Initiative to regulate xenon arc-illuminated projectors like laser projectors

[Harold Hallikainen]

I don't know about regulations, but I recall a safety standatd.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Were there actual regulations demanding this? This would also be the same for IR-Transmitters for 3D systems then (e.g. XPanD, Volfoni).

There are some regulations for this, but it's all very localized and a bit spotty. I know, from my work in the theme park industry that all kinds of regulations apply for UV lightning in dark rides. There you also risk over-exposing human vision with otherwise invisible light. If you've ever been on a dark ride and suffer a bit of "blindness" once you exit the ride, chances are, you've been exposed to some high-powered UV light sources.

I've actually never heard about people suffering permanent eye damage after visiting a cinema, so it looks that even without all kinds of regulations for multi-kilowatt xenon lamp-powered beasts, the measures currently in place seem to be working pretty well. Keeping this in mind, I hope a middle-ground can be found between what you reasonably could expect any exhibitor to do to avoid any situation where people are exposed to up-close direct exposure to the projection beam and what regulation will demand.

So, exhibitors should account for all reasonable scenarios that could happen, but not for someone staging an illicit circus act in front of the booth...

[Tom Bert]

From Barco's InfoT1488:

• This is valid retroactively - also for the ones developed/certified before 2015, as long as they are still being sold.

So, if someone owns a projector that was brought into market before 2015, but is no longer sold, one is safe?

It also says:

Scope:
All new installations, including displacing projectors or second hand projectors. It is advised though not obliged to also revisit existing installations with lamp projectors with eye on optical safety distances.

The situation for existing projectors (but also for moving projectors in between screens, without reselling them) is indeed 'not obliged but advised'. You have to look at this from a worst case scenario: "what if 5y from now an accident happens in my cinema where a movie goer incurs eye-injury; will the judge say "You could have known""? At that moment, all involved parties will use all arguments they have to not be guilty. E.g. the architect of the building will claim "I designed this building in 1987, I can not be expected to redesign due to changes to equipment"

[Tom Bert]

Were there actual regulations demanding this? This would also be the same for IR-Transmitters for 3D systems then (e.g. XPanD, Volfoni).

Correct: the IEC/EN/UL 62368-1 Ed 2 is a very broad safety standard; projectors are only a small fraction of the scope

[Tom Bert]

So, exhibitors should account for all reasonable scenarios that could happen, but not for someone staging an illicit circus act in front of the booth...

That is very explicitly in the standard: you can assume that people just stand on the floor. Not climbing onto chairs; not climbing onto each other's shoulders;...