D I G I T A L
Series 4 projection: The magic of mirrors Inside the latest projectors, a radical overhaul of the chipset at the heart of digital cinema has taken place. Peter Knight examines the details of Texas Instruments’ new .98” 4K DMD chip — and its deployment in Cinionic’s ground-breaking Series 4 projectors.
ESPITE THE BEST EFFORTS of Cinema Technology to deliver the lowdown on all the latest technology, every now and then there’s a new
The family portrait: the line-up of new Series 4 projectors from Cinionic
seen a great number of changes from those early days. Sometimes these changes are minor improvements, while at other times it may be far more significant. The first DCP projectors were essentially Series 0 projectors; the first that
development that occurs that doesn’t
most cinemas acquired were Series 1s; and Series 2 projectors
necessarily achieve the prominence it deserves to garner
saw the introduction of 4K chips among a number of other
within the industry. Two such technologies came along at
incremental changes.
once when Cinionic released its Series 4 projectors at
Many of these “series” evolutions come down to the next
CinemaCon earlier in the year. As part of its launch, Cinioic’s
developmental change of the DMD chips that are at the
Tom Bert gave a technical talk explaining to the assembled
heart of the DLP projector and the improvements introduced
audience about the radical developments inside these
by their manufacturer — Texas Instruments (TI). In 2013, TI
ground-breaking new projectors. Understand the true extent
announced the launch of the improved .98” 4K DMD chip.
of the development that the Series 4 projectors represent
This saw them achieve the seemingly impossible — they
and you may begin to appreciate the significance of this new
managed to fit four times the number of mirrors onto the .98”
technology and why it’s a masterstroke that has seemingly
chip than they had previously. In short, instead of more than
passed many in the industry by.
2 million mirrors, they managed to achieve more than the
The latest DMD chips
critical 8 million mirrors required to achieve true 4K resolution. To understand the significance of the ability to add such
It is 20 years since the first DCP projectors started to appear
an elevated number of additional mirrors to the DMD, first it
in cinemas across the world and in that time, we have already
is necessary to understand how the chips themselves
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04/08/2019 12:41
