|
|
 
|
|
Author
|
Topic: And more 3D options ...
|
Julio Roberto
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 938
From: Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Registered: Oct 2008
|
posted 02-11-2009 01:41 AM
We can't forget xpand just yet:
http://celluloidjunkie.com/2009/02/09/active-3d-glasses-are-still-going-strong-in-europe/
The article talks about Xpand new glasses model, with a few advantages from their previous models such as replaceable batteries, and how RealD is not such a dominant operator in Europe as it is in the USA.
Xpand system has the advantages of not needing a special screen or a special film process (i.e. no ghostbusting like RealD and no color correction like Dolby).
Theoretically, it can offer about the best performance of all systems:
-Theoretical high extintion (who knows if they got this right, though)
-Relatively low light loss (about the same as RealD, but better than Dolby's and a tad worse than Master Image)
-No need for special screen (but high gain would help, as light loss is still substantial)
-No need for expensive interface electronics (a simple IR transmission system is sufficient).
As a result, it can "move" from one screen and "expand" to more than one movie, etc, as any auditorium is suitable for 3D projection just by adding more glasses, etc.
The only real dissadvantage: high glasses cost. Theoretically they could be about the same as Dolby's, but in practice this is were the money is made by Xpand, so expect them to be around $100. So the same issues as Dolby glasses apply (retrieve them, wash them, put anti-theft measures on).
I don't know. For the price of about 500 glasses (say $50.000 if they were $100), a dishwasher, a security detector, interface electronics ... perhaps one should look into buying a second projector unit, using a dual-projector setup, and using $1 re-useable or $0.30 throw-away glasses ... not to mention the better light output of the dual projection. The cost of running 2 lamps doesn't necessarily mean much, as you would need say either 2 x 4kw lamps in small (cheaper) projectors or 1 x 6kw on a larger, more expensive one.
| IP: Logged
|
|
John Wilson
Film God
Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999
|
posted 02-11-2009 03:14 AM
Julio
Can you please remember to cut and paste the article in future? We do this in order to preserve the forums for future use when the web page is long gone.
----------------------------------
The article as it is printed...
Active 3D Glasses Are Still Going Strong In Europe
Posted by Patrick von Sychowski | February 9, 2009 9:17 pm
xpand_0046-medium_300 One of the messages emerging from the recently concluded iDIFF conference in Paris - other than the fact that French penchant for strikes remains undiminished in the current economic downturn - is that active 3D glasses are still going strong in continental Europe, which is holding out against the RealD hegemony of US and UK. This is good news for market leader XpanD (nee NuVision), which had just launched its latest generation of glasses, called X101 Series.
From the press release:
XpanD’s new X101 Seriesof 3D active glassesrepresent several months of comprehensive R&D, engineering and design to equip them with state-of-the-art technical features and a streamlined, stylish appearance to optimize guest experience, comfort and to ease exhibitor operations. The core 3D viewing technology is the company’s patented “pi-cell” system, in which a specialized, fast-switching liquid crystal cell provides rapid, stereoscopic shutter action to deliver alternate right- and left-eye images.
New and upgraded features of the redesign were added with both exhibitors and their customers in mind. They include rugged construction with built-in flex points and replaceable batteries that extend product life, a lightweight and stylish form factor that is comfortable even when worn over eyeglasses, a modular design to accommodate both adults and children, environmentally friendly diodes, and a power-saving auto on/off mechanism. The light-efficient technology delivers the brightest possible picture and saves projector lamp power. The glasses also feature long-range IR signal activation, compatibility with DLP cinema chips, and a choice of two elective anti-theft systems.
Read that in reverse and you get a litany of the problems that have bedeviled active glasses: short life span batteries, one-size-don’t-fit-all, IR signal reception problems, ugly bulky look and high cost for shrinkage (loss/theft) is what has weighed the scale down, that was boosted on the other end by no need to install silver screen, no need for complicated gears in front of the projector, ability to move between different auditoria and, most importantly to some exhibitor, no need to pay ongoing licence fees to RealD. The latter point in particular has been a sore spot in discussions between RealD and some European exhibitors.
As a result, the market in Europe is leaning towards either XpanD or Dolby 3D (Kinepolis), though RealD has made important inroads in territories such as UK and Portugal. XpanD had one more trick up its sleeve at iDIFF, where in addition to sponsoring the stereoscopic presentation of Disney’s BOLT, it also announced the latest deal with Euro exhibitor Europalaces. From the press release:
“Moviegoers who enjoy Bolt 3D on the XpanD system will be getting the top-of-the-line experience of this great new Disney release,” says XpanD CEO Maria Costeira. “Europalaces now has the power of 3D exhibition and will be able to delight customers with many more of the excellent 3D titles that are coming out of movie studios today.”
XpanD supplied Europalaces theaters with 10,000 sets of the newly upgraded X101 Series 3D active glasses that work in conjunction with an XpanD infrared emitter system to transform any DCI compliant digital cinema projection system into a 3D system. The Europalaces installations have also been equipped with 20 DCP-2000 digital cinema servers from Doremi Cinema who has been instrumental in the global digital deployment, particularly in France.
It is still too early to tell who will be the King of the 3D Hill in the long term, but it is not inconceivable that there will be regional domination of different players/technologies. And we will resist ending on a joke about the future being bright for active 3D glasses - it is still just about six to seven foot-lamberts.
| IP: Logged
|
|
Julio Roberto
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 938
From: Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Registered: Oct 2008
|
posted 02-11-2009 03:48 AM
quote: John Wilson
Can you please remember to cut and paste the article in future? We do this in order to preserve the forums for future use when the web page is long gone.
Sure, but I thought it would be more efficient just to briefly comment the important points in articles volatile and not too important like this. I sort-of don't like to quote whole other articles/pages or pictures for which I don't own the copyright. Extracts are fine, though, so I'll try to quote more if preferred in this forum.
What I mean is that, in the future, probably this press announcement won't be too important anyway (i.e. current models of Christie, Barco, Xpand or whatever products probably won't even be available in a few years's time, superseeded by even newer models).
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Julio Roberto
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 938
From: Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Registered: Oct 2008
|
posted 02-11-2009 09:06 AM
quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
FYI... Dolby files are nothing special and any 3-D content ghost busted or not will play back just fine on their system
Yes, we've talked about this before.
What I mean is that either process, ghostbusting (which BTW could also be done real-time by a server or an external processor in the future) or Infitec/Dolby color correction, degrade the image quality.
XpanD, needing neither, would preserve a better quality image, with higher fidelity and closer to the 2D original equivalent.
It would benefit from ghostbusting, though, as it would reduce any ghosting it may have (once again, at the expense of contrast range in parts of the image).
RealD or Master Image don't NEED ghostbusting either ... but if you don't use it, their not-too-good crosstalk performance of the circular polarization method, would lead to objecteable double-images for some public, more evident in some parts of some high contrast scenes.
Projecting a ghostbusted movie through a Dolby system would degrade it twice (once altering the contrast, and then altering the color real-time by the playback device). Dolby doesn't need ghostbusting as its crosstalk performance is 10 times that of RealD and hardly ever produces hardly any double-image by itself.
XpanD theoretical crosstalk performance should be quite higher than RealD and Master Image, theoretically by 75% or more, but lower than Dolby, which is 900% better than RealD. I haven't measured the performance of their shutters, much less in this just-released new glasses model, so it could anywhere from worse (unlikely) to 2.5 times better (on-axis).
Battery changes occur so rarely enough that it's not really much of an issue, but indeed adds to the nuisance of non-disposable glasses plus may add additional problems (i.e. some batteries may be defective and run out at unpredictable times, although the glasses have an LED indicator for low-battery so you know if they are lit ... it's time to change them as they will run-out soon).
Remember IMAX successfully used this type of systems (shutter glasses, with batteries of course, avoiding silver screens), for some of their 3D theaters. They used passive LINEAR polarized glasses for the mayority of them, though.
Still, I would indeed rather recommend Dolby if you don't mind expensive glasses, or Master Image if you don't want dual-projection. Otherwise, I would recommend dual-projection with your choice of either linear or circular polarization. Or even dual-projection with Dolby glasses and passive Infitec filters, although I don't really see an economic advantage in this case.
[ 02-11-2009, 10:21 AM: Message edited by: Julio Roberto ]
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Julio Roberto
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 938
From: Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Registered: Oct 2008
|
posted 02-11-2009 08:10 PM
quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
I've played GhostBusted content on a dolby more than once and it looks just fine.
Well, of course all this stuff looks "just fine". We are just nitpicking about quality, but the average human being is not going to notice.
Obviously, ghostbusting does alter the original picture and so does color correction and color space convertion. You just have to look at the graph provided by Infitec for their system to realize the smaller (and different per eye) footprint on CIE XYZ color (for the overlapping section of both eyes, which is all they can use if they don't want their glasses to behave too much like anaglyph, with different colors on each eye).
I admit though, that if you don't carefully observe the image and compare it with the origintal, you'll never notice it.
If you did, you would find non-ghostbusted prints to contain more contrast and luma dynamic range on many parts of many images of many scenes and you would find non-Dolbied' images of more accurate and wider color.
You may find some of the comments in this thread relevant to this: http://www.film-tech.com/ubb/f14/t000196.html
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
All times are Central (GMT -6:00)
|
|
Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM
6.3.1.2
The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion
and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.
|
Home
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
.
![[evil]](graemlins/evil.gif)
![[thumbsup]](graemlins/thumbsup.gif)
.
Printer-friendly view of this topic