IMAX Private Theatre System

r32

IMAX is offering their technology to wealthy homeowners. They're calling it IMAX Private Theatre™ (their spelling). Full disclosure, I am one of the dealers in the U.S. General information about the system is on their website: http://www.imaxprivatetheatre.com/

There are some interesting details that aren't mentioned on the website:
1. The minimum height of the IMAX compound curve screen is 12-feet. No less. The system requires a room-within-a-room built to IMAX's strict specifications for correct site-line geometry, NC15 acoustics, correct air handling, tiered seating, etc. The tiered seating required for correct sight lines and clearance of the bottom of the projector light cone necessitates a minimum room ceiling height of 15-feet. A separate projection room is also required. If you don't have a large enough room that will work, you have to build it. There is no compromising.

2. The Private Theatre system has 4K resolution. Commercial IMAX theaters are 2K. The brightness of the Private Theatre dual projection system is such that IMAX had to dial back lamp output.

3. The 4K pixel-mapped dual projector configuration means that when viewing 3-D, each projector can simultaneously display the complete left or right image to each of the viewer's eyes. This not only reduces/eliminates eye fatigue, it also makes the 3-D effects better. Images jump off the screen into the room with greater realism. As a fan of 3-D, that alone makes me salivate.

4. IMAX is about content and the system includes 120 of their titles on a Kaleidescape-like server, both their institutional documentaries and full featured films. All have had the benefit of IMAX's post-production processing. (The post-production of Hollywood's best blu ray releases is often done by IMAX. The reason is that Hollywood's target commercial theater has a 35-foot screen displaying images from a 2K projector. Which looks like doo-doo on a minimum 70- by 50-foot, IMAX screen, never mind one of their 100-footers.)

5. In addition to the bundled IMAX titles, the PRIMA Cinema movie service hardware is also installed in the equipment rack. All the homeowner has to do is sign up with PRIMA and pay their fees to watch new releases.

6. It goes without saying that anyone purchasing the system must have very deep pockets even if you have an existing empty shell on your property that can accommodate the substantial build out. But, interestingly, IMAX's price is the same no matter what size screen you want and what size speakers that may dictate.

7. There are HDMI and analog connections for blu ray players, satellite and cable boxes, game consoles, streaming content. There's no weirdness with the nuts and bolts connections. (Compare this with the input headaches from Sony's first SRXR 4K projectors that were sold into a number of private homes; trying to play a blu ray digitally was a nightmare. Even today, sending 3-D to a commercial grade projector - which lots of wealthy private homeowners with large screens purchase - is complex requiring costly add-on hardware. So complex, that the clients often opt to hire a projectionist to run these movie showings.)

8. For sports fans, the system's video processor can do multiple onscreen windows. Sunday afternoon NFL fans will be in heaven - all the games at once on, say, a 40-foot wide screen. Or larger.

9. The system also includes a music server. And why not do that for well-heeled music lovers? Yes, you don't get to choose your own speakers and electronics, but the room is optimized for the IMAX speaker array and it's tuned daily via remote monitoring of the proprietary microphones that collect data from each laser-aligned loudspeaker.

10. You pay for nothing else for the first 5 years. All maintenance is covered, even lamps. The aforementioned remote system monitoring is provided 24/7/365 on the same customer service platform as IMAX's commercial installations. This is to ensure that the homeowner receives precisely the same preventative maintenance and response times that the IMAX commercial theaters receive (which can never be down because otherwise dollars walk out the door).

r32

本文章最後由 r32 於 2013-10-5 07:47 編輯

According to the report, the custom designed IMAX theater will run in the price range of $1 million to $2 million.

With remote monitoring 24 hours a day every day of the year, and near 5-minute response time, the IMAX team is leaving nothing to chance. At-home support is provided when necessary and constant system tuning, audio calibration and predictive maintenance is performed regularly.

The projector system provides content in 2D and 3D with 4K resolution. The floor-to-ceiling curved screen seen in theaters is part of the package.

IMAX is offering personal introductions to the system for those interested. Initially, they will only be rolling out to theaters and select clients.