IMAX may soon have a new competitor in the field of supersize movie exhibition, according to the website NewTeeVee.com. A high-definition digital projection system boasting a whopping 8,000x4,000 pixels has reportedly been developed by Evans & Sutherland, providing twice the resolution of current digital theatrical systems. The Salt Lake City company has estimated that its projectors will each cost about $750,000 -- ten times the cost of conventional digital projectors. But Evans & Sutherland, which currently provides projectors mostly to planetariums, noted that some of their venues have installed optical star balls that can cost $1.5 million or more to achieve the same resolution and that some planetariums could now use its digital equipment "to move beyond niche content to offer more big-time, blockbuster Hollywood movies."

09/06/2009