At this week’s CineEurope exhibitor conference in Barcelona, Spain, NEC announced its new $170,000 laser projector will be available this fall, perhaps beating other manufacturers in the race to deliver the market’s first laser illuminated projection system. Installations of the NC1040L are slated to first appear at Japanese auto manufacturers. The company says it has also fielded interest from cinema exhibitors in European cities. Continue reading CineEurope 2013: NEC Demonstrates New Laser Projector

During its CineEurope press conference in Barcelona yesterday, Sony described 4K technology as achieving “mainstream” status. The company screened a 4K trailer of “Elysium” in addition to a range of 2K and 3D clips (the company reports 15,000 installed 4K projectors), and detailed its plans to test 4K sports coverage at this year’s Wimbledon Championships. Sony also launched Theatre Management System Lite, its workflow management software for cinemas. Continue reading CineEurope 2013: Sony Details Progress of 4K Technology

RealD is launching a new large format brand, LUXE: A RealD Experience, with hopes of becoming the standard for premium 2D and 3D cinemas across Europe. The cinema technology company presented its LUXE initiative to exhibitors at CineEurope in Barcelona on Monday. The new packaging of LUXE technology standards for screen size, brightness, sound and seating could become a competitor to large format exhibitor IMAX. Continue reading CineEurope 2013: RealD Rolls Out LUXE Large Format Plans

Google earned more than half of the $8.8 billion spent on global mobile Internet advertising in 2012, according to eMarketer’s first study on worldwide digital and mobile advertising. Google took in nearly one-third of all digital ad dollars spent worldwide. The market research firm notes that Google earned $4.61 billion in mobile Internet ads last year, three times its 2011 earnings. This year’s total mobile revenues are estimated to be up 92.1 percent to $8.85 billion. Continue reading Google Leads in Mobile Ad Revenue, Facebook on the Rise

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ “Entertainment & Media Outlook 2013-2017” report, consumer spending on mobile Internet access will surpass spending on home broadband connections this year. Combined spending is projected to grow from $91 billion in 2012 to $153.3 billion in 2017. The report also predicts that 87 percent of the U.S. population (286.7 million people) will have mobile Internet devices within four years. Continue reading Mobile Net Spending to Exceed Home Broadband for First Time

Columbia Pictures’ “After Earth” was screened via a Sony 4K digital cinema projector this weekend during the Cine Gear Expo in Los Angeles. After attendees filled the 500-plus-seat Paramount Theatre on Friday, a second screening was added on Saturday. “After Earth” was among the first feature films produced using Sony’s 4K F65 camera. Sony, Canon and Red are among the major camera makers now able to support 4K. Continue reading Cine Gear Expo: Industry Vets Discuss 4K for Cinema and TV

According to new projections from DTVE publisher Informa Telecoms & Media, the number of 3D TV homes will jump from 13.5 million in 2012 to more than 100 million by 2017. Asia Pacific is expected to have the highest penetration with 49.6 million, while North America will follow with 33.2 million and Western Europe should see 18.3 million. The 112.7 million 3D homes projected by 2017 will represent 8 percent of global TV households. Continue reading Report Projects Spike in Global 3D TV Adoption by 2017

Holographic technology may be inching closer to mainstream adoption. Mashable offers an interesting look at the history and evolution of the technology, including its roots as a classic parlor trick (called “Pepper’s Ghost”) — an illusion involving a well-angled mirror to project a reflection — along with contemporary uses seen at Coachella, the London Olympics and this year’s Super Bowl. Continue reading Technology Inches Closer to Enabling Holographic 3D World

The Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in downtown Chicago — founded in 1930 as America’s first planetarium — recently completed a transformation of its 80-year old historic Sky Theater, newly named the Grainger Sky Theater. With its 8K x 8K projection dome, the new theater is being touted as “the highest resolution digital dome ever built.” Next month the Adler crew will unveil “Deep Space Adventure” — an immersive exhibit simulating the formation of the universe. It was created with support from NASA, IBM, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the University of California Santa Cruz, the Astrophysics Institute Potsdam, and others.

The production team behind “Deep Space Adventure” is using a variety of modeling software systems, including Autodesk’s Maya 3D and 3ds Max and Lightwave 3D from NewTek, while Adobe After Effects is being used for compositing. The planetarium’s render farm and storage system includes 83 computers with dual processors. The system also uses the Uniview real-time visualization platform that allows users to fly through a computer model of the universe.

The new planetarium can project images, such as those captured by the Hubble Telescope, with more than 5 times the clarity of a standard movie theater. The system uses 20 Rockwell-Collins Zorro digital projectors powered by 45 computers working simultaneously.

Immersive experience designer and integrator, Global Immersion, was contracted by the Adler in April 2010 to design and integrate a high contrast and high resolution experience. As a result, Global Immersion’s Fidelity Black 8K digital theater solution has been fully integrated into the theater. According to the Global Immersion press release: “Powered by Global Immersion’s Fidelity Play comprising forty-six Media Servers, the Grainger Sky Theater is primed for both real-time and playback media and is capable of running at both 30 and 60 frames per second (fps) at 8K resolution. The Uniview real-time data and astronomy visualization platform from SCISS will be used for astronomy presentations.”

The first of these experiences will be “Deep Space Adventure,” debuting July 8, possibly the most technologically advanced space exhibit ever designed. According to the Adler press release: “The Grainger Sky Theater will project the largest single seamless digital image in the world with an ultra high definition screen resolution of more than 8K x 8K pixels. This far surpasses the cinematic standard of 2K x 4K pixels, presenting a level of realism that can only be surpassed by actual space travel.”

“It’s going to be really exciting,” explains Paul Knappenberger, president of Adler Planetarium. “For the first time people will feel that they are flying through space. They will be on an observation deck of an imaginary starship flying through the universe and witnessing, up close and personal, the collision and the merging of two galaxies or the explosion of a star as it goes supernova or they will see the black hole in the center of our galaxy consuming a nearby star.”

Related Global Immersion press release: “Adler Planetarium Chooses Global Immersion for 8K True Black Digital Dome Theater” (5/25/11)

Related Engadget post (includes Adler press release): “Chicago’s Adler Planetarium to start projecting 8K by 8K images from this July, put cinema screens to shame” (4/26/11)

Related PCMag.com article: “3D Universe Map Shows Most Complete Detailed Image Yet” (5/26/11)

Related NTDTV.com article (with video): “Chicago To Open Out-of-This World Planetarium” (5/27/11)