Selecting the Right Projector for Your Screen Five Differences from 2011 (Lamps) to 2021 (Lasers)
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Tom Bert, Director of Cinema Technology, Barco inema is over 100 years old and is over 20 years into its digital history. Starting officially around the turn of the
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Modern Times The first thing to take into account when selecting a
digital cinema projector is the timeline you’re planning for.
century, its digital history really took
In 2011, lamp projection ruled. A lamp warranty and
off between 2009-2014. In that five
lifetime ranged from 3000hrs (<1kW lamp) to 300hrs (>6kw
year period, a whole industry almost
lamp). Within that time frame the brightness dropped from
completely converted from analogue to digital - something
100% to around 50%. As an exhibitor you had to accept that
to be collectively proud of. But that does mean that a large
periodical drop to 50% and make your choice with that in
portion of the digital equipment out there is now reaching
mind. Over the lifetime of the projector, you would be
its 10-year-old operating birthday. The vast majority will be
swapping anywhere between 15 and 150 lamps; with every
running well and will continue to do so for many years; yet
lamp swap your brightness would swing up again, only to
many exhibitors are preparing for the next 10 years. In this
drop back down in the next weeks and months.
article we will zoom in on selecting a new digital cinema
The timeline when selecting a laser projector, however, is of
projector and ask: what are the differences between 2011
a different magnitude: we’re not talking hundreds or thousands
and now? How should we make these choices? And why is
of hours, but tens of thousands of hours. The drop to 50% is also
this important?
not a given. Laser projection allows you to be more flexible in
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Then and Now The digital cinema market of 2011 was very
to adopt digital. In many cases it’s what made
struggling; and we’re not completely out of the
different to how it is today. In 2011 around
them adopt 3D.
woods yet. A careful approach is defining many
64,000 screens were digitized, around 51% of
Another defining parameter was the
the market at that time. 10 years later, 203,000
infamous Virtual Print Fee (VPF): the studio
screens are now digitized; a number also
financing scheme to stimulate digitization
And finally, the new technology element in
known as roughly 100% of all screens. Incredibly,
defined where, when, at what price and from
the mix to consider: laser projection. Brought
over 10 years the total screen count grew by
whom you bought your projector. That then
to market in 2014, it’s more than just a
more than 50,000 screens. And the talk of the
defined what type, brand and model of
component inside the projector, it’s a driver for
town, and the topic that drove discussion back
projector landed in your booth.
advanced operations, integration, automation,
then, was “Avatar”. Released in 2009, this
10 years later, the elephant in the room is
blockbuster is what convinced many exhibitors
COVID-19: many industries were and are still
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of our current actions, including the selection of a digital cinema projector.
sustainability… hence why it will appear frequently throughout the article.
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