Напомним, что Onyx - первые в мире 2D/3D кинотеатры, в которых не используются традиционные "аналоговые" проекторы. Вместо этого залы оснащаются профессиональными LED-экранами (собираются из отдельных высокопрецизионных модулей), превосходящими по своим параметрам даже самые совершенные проекционные установки с лазерными излучателями, как минимум, в 10 раз.
LED-экраны Onyx лишены таких "родовых травм" традиционного кинопоказа как искажения и общее ухудшение картинки из-за дефектов оптической системы, неудовлетворительного соотношения яркость/контраст, изъянов в цветопередаче и отсутствия реального чёрного цвета.
Фактически кинотеатры Onyx используют технологию, аналогичную microLED, которая обеспечивает наивысшее качество изображения, доступное на сегодняшний день. Каждый отдельный пиксель супердисплея Onyx (в 10-метровой версии их 24 миллиона) может подсвечиваться с максимальной интенсивностью (идеальный белый) или быть полностью погашенным (идеальный чёрный цвет). Это означает, что такой LED-экран с поддержкой технологии HDR (High Dynamic Range / расширенный динамический диапазон) имеет решающее преимущество перед традиционной проекцией, в которой достичь таких параметров принципиально невозможно.
Высочайший уровень яркости и контраста позволяет эксплуатировать экраны Onyx даже при включённом фоновом свете, что значительно расширяет сферу их применения. Например, такие залы позволят вести прямые трансляции важных спортивных событий, театральных постановок, геймерских турниров и т.д.
Кроме того, они найдут применение в учебных заведениях (качественно проведение лекций) и в специализированных досуговых центрах.
Ещё одной важной особенностью LED-экарнов Samsung является их долговечность. В режиме непрерывной эксплуатации они могут проработать более 11 лет без потери качества, что для лазерных проекторов является абсолютно недостижимой планкой. Как правило, замена ключевых дорогостоящих элементов там требуется уже через 3 года.
Первые версии экранов Onyx имеют ширину 5,4 (2K) и 10,3 (4K) метра, что подходит для залов малого и среднего размера. Но к концу этого года к ним добавятся экраны шириной 15,5 метра, что поможет Samsung охватить залы более крупного размера.
Систему окружающего звука для LED-кинозалов разработала американская компания JBL Professional (подразделение конгломерата HARMAN, принадлежащего Samsung). Она получила название JBL Sculpted Surround и отличается от конкурентов повышенной динамикой и качеством передачи объёмной звуковой картины вне зависимости от месторасположения зрителя.
В настоящее время первые кинозалы, оборудованные комплексами Samsung Onyx Theater, уже открыты в Южной Корее, США, Китае, Таиланде, Малайзии, Германии, Мексике и Швейцарии. Ближайшие премьеры этих ультрасовременных развлекательных заведений, меняющих облик современной киноиндустрии, ожидаются в Индии, Индонезии и Австрии.
О появлении кинозалов Onyx в России до сих пор ничего неизвестно, хотя Samsung уже открыл возможность предзаказа для местных кинопрокатчиков.
Samsung’s 46-foot Onyx LED TV looks to change movie theaters forever
For over a century, movie projector technology remained relatively unchanged: Frames of film, spun in front of a bright lamp to project an image onto a screen. More recently, though, projection has taken quantum leaps forward, including the arrival of digital projection in 1999, and in the last few years, laser light-powered projectors.
Companies like Dolby and IMAX are using new laser projectors to create imaging that’s multiple times brighter than what you’ll find in a standard theater and, just as importantly, much darker too, allowing new theaters to achieve breathtaking contrast.
That wasn’t good enough for the folks at Samsung, though. With relatively little fanfare, the TV titan has unveiled a revolutionary new way to make movie magic, without the need for projectors at all. Samsung calls its new creation “Onyx,” and it’s poised to change everything we know about going to the movies.
NO PROJECTOR, NO PROBLEM
Named after the jet-black jewel, Onyx is a giant, 34-foot screen that uses LEDs to display perfect black levels, intense brightness, and brilliant color for unprecedented cinematic contrast. How bright, you ask? At 146 foot-lamberts (a measurement used to express luminance), Samsung’s new screen is 10 times brighter than standard cinema projectors. Even spectacular new Christie laser projectors in Dolby’s crown-jewel theater (which we called the best movie theater on earth) manage to reach just 38 foot-lamberts.
Like Dolby’s new projectors, the Onyx also offers 4K resolution (most standard projectors top out at 2K resolution), as well as the ability to support 2D, 3D, and High Dynamic Range content for impressive versatility. Better contrast and a crisper image aren’t the only reasons Samsung thinks its new creation is the future of cinema, either.
Ditching the projector comes with multiple advantages. Without the need for a projection room or any of the equipment in it, new theaters could save time, space, and money. Since the Onyx makes its own picture, there’s no need for line-of-sight from the back of the room, meaning seats can be built higher and steeper in the stadium format. That could mean fewer instances of your view being blocked by the big-head in front of you, and for theater owners, more space to pack in audiences.
The Onyx is also much less susceptible to ambient light than projector screens – much like your LED TV screen at home. The screen itself is built with materials designed to block reflection, allowing for multiple use cases. For instance, dining theaters could potentially allow drink and food service throughout a film’s presentation, using minimal ambient lighting so waiters wouldn’t trip over you with a tray of food and drinks.
An Onyx-powered theater could also be better for applications outside the cinema realm, such as e-sports, where the ambient light from laptops would otherwise create distractions and make for a poorer viewing experience.
NOT YOUR FATHER’S LED
About now, you may be asking yourself, “With so many potential disadvantages, why have theaters relied so long on projectors?” Well, there’s a reason the Onyx’s big-screen cinema tech hasn’t existed until very recently.
As touched on above, Samsung’s new mega screen is the result of the company’s investment in new LED technology, and it works quite differently than the LED screen in your TV set at home.
While traditional LED screens only use LEDs to illuminate LCD panels from behind to create an image, the Onyx uses LEDs as individual pixels. In other words, as with OLED screens, each pixel in the Onyx turns on and off on command. This is what allows the screen to achieve perfect black levels, as each pixel can be completely lit or extinguished, depending on what the image calls for. In addition, unlike traditional LED TVs with LCD panels in them, the Onyx maintains picture quality from virtually any angle – no “sweet spot” here.
You may be wondering why we don’t have such displays in our homes right now, and that comes down to scale. Since the Onyx is so big, you can’t see the individual LEDs because the screen is huge, and you are seated at a distance. At home, you’d be too close to a screen that’s too small for good resolution and would see the individual pixels anyway.
Not to worry, though, Samsung is working on MicroLED, a miniaturized version of this emissive display tech that could compete with OLED TVs in terms of picture quality and thin panels. We saw the first inkling of this at CES when Samsung introduced The Wall TV.
PATCHWORK DISPLAY
As you might guess, for more reasons than we can count, it would be pretty impractical to build a 34-Foot TV screen out of a single sheet of glass or plastic. “Hey Frank, the screen went out, better get the fork lift!”
Like previous commercial displays, Samsung’s new displays don’t rely on a singular screen, but a patchwork of smaller panels sewn together to create a massive screen. The panels are interchangeable, and in a theater application, would ship with multiple backups, allowing theaters to swap out dead panels as they inevitably go bad, and send the damaged panels back to Samsung (or perhaps a third-party) for repair. So no matter what, the show will go on.
What’s more, these LED display panels are designed to last longer than traditional projector bulbs, potentially saving money on bulb replacement over time.
WHERE DO WE PUT THE SOUNDBAR?
Of course, unlike traditional movie screens, the Onyx won’t allow for speakers to be placed directly behind the screen for audio anchored to the picture, but Samsung has a solution for that, too.
With the purchase of Harman International last year, Samsung acquired a host of major audio brands, including JBL Professional, which the company utilized to create a workable solution to the Onyx’s sonic conundrum. JBL’s new cinema audio system, aptly dubbed Onyx sound, uses mounted speakers above the screen along with special processing which allow for impressive accuracy and an expanded sweet spot that corresponds to the image on screen.
The top-mounted speakers are supplemented, of course, by surround speakers throughout the theater to potentially allow for 3D or object-based sound technologies like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.
Samsung says that it also works with movies theaters to design the custom seating arrangement in theaters outfitted with Onyx screens, along with the sound experience which is provided by custom JBL speakers.
THE FUTURE ALREADY COMES
Currently, the first Samsung Onix LED cinemas have been opened in South Korea, China, USA, Thailand, Germany, Mexico and Switzerland.
It’s planning to have 10 installed worldwide by the summer and 30 by the end of 2018. Samsung also announced a 46-foot 4K LED screen which will be available later this year to help the Onyx line better compete with traditional laser projection systems.
