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JIM LAVORATO
Lavorato
ALLAN WEBB
GARY STEVENS
The Screentrade Surgery
JAMES C. GOSS
The Wall Street View
R
ecently, I overheard an
exhibitor describe the 2K
Digital Cinema image as
“picture perfect.” That
Editor-in-Chief
got me thinking: Just how
good is 2K d-Cinema
presentation compared to
other images we see daily?
High Definition Television (HDTV) is
1,080P or 1,080 lines of vertical resolution/
progressive scan, with an aspect ratio of
16:9 or 1.78:1. 2K d-Cinema has (as the
2K prefix implies) 2,048 lines of resolution
but, unlike HDTV, these are measured
horizontally, not vertically, with an aspect
ratio of approximately 1.9:1.
Converting HDTV’s 1,080 vertical
lines into horizontal lines (1,080 x 1.78),
the resolution now becomes 1,922 lines,
therefore, 2K d-Cinema and HDTV are
more or less equivalent when it comes to
image resolution. Result:
moviegoers
get
Motor
Mouth
PHILIP TURNER
TREVOR HARRIS
MARLA BACKER
Box Office Analysis
essentially the same “look” at a cinema with
a 2K d-Cinema projection system with what
they get in their living room home theatres.
Hmmm, not too compelling and certainly
no more “picture perfect.” So, why install
a 2K projector? The technology is now
over a decade old and has been obsolete
for some years as Sony’s d-Cinema delivers
a 4K image (4,096 lines) having not twice,
but four times the pixel resolution of its 2K
counterpart.
In comparison, 35mm film has 6-8K
resolution and IMAX film with 70mm/15
perforations-per-frame is, quite literally,
“off the resolution scale”. And yet, there
is a movement to install 2KCineFinance
d-Cinema
projectors in IMAX Theatres – is this not a
giant technological leap backwards! W hy is
it some in the Movie Industry continue to
embrace a technology that offers the public
a poorer presentation, one that is becoming
less relevant by the day? I’d attended the
International Consumer Electronics Show
in early January where I’d fully expected
to be viewing HDTVs at a resolution of
1,380P or even higher, which was the case.
So, by this reasoning, in the not-too-distant
future home cinema-viewing will be more
“picture perfect” than 2K d-Cinema.
So, to all 2K d-Cinema proponents,
I implore you, quit this madness! In
resolution terms, you’re losing the battle
and should make a dignified exit.
[email protected]
Graham
Spurling’s G-Slot
EFA
GRAHAM SPURLING
www.screentrademagazine.com | Winter 2009 | screentrade
036_037_ST_Winter_09.indd 37
UK, EUROPE & RoW
?
picture
perfect
One of 2K d-Cinema’s supposed
advantages is its superior resolution over
HDTV, but, in doing the math,
Jim Lavorato wonders how long it’ll be
before home viewing wins the day.
From Down Under
ANALYSIS
UK, EUROPE & RoW
37
No. AMERICA
25/2/09 13:21:19
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