Harkness Screens, the world’s leading
manufacturer of cinema screens, recently supported Barco with a preview of its
new laser-illuminated projector, a prototype which surpassed the brightness
world record at the second annual Moody Gardens Digital Cinema Symposium in
Galveston, Texas.
After
holding Guinness world-record status as the brightest single projector with
43,000 ANSI Lumens since December 2010, Barco dramatically increased this to an
excess of 55,000 ANSI Lumens with its latest laser projector prototype. The
demonstration which was carried out on a 72-foot-wide (22m) Harkness Screens
surface astonished the symposium’s audience made up of industry professionals,
with incredible brightness and sharpness levels.
“Barco
is dedicated to progressing cinema display technologies”, says Todd Hoddick, Barco’s VP for Entertainment, North America. “Harkness was a
responsive and key partner in our quest to showcase this progression. Laser illumination has great promise, and we
are proud to have shown the industry what our projector is capable of doing on
a 72 foot screen.”
The
single-source solid-state laser illumination provided
a screen luminance of 22
foot-lamberts (fL) for 2D presentation, measured on a 100-foot throw
(30.5m), significantly above the current DCI standards.
“This is a significant step for digital
projection and although laser technology is a few years away from being
commercially available, what we saw from Barco was an outstanding glimpse into
the future of cinema presentation. We
were thrilled to support Barco with this record setting event and look forward
to working with them and other manufacturers as the technology develops,” says Keith
Watanabe, Americas Sales Director of Harkness Screens.
