses "Super-Hyper-Mega-Ultra Imax" or something like that. Otherwise, consumers won't know the difference and risk being disappointed if they aren't familiar with the smaller screens.

Question for those familiar with MPX installations: is the MPX sound system of the same quality as the GT system?
 

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Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 03-17-2008, 02:12 PM:
 
Back in the 1950's, there was a company called Cinerama that showed their travelog/slice of life films in special theatres on huge Cinerama screens. Then, in the early 1960's, they struck a deal with MGM to produce general entertainment films. In 1964, they produced their most sucessful film, How The West Was Won. Not wanting to risk damaging one of the two 1200 pound Cinerama cameras while filming the raft sequence, they shot it in 70mm and optically printed it onto the 3 rolls of 35mm in the lab. While those scenes clearly did not look as sharp as the rest of the film, the management felt that it was good enough. In fact, they felt it saved them so much money that all subsequent Cinerama films were shot that way. Three years later, they were out of business.

The point is, the public does not complain. They just stop coming, and once you lose your reputation, it is very hard to get it back.
 

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Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 03-18-2008, 05:17 AM:
 
That's an eloquent example.

Something like IMAX didn't come about because someone was trying to save money. IMAX emerged from the will to create something bigger, better; something incredible, just for its own sake. As a business, sure, costs are important. But invention is about seeing what's possible and near impossible, and achieving it anyway. They didn't have to set their sights so big in the first place, but they did.

And now the corporate bottom-liners are signing the deals. That original "vision" is lost.

Are audiences, is the public, REALLY voicing their desire to see digital projection? Most of them think the industry went all digital 15 years ago, oblivious to the fact that we're still splicing prints together. They pay to see a movie. I've seen audiences sit through emulsion scratches and muffled analog sound and STILL applaud at the end, leaving having loved the movie. I've seen audiences experience the cleanest, most perfect presentation and still demand their money back. I don't think the projection industry is really about the audience, it never was. (The concession industry, sure.) Our job is to give the best presentation for its own sake, because we care about doing our best.

Sorry, just ranting here. If digital was actually superior, I'd think differently. We all just want FILM film to last a bit longer.
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 03-19-2008, 08:19 PM:
 
This is certainly old news and AMC has already signed for umpteen IMAX Digital systems. IMAX are just using 2 stacked Christie CP-2000s's with custom optics and a GDC server. Screen size will however be limited to just under 60 feet wide, those that have seen digital onm a 60 to 70 foot wide screen know what sort of image they can expect and its not too bad. IMHO IMAX has delt their own death blow. Anyone can buy two DLP projectors to put together a large format system and then do their own large format production on the cheap. There already exists a 1:1 fixed focal length lens of high enough quality that anyone can throw an image that size... 78 feet wide in fact from 65 feet away! Christie also already has available the "Stacking Frame" and most of the other stuff needed to replace your money hungry/profit gulping 15/70 system. 2-projector 3D and if Dolby gets their 2-projector act together 2 projector Dolby Digital 3-D could also happen. It will certainly be a boon for museums and other smaller entities whose Imax contracts are eating them alive.

Brian... The audience of this day and age has been large format de-sensitized!! Most of the IMAX audience is children... they don't kow digital from large format from super 8. Audiences of today are in a state of mind where they "just want to see it"... It doesn't matter how its delivered to them anymore.

Mark
 

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Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 03-19-2008, 09:35 PM:
 
I agree. That makes the IMAX position of "we want to give the audience the best possible" seem thin and false.
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 03-20-2008, 07:10 AM:
 
Sooo... if the choices for the movie I want to see are:

$10 for the 35mm version
$12 for the DLP version
$16 for the IMAX DLP version (and travel 30 miles to see it)

I know which one I'm seeing.

Sorry, IMAX.
 

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Posted by Scott Jentsch (Member # 1681) on 03-20-2008, 10:31 AM:
 

quote: Mitchell Dvoskin

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In 1964, they produced their most sucessful film, How The West Was Won. Not wanting to risk damaging one of the two 1200 pound Cinerama cameras while filming the raft sequence, they shot it in 70mm and optically printed it onto the 3 rolls of 35mm in the lab. While those scenes clearly did not look as sharp as the rest of the film, the management felt that it was good enough. In fact, they felt it saved them so much money that all subsequent Cinerama films were shot that way. Three years later, they were out of business.

The point is, the public does not complain. They just stop coming, and once you lose your reputation, it is very hard to get it back.

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quote: Bobby Henderson

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A pair of 2K projectors still only gives you half the number of pixels of the 4K format.

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quote: Mark Gulbrandsen

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Brian... The audience of this day and age has been large format de-sensitized!! Most of the IMAX audience is children... they don't kow digital from large format from super 8. Audiences of today are in a state of mind where they "just want to see it"... It doesn't matter how its delivered to them anymore.

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I think that, at least to some extent, you are correct. The chosen moving image presentation technology for many young people today seems to be the mobile 'phone screen, or if they want something bigger, an iPod or not much bigger than IMAX frame sized window on a computer screen. The mobile 'phone also seems to be he chosen method of listening to music.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 03-21-2008, 01:33 PM:
 
Maybe they've licensed the 7K (7680x4320) UHDV system that Japan's NHK developed for the large-format venues that have been IMAX's niche. On a smaller MPX-size screen it looks pretty good for video, but of course it doesn't hold a candle to 1570 film.

My impressions of the 2006 NAB UHDV demo from another thread here
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 03-21-2008, 01:37 PM:
 
Don't know where these double posts come from, but this one is history.

[ 03-21-2008, 03:38 PM: Message edited by: Paul Mayer ]
 

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Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 03-21-2008, 02:38 PM:
 
Oklahoma City has an Omni Theater, you know big 70MM with the picture projected on to the inside of a dome. However, it seems to me they are showing Imax movies in it. Since they aren't shot for the super curve they are more than a little distorted. If you just focus on the center of the screen it doesn't seem so bad but if you start to do a turtle head and try to look around at the picture the distortion is horrid. Do they make Omni film format anymore or are they a not Imax, Imax? The formats are actually different Omni uses more perf's or something.
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 03-21-2008, 11:11 PM:
 
The image on OMNI-MAX film has a fish eye lens look to it. Somewhere on here, someone posted two frames side by side so you can see the difference between the regular IMAX frame and the "Dome" frame. DMR'd movies aren't prepared with the "Dome" frame, which is why they look distorted.
 

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Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 03-21-2008, 11:29 PM:
 
Mark exactly correct when Omni made films there corrected for the fish eye effect (or filmed for it actually). I don't think that Omni is actually in existence anymore it like when the Cinerama's became the Coopers!
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 03-22-2008, 02:12 AM:
 
The system at the Omniplex in Oklahoma City is really an Iwerks brand installation. The projection system is still a true 15-perf 70mm giant format system. But it doesn't tend to show IMAX-branded movies that were funded in part by the IMAX company. Guess you have to drive to Dallas or Tulsa for that until Dickinson puts in a cheesy "digital" IMAX system in town.
 

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Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 03-22-2008, 12:06 PM:
 
Okay looking at the size of the 15X70MM area of Imax style it looks to me that it is somewhere between a Flat 1.85:1 format and the HD 16:9 format. So when they show scope pictures they either crop the edges or letter box it down when they show flat they either pillar box in or crop top and bottom.

Oh man looks can be deceiving measuring the possible area of film you have an approximate 9.2MM to 6MM maximum print area and assuming the actual print area will lose the same amount up and down and left and right the picture is only 1.53:1 so it isn't as wide to height as even flat.

Actually I have just a piece of black 70mm from where somewhere, I know not where, trimmed to the 15 sprocket hole size but that should still be right.

I'm sort of wondering where I and why and how I ended up with film. one ends up with so many odd things in 36 years of doing something!

Edited 03/22/08
Man just think if you did a 2 to 1 scope squeeze that format you could have 3:1 really wide pic. Actually not sure what the actual size printable area is so just judging from what I can see you could get between a 2.9 something to a 3.18 maybe but if you just squeezed at 1.5 you could have from a 2.31:1 to 2.38 and either of them would be plenty wide for a really, really big screen.

Oh damn I wish digital wouldn't happen just go back to 70MM and get better quality and bigger screens. That would make my duck quack!

[ 03-22-2008, 02:33 PM: Message edited by: Ron Funderburg ]
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 03-22-2008, 06:29 PM:
 
Guys... there has only been ONE IMAX FILM so far as I can remember that was actually completely lensed with the Fisheye lens on the camera 100% of the time that was meant for projecting in Omnimax. Scenes in other films also included the use of the Fisheye Camera Lens but films shot completely with the fisheye lens can ONLY be projected in Omnimax. Omnimax also became popular because the theater footprint took up ALOT less space than a full size flat screen IMAX theater... in other words museums got more museum!

Mark
 

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Posted by Jeffry L. Johnson (Member # 453) on 03-23-2008, 10:27 AM:
 
What's the title?

in70mm IMAX web page
1570 films web page
LF Examiner Films web page
 

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Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 03-23-2008, 05:39 PM:
 
Mark said "Omnimax also became popular because the theater footprint took up ALOT less space than a full size flat screen IMAX theater"
Omni was created as an option for planetariums and the foot print is almost the same
 

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Posted by Robert Throop (Member # 61) on 04-19-2008, 08:33 AM:
 
So,has Imax completely dropped new film installation?
Bob
 

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Posted by Mike Schulz (Member # 4297) on 04-19-2008, 03:10 PM:
 
Wow, talk about saving lots of money. With this bleeding edge technology, they won't even have to waste time with a DMR. They can just shoot the regular 2k digital show up onto their IMAX screens and it will look the same anyway especially since they know their current customers can't tell the difference to begin with.

Maybe they aren't so dumb after all....
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-19-2008, 03:24 PM:
 

quote: Ron Funderburg

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Okay looking at the size of the 15X70MM area of Imax style it looks to me that it is somewhere between a Flat 1.85:1 format and the HD 16:9 format. So when they show scope pictures they either crop the edges or letter box it down when they show flat they either pillar box in or crop top and bottom.

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Both flat (1.85:1) and super wide (2.39:1) movies are usually letter-boxed when DMR-blown-up to IMAX format.

IMHO, the whole DMR thing is a huge waste. Little is gained from the IMAX DMR treatment of 35mm movies above using traditional 5-perf 70mm blow up prints. The 5/70 prints use only 1/3 the amount of film used to make one of those 15/70 prints. And with a little sensible coordination between film distributors and exhibitors those 70mm prints could be used on quite a few more screens. There's lots of giant-sized movie theater screens getting lit up with 35mm, but in rather dim fashion. The method would work well, but there's no chance of it happening.

I see absolutely no point in all in taking something shot with HD video cameras and blowing that up to IMAX. It's just as screwy as Toshiba's statements of late claiming 480p video upconverted to 1080p is an acceptable alternative to real 1080p content. Oh well, when things like "HD Digital Radio" exist and apply that "HD" term to 96kb/s and 64kb/s savagely compressed audio it seems to set lying as a good standard for marketing new yet watered down technology. Let's come out with something cheaper instead of something better, yet still have the audacity to say it's better.


Speed Racer will be the next IMAX DMR release. I don't know what standard was used in how the movie was rendered, 2K or 4K. But I hope they spent a bit extra to do the DI and CGI stuff in 4K. It would look less blurry and "upconverted" when shown in that DMR IMAX process.
 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 04-19-2008, 05:13 PM:
 

quote: Bobby Henderson

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IMHO, the whole DMR thing is a huge waste. Little is gained from the IMAX DMR treatment of 35mm movies above using traditional 5-perf 70mm blow up prints. The 5/70 prints use only 1/3 the amount of film used to make one of those 15/70 prints.

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quote: Bobby Henderson

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Speed Racer will be the next IMAX DMR release. I don't know what standard was used in how the movie was rendered, 2K or 4K. But I hope they spent a bit extra to do the DI and CGI stuff in 4K. It would look less blurry and "upconverted" when shown in that DMR IMAX process.

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quote: Jonathan Goeldner

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The technology/implementation is out there, it's the distribution that's somehow lacking.

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IMAX signs joint venture deal with Tokyu chain

Friday 18th July, 08:10 AM JST

TORONTO —

IMAX Corp and Tokyu Recreation, the owner of 109 Cinemas, one of Japan’s largest exhibition chains, on Thursday announced a joint venture agreement to install up to four IMAX theaters in Japan. The agreement marks IMAX’s second international joint venture deal, as the company aligns itself with top exhibitors worldwide with its new IMAX Digital theater system. To date, IMAX has signed contracts for more than 180 IMAX Digital theater systems, with approximately 50 expected to be installed by the end of 2008.

The announcement follows a record-setting movie event in Japan, where 25,000 people, the largest IMAX audience ever for a single screening, enjoyed the Japanese premiere of “Speed Racer: The IMAX Experience” on June 29 at Tokyo Dome. The venue was converted into a huge IMAX theater for the event.

Under the terms of the joint venture agreement, IMAX and Tokyu Recreation will share the cost and profitability of the new theaters. The first theater is scheduled to be installed at the 109 Cinemas Kawasaki in the city of Kawasaki in November of this year, followed by another in early 2009 at the 109 Cinemas in the city of Shobu. Each theater will be equipped with IMAX’s new digital projection system. The third and fourth systems are subject to mutual agreement on sites, projected rates of return and certain other factors.

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All I can say is I'd like to see the subwoofer/power amp array that can do justice to the low end of that soundtrack for an audience of 25,000!
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 07-19-2008, 07:13 PM:
 
Thats actually easier than you might think. Read the comparison data in this link regarding four servo subs versus nine dual 18's. A dozen Intersonics Servo Drive subwoofers would do the trick with headroom to spare. Years ago as you can see in the pictures section (Cinema Borealis) we used a number of them outdoors located under the screen and sucessfully rattled high rise windows a city block away with them! A number of the tennants actually came down to find out what all the noise was about... and we only had pink noise up .

Mark
 

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