2011-11-LDR - Kodak
- 1. ______________________________________________________________________________ Copyright 2011 by Insight Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Electronic forwarding and reproduction without permission is prohibited. 1November 2011 Volume 9 November 2011 Number 11 IMAX Licenses Kodak Laser Projection Technology Eastman Kodak Corporation (Rochester, NY) has given an exclusive license of its laser projection technology to IMAX Corporation (New York). This technology has been discussed in detail by Insight Media in the January 2011 and October 2010 issues of the Large Display Report. The companies announced that, “IMAX has licensed from Kodak certain exclusive rights in the digital cinema field to a portfolio of more than 50 patent families covering fundamental laser projection technology. IMAX also licensed from Kodak certain exclusive rights in the digital cinema field to a broader range of Kodak patents covering complementary technologies useful for laser projection products.” While terms of the license have not been announced, IMAX will pay royalties to Kodak for the technologies. Note that the license is exclusive only in the digital cinema field, so we might expect future announcements from Kodak for licensees in other fields where brightness, image quality and 3D performance are important, such as home theater or visualization. One reason IMAX has taken this license is currently its largest screens (>80 feet) can only be served by analog film projection due to insufficient luminance in digital cinema projectors. With lasers, IMAX expects there will be sufficient output for its largest screens, including dome screens. Insight Media had a chance to talk to Kodak’s Barry Silverstein, who worked on developing the technology. He added that the IMAX license included all applications of projectors, including non-cinema large venue and home theater. It is only exclusive in the digital cinema field, and Kodak is continuing plans to license the technology to other companies, especially in the large venue and home theater fields. He could not comment, however, on companies Kodak was in discussion with or suggest a time frame for additional announcements. IMAX had previously worked with and taken an equity position in Laser Light Engines (LLE) (Salem, NH), as reported in the August and October 2010 issues of LDR. While the prototype Kodak laser cinema projector demonstrated in Rochester had used lasers from Novalux, Kodak has said their system is laser technology agnostic. Silverstein still believes that Novalux lasers are the best choice for a high-output laser projector at this point but said the license with IMAX allows them to use any lasers they wish. Presumably, if the first-generation
- 2. ______________________________________________________________________________ Copyright 2011 by Insight Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Electronic forwarding and reproduction without permission is prohibited. 2November 2011 production version of the system for IMAX does not use a laser system from LLE, the follow-on generations will. Kodak engineers will work closely with IMAX engineers over the next 18 months to assist with the implementation of the technology into the IMAX product family. IMAX expects to introduce the laser technology into the company’s largest screen and dome venues in the second half of 2013. Silverstein commented for Insight Media, “There is nothing that I will enjoy more than going to see a laser projected movie at an IMAX theatre and know that Kodak had a important role in delivering the great on-screen image quality” Note that this license applies to Kodak developments in the laser projector field. There are other approaches besides Kodak’s that can lead to laser-based projectors. In particular, Red One’s (Irvine, CA) name has been linked to a laser projector when a quote attributed to Stephen Pizzo, cofounder Element Technica and partner of 3ality Technica, was posted on the Red Website: After watching a demo of RED’s laser projector, I’ve been struggling to find a way to describe it. Comparing it to traditional professional systems is completely inadequate. I have never witnessed 3D that was as bright or brighter as the best 2D projections until now. It generated the best color, best dynamic range and best images I have ever seen in 3D or even 2D. When I learned we were watching at one-fourth of its total resolution, I was speechless. It was so clean and so vibrant, the only thing I can compare it to is Cibachrome. That’s it, a giant moving Cibachrome! Additional details are missing on what is called the Red Ray projector, except that it has 4K resolution and RED expects to introduce it as a home theater projector in the next 12 months. The price is expected to be in the $30K–$50K price range. There is more than one way to build a laser projector. To put it mildly, Pizzo was impressed by the Red approach and Chris Chinnock (and presumably IMAX) was impressed by the Kodak approach when he saw its demo. Hopefully, we can look forward to a giant leap in cinema image quality with the introduction of lasers into the projectors. –Matthew Brennesholtz IMAX, Ann Sommerlath/Adam Davis, +1-212-821-0155, asommerlath@imax.com, adavis@imax.com Kodak, Barry Silverstein, +1-585-722-0383, barry.silverstein@kodak.com Kodak, Kelly Mandarano, +1-585-724-0903, kelly.mandarano@kodak.com Laser Light Engines, Bill Beck, 603-952-4550, ext. 601, bbeck@laserlightengines.com