Norwegian-based projector specialist, projectiondesign, has won another major contract in the eCinema sector, with the sale of the company’s cineo3+ series projectors to Kanal 22 TV & Film AB of Sweden. The company is picking up orders in post too, with sales to the Eclair Group in France.
Kanal 22 TV & Film has an exclusive five-year agreement to sell and distribute digital commercials at more than 40 cinemas in Sweden within the FHP (Folkets Hus & Parker) organisation. FHP was a pioneer in the launch of digital cinemas in 2002. Today it is one of Europe’s largest digital cinema chains and has an organisation of 800 members and attracts 50 million visitors every year.
Commenting on the agreement with Kanal 22, Trond Solvold, sales manager, Sweden at projectiondesign, said: “Our current portfolio of products have a high focus on 1080p and 720p for smaller screens, and the installation at FHP demonstrates how well our products work within eCinema applications.”
As well as being capable of screening HD content at high quality in a variety of different installed applications, projectiondesign’s cineo3+ series incorporates DLP technology from Texas Instruments and is fully compatible with projectiondesign’s ProNet asset management system. This allows the projectors to be managed remotely via an IP network – particularly useful in multi-site applications such as cinema chains.
Conny Bunjevac, CEO of Kanal 22, says the decision to purchase the cineo3+ projectors wasn’t hard to make. “We knew that projectiondesign was already supplying another Swedish cinema chain, SF Bio, with cineo3+ units, and that the company is very focused on the eCinema market. These products offer great value for money and projectiondesign’s reputation for after-sales service is also excellent.”
Meanwhile, in Paris, two F1+s as well as two cineo3+ 1080 projectors from have been installed in the sound studio companies of Eclair Group, one of France’s largest and best-equipped post-production facilities.
Philippe Beaulieu, technical manager of Eclair Group’s sound companies, takes up the story: “We work on every type of project – feature films, television shows, commercials and so on – and we are starting to post produce in HD formats within our sound facilities,” he said. “We conducted a long series of tests with a wide range of video projectors in our labs, using specialist equipment, and the projectiondesign products were the only ones which could reproduce all HD formats cost-effectively while running at a very low noise level.”
Noise levels were a key issue for Eclair Group: “Our two F1+ projectors are installed in studios C & D at Teletota – Auditel, which is our TV mixing company in Paris. They are outside the studio’s air-conditioned, soundproof booth so it was essential that they generate as little noise as possible. The two cineo3+ 1080 projectors are used behind a glass screen in studios 1 & 5 at Jackson, our sound dubbing company of Saint-Ouen, located in the North-Western suburbs of Paris.”
Thierry Ollivier, sales manager, Central & Eastern Europe, Japan and Korea at projectiondesign, added: “Our compact and quiet 1920 x 1080 projectors are rapidly finding their way into professional studios where most 2k machines are far too cumbersome and expensive. At the same time all professionals are enjoying the high contrast, close to defect free images in high-ambient light working conditions.”
Eclair Group is so pleased with its purchase that it already has a further two cineo3+ 1080s on order, as it continues its programme of replacing traditional 35mm sprocket projectors in its facility.
