CYPRESS, Calif. – Christie® continues to push the boundaries of projection technology with today’s launch of Christie Eclipse, a 4K RGB pure laser projector featuring Christie RealLaser™ illumination, true HDR and an unparalleled color gamut for the Pro-AV market.
More details from Christie (www.christiedigital.com):
Christie Eclipse is capable of a degree of detail and depth of color that has never been possible with any Pro-AV projection system. With true HDR, Christie Eclipse can process and reproduce HDR content on screen, in 4K resolution, at both high and low brightness levels. The result is a contrast ratio of up to 20,000,000:1, which ensures that the finest details are visible, even in extreme black and white ranges.
With an expansive color gamut approaching the full Rec.2020 and Rec.2100 color space, Christie Eclipse produces highly saturated colors for truly immersive experiences and exceeds the Rec. 2100 200,000:1 contrast ratio specification by 100x. With RealLaser™ illumination, 4K resolution and high frame rate capability of up to 120fps, Christie Eclipse can deliver smooth, dynamic content without distracting blur, which is critical for planetariums, giant screens and themed attractions such as dark rides and flying theaters.
“Christie Eclipse sets a new standard for Pro-AV projection technology,” says Larry Paul, executive director, Technology and Custom Solutions, Christie. “With true HDR, ‘video blacks’ are a thing of the past. Instead, you get blacks without any residual light, thereby eliminating all optical and black-level blending in multi-projector arrays, even in pitch black environments. Ultimately, it allows giant screen theaters, planetariums and attraction designers to show detailed content that wasn’t previously possible.”
Christie Eclipse offers the flexibility to customize the brightness level to suit the environment, from 2000 lumens up to 30,000, features Christie TruLife™ electronics for 4K at 120Hz performance, and Christie Twist™ software for warping and blending capabilities. An optional Christie Terra® input card is available, which offers more efficient AV integration and connectivity solutions for Christie projectors with TruLife Electronics and can connect directly to a Christie Terra SDVoE system.
Christie Eclipse also supports Christie Mystique® an automated, camera-based warping and blending tool that simplifies the deployment and maintenance of multi-projector arrays.
Q & A with Larry Paul, executive director, Technology and Custom Solutions, Christie
- This projector has a 20,000,000:1 contrast ratio. How was this measured?
Larry Paul (LP): We used multiple photo spectrometers to measure this as well as independent 3rd party industry experts who reached conclusions that substantiated this performance result with their own equipment.
- Is this a first in the industry?
LP: There has never been a projector for the Pro-AV channel from any manufacturer that comes close to the overall performance of Christie Eclipse.
- Can you elaborate on Rec. 2100? What is improved from Rec. 2020?
LP: While Rec.2100 includes the same color space specification as Rec.2020, it adds a minimum contrast performance specification of 200,000:1, which Christie Eclipse exceeds by 100x. Another aspect of Rec.2100 relates to frame rate and resolution. Christie Eclipse exceeds the UHD specification by offering a true 4K solution that can support content from 24FPS all the way to 120FPS at 4K resolution, which is a requirement for Rec.2100.
- Christie Eclipse is the first Pro-AV projector that provides true high dynamic range (HDR). What is HDR?
LP: HDR is one of those terms that has often been misused. There is a big difference between the capability of accepting an HDR signal vs. displaying that signal as intended. There are many projectors that claim to be HDR compatible because they can decode a signal, but no projector on the market can accurately display content that contains bright white points at the same time as true blacks with a minimum of 1024 levels each of red, green and blue.
- Why would giant screen theaters, planetariums, theme park dark rides or other customers consider Christie Eclipse?
LP: This is a simple question with a complex answer, but there are multiple reasons why Christie Eclipse is hands down the best projector for theaters, planetariums, and dark rides. For a customer to get the highest quality visuals from a Christie Eclipse projector, it requires a fully light controlled theater or attraction space. If the projector is used in an environment with ambient light, the additional value to the performance is not going to be significantly visible on the screen.
Christie Eclipse can display very fine details in dark content and has the potential for brighter than standard projection levels, while maintaining details and specular highlights. No other projector can reproduce the details at either end of the illumination scale as they are typically either crushed in the dark levels or the bright points wash them out. Because of this, Christie Eclipse can reproduce imagery that is much closer to what the human eye can see.
Almost all other projectors have a residual level of elevated brightness – between two to four times the black level – in the overlap zone in multi-projector arrays that require complex optical blending to mitigate the elevated brightness. It is difficult to optimize black levels across content, and if black levels are elevated on non-overlapped zones, even higher contrast projectors end up with less than optimal overall contrast or the ambient light is increased to hide these artifacts. Christie Eclipse eliminates elevated black levels because there are no elevated black levels in overlap zones that require optical or electronic blending, even in the darkest environments.
