Yesterday in Las Vegas, the future of cinema was at the heart of a
presentation at the world's biggest trade show for electronics and
media technology, the NAB2007. Under the heading "D-Cinema and
Beyond," the full digital-cinema process chain was presented to the
professional public. The event was realised by "Invest in Germany -
Land of Ideas" a common project of the initiative "Germany - Land of
Ideas" and the federal investment promotion agency "Invest in
Germany". The presentation centred on the 5k Multi-Projection
technology developed for digital cinema by the Fraunhofer Society's
Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) in Berlin.
Apart from the Fraunhofer Institutes in Berlin and Erlangen, the
cooperation partners also include the camera manufacturer ARRI,
T-Systems' Media&Broadcast arm as a service provider to the media and
broadcast industry, and the software and hardware manufacturer DVS.
A reception at the "Las Vegas Convention Center" gave over 400
guests and journalists an opportunity to talk shop with experts, after
which a demonstration of the new projection technology was given at
"The Palms" hotel, using footage from a football match. The new
panorama projection technology is especially good for broadcasting
major sports or music events, as it gives viewers the feeling of being
right in the stadium. This immersive technology will revolutionise the
cinema experience. The evening at the Brenden Theatre was moderated by
ZDF Morgenmagazin's anchor Cherno Jobatey.
Dr. Ralf Schafer at the Fraunhofer Society's HHI Institute
believes the new technology has very real future prospects: "The
introduction of digital cinema will bring higher quality, improved
performance and greater flexibility to the regular cinemas.
Multi-Projection technology, an idea from Germany, makes it possible
to go beyond D-Cinema and present movies in top resolution."
ARRI's General Manager Franz Kraus emphasised the successful
synergies that arose from collaborating on the "Cinevision 2006"
project under the auspices of the Federal Ministry for Economics and
Technology (BMWi), and added: "For the past 90 years, ARRI has been
providing technologies that are used for most of the world's movies.
The ARRIFLEX D-20, our new digital camera, of which two were used for
the 5K shots, are now used to great effect in productions around the
world as well. That motivates us to keep designing and developing
tomorrow's cinema as the market leader in this area."
DVS's Managing Director Dr.-Ing. Hans-Ulrich Weidenbruch said:
"DVS has worked on perfecting movie and TV images for over twenty
years now. Digital cinema considerably ramps up requirements
throughout the moviemaking industry. We welcome the fact that
innovative media technology from Germany is being collectively
presented at the NAB under the heading "D-Cinema and Beyond."
Multi-Projection technology was developed as part of the
"Cinevision 2006 - Technologies and Systems for Next-Generation
Digital Cinema" project, wherein leading German companies and research
institutes joined forces to develop advanced technology and viable
business models for the future of digital cinema. The collaboration
project seeks to implement a comprehensive process chain for digital
cinema, centring on three key components: digital cameras,
high-performance transmission and new projection technologies.
"D-Cinema and Beyond" and the "Invest in Germany - Land of Ideas"
project are backed by Germany's Ministry for Economics and Technology
(BMWi).
Please visit www.land-of-ideas.org for further information.
