IMAX to start laser projector roll-out

Victorious Secret · March 5, 2015

Well, started. They rolled these badboys out last Fall and you might have even seen a movie already (Hobbit, Interstellar) on one of these. I'm looking forward to our local IMAX screens getting updated with these, as the results seemingly look amazing. Not that IMAX doesn't already look amazing.

IMAX has solved the problem of current digital projectors by using said lasers, but they obviously have no desire in revealing their close guarded method in how the two projector system is able to reproduce more colours than the human eye can see AND while technically these output a 4K for a theatre, are capable of producing more pixels than the human eye is capable of discerning. Pretty awesome stuff.

The IMAX theater in downtown Toronto is the first public theater in the world to be upgraded with the company's new laser projector technology, and during my behind-the-scenes tour of the projection booth another one of the system's not-so-secret features was revealed: every theater will actually have two of these laser projectors working in tandem.

It's not for redundancy, though. The two projectors actually work together to achieve absolutely stunning levels of brightness and contrast. When an image with both bright and dark areas is projected using the digital technology in place in theaters now, the brighter areas of the frame always end up washing out the details in the darker areas. With IMAX's new projection technology there's a stunning amount of detail preserved in the darker areas of an image, even if other parts of the frame appear brighter than the sun.

The side-by-side dual projector setup also helps improve sharpness and reduce the jagged aliasing artifacts often seen along curved edges in digital images. On a 50-inch 4K TV it's all but impossible for your eyes to see any digital artifacts, but when a 4K image is projected on a 120-foot wide screen, they suddenly become easy to spot. And artifacts like that can distract audience members from the experience.

http://gizmodo.com/imaxs-new-laser-projectors-make-me-wish-i-lived-in-a-mo-1689480610

bcredeur97 · March 5, 2015

I can see the pixels on a 50inch 4K screen. You can see them if you look closely enough and u are close enough.

BUT what has always bothered me is movie theater screens. Even though some are at 4K they still dont look that great imo. I hope this is actually going to solve that problem! (Well at least it should for imax lol)

Xorbot · March 5, 2015

I can see the pixels on a 50inch 4K screen. You can see them if you look closely enough and u are close enough.

BUT what has always bothered me is movie theater screens. Even though some are at 4K they still dont look that great imo. I hope this is actually going to solve that problem! (Well at least it should for imax lol)

I love the point in time where generations went from "movie projections are amazing!" to "This displeases me, and causes me to be bored and uninterested."

The Benjamins · March 5, 2015

I can see the pixels on a 50inch 4K screen. You can see them if you look closely enough and u are close enough.

BUT what has always bothered me is movie theater screens. Even though some are at 4K they still dont look that great imo. I hope this is actually going to solve that problem! (Well at least it should for imax lol)

50 in at what distance? its mostly about pixel density to distance ratio that matters, not size. I have yet to see a 4k movie in the theater. but its nice seeing IMAX finally going to support 4k.