Can OLED screens replace projection in cineplexes? (1 Viewer)

[cinemiracle]

Malaysia has installed 2 OLED screens in one of their cinema complexes. Is this the way for the future of cinema?

 

[mohana1]

I Guess OLED screens may provide immersive experience in Cinema. like Imax but there a lots of challenge in IMAX and OLE may provide options.

 

[gadgtfreek]

IMO, OLED is the best way to way UHD/HDR. Once OLED's of 77" are better priced (late this year and in 2019/2020, it will be hopping. I'd love to see a theater sized OLED with a 4K HDR presentation, WOW.

 

[Sam Posten]

@cinemiracle - Peter, may I change the thread title to something more indicative that this actually belongs in this sub forum and not the displays one?
"OLED screens start to appear in cineplexes, replacing projection".
"Can OLED screens replace projection in cineplexes"

Or something similar?

 

[cinemiracle]

@cinemiracle - Peter, may I change the thread title to something more indicative that this actually belongs in this sub forum and not the displays one?
"OLED screens start to appear in cineplexes, replacing projection".
"Can OLED screens replace projection in cineplexes"

Or something similar?

No problem-where ever you think it should be listed .

 

[Sam Posten]

Done, thanks

 

[George_W_K]

How would the speakers systems work? Would they no longer be behind the screen?

 

[Edwin-S]

Malaysia has installed 2 OLED screens in one of their cinema complexes. Is this the way for the future of cinema?

Probably. Most people think going out to the movies is just television anyway. I mean, look at how a lot of them behave. They act like they are in their living room, so a giant OLED screen will just complete the transformation.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

^ Yep, reasons why I’ve just about given up on theaters at this point.
With the switch to digital, it’s not much different than a home projection setup. The biggest problem with digital is that it isn’t optimized for 2.35 the way film was, and many new theaters have been installing native 1.85 screens and showing them letterboxed with no masking- unacceptable!

 

[DaveF]

https://www.osa-opn.org/home/articles/volume_29/may_2018/features/cutting-edge_cinema/

In the near term it’s an expensive, niche feature. In the long run, it may be what’s required to keep cinema competitive with home displays.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It'll be interesting to see where this goes.

I personally prefer a projected image over a direct view one. That's one of the reasons I went with a projector at home with a screen on the smaller size for home projection, rather than the largest direct view monitor I could get. Now, with the caveat that theater chains have more money to spend than I do, and could theoretically get better direct view monitors than I can, I still don't necessarily see this as an appealing option for me.

If you're an existing theater, your entire building has already been designed for showing projected images. There seems little incentive at this point in time to switch when you've already got the infrastructure existing for the booths. A new standard 2K projector for multiplex use is significantly cheaper than these first generation models of OLED giant screens. Even a 4K xenon projector or a 4K laser projection system is coming in as being cheaper than an OLED.

Direct view monitors seem to have more potential for wear and tear than a projector. In a projection system, the only people who have access to the equipment are the people working at the theater. Sure, a rowdy customer can damage the screen, maybe by throwing popcorn or soda at it, or even by causing it to tear, but projection screens are replaceable. On the other hand, put a giant TV in the auditorium, and any of your customers can break it easily enough. That's not to say that people will be lining up to vandalize these things on purpose, but all it takes is a rowdy audience member throwing a soda at your expensive TV screen, and bye bye TV. All it takes are a pair of out of control little kids running around and running smack dab into the thing to break it. What are the repair costs like for something like this? Will there be the ability to have part of a screen repaired, or if any part of it takes damage, will the whole thing go down?

And putting aside accidental and intentional damage, what's the lifespan on these things? We've already gone from mechanical film-based projectors which could easily last decades to digital projectors which you're lucky to get ten years from. TVs these days don't even last that long.

I also wonder what the cost will be relative to the size. It seems the biggest growth area for theatrical attendance right now is for premium screens in the largest auditoriums. This is why IMAX is no longer alone in the premium field. Now you've got Dolby Cinema in addition to proprietary "premium large format" screens from each of the chains, like Regal's RPX and Cinemark's XD. Can these OLED screens compete on sizing with IMAX or Dolby Cinema? Would you, as a customer, be willing to pay more to see something on an OLED than IMAX, even if OLED was a much smaller screen?

Where I could see these OLED screens potentially making a dent would be in new installations in buildings that hadn't previously been designed as movie theaters, in places where there aren't already projection booths and an infrastructure designed for projection. I could see these being useful for high end boutique theaters. The only issue with that is that the films that play in art houses aren't the films making big profits today. The costs are so high right now that the only places that could absorb them are places that are already invested in projection. And I just don't see these theaters that have installed new Dolby Cinema and IMAX laser systems being in a rush to replace those giant screens with OLEDs.

I think that there is some potential usage here but that there's also a potential for this to backfire in a big way by driving up costs while simultaneously making going to the theaters feel more like watching TV at home.

 

[RPMay]

It all gets down to if the audience wants to see the particular movie. I doubt that more than a small percentage of techie buffs care what kind of display is used as long as they can get absorbed in the show.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It all gets down to if the audience wants to see the particular movie. I doubt that more than a small percentage of techie buffs care what kind of display is used as long as they can get absorbed in the show.

I think that's true -- to a certain extent.

I think there's a potential for these types of OLED displays to be of a smaller screen size and more susceptible to damage than a conventional projection setup. If it still feels like going to the movies, it'll be fine to start; if it feels like sitting in a neighbor's living room with their big screen TV, that may be a problem. If audience members start feeling that they're being charged more for less, that may swing the balance and put another nail in the coffin of theatrical attendance.

 

[PMF]

Probably. Most people think going out to the movies is just television anyway. I mean, look at how a lot of them behave. They act like they are in their living room, so a giant OLED screen will just complete the transformation.

I forbid anyone to watch a film with me at home, if they're still futzing around with any foods that are held in paper or plastic wrappers.
Crinkle, crinkle, crinkle.
And what's worse is when they think its quieter by doing their random finger searches slowly, while watching the screen.
Just look down...please...scope your nuggets and silently capture it with both your thumb and Index fingers.
Be done with it. Eat those damned things. Do it quickly. Or go to the theater and do it there.
In my monastery, its wine or soda only; and, for goodness sake, no straws.

 

[Dave Upton]

I think OLED is a non-starter in the commercial space, given its sensitivity to IR (image retention) and other factors, including low yields.

The future of commercial cinema (and all displays IMHO) is MicroLED. This is a technology that has a usable lifespan in the tens of thousands of hours, and will become much more cost effective as manufacturing improves. It is also already very easy to build an LED based display in the size a theater needs, since it's larger.

Nice primer on it here: https://www.cnet.com/news/microled-is-the-first-new-screen-tech-in-a-decade-can-it-beat-oled/

The real challenge is building a 4K or 8K MicroLED TV (8.2 million individual LEDs for 4K or 33 million for 8K) in a 55" or smaller size, as the tolerances become tighter. I fully expect the average display to get larger as this tech comes to market.

When I can buy a 120" MicroLED for my wall at a price that's manageable, I'm in.

 

[Sam Posten]

When I can buy a 120" MicroLED for my wall at a price that's manageable, I'm in.

I'm in for any technology that gets me to 120" at under, say, $4k. I'll keep my PJ in the meantime but i could definitely go bigger in my living room with ease.

I think we'll see the shoebox cineplexes adopt screens faster than the big formats, despite any burn in concerns. We will see!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think we'll see the shoebox cineplexes adopt screens faster than the big formats, despite any burn in concerns.

I don't think the burn-in is as big an obstacle to that as price is. A projection setup is still far cheaper than one of these screens for multiplexes.

I question whether a multiplex is going to want to spend so much money on a single piece of display technology that could be easily damaged by unsupervised patrons. All it takes is a couple kids running around the auditorium unsupervised before the latest Disney movie and body slamming into it, or throwing a gallon of Coke on it, to break it. If they do that to a projection screen, it might tear and need to be replaced, but that's far cheaper than something like this.

I think we could see screens like this being rolled out in new builds. For any building that already has the infrastructure and design in place to have a booth and then a screen, there's no incentive to change that. But for someone who might want to open up an independent theater in a space that wasn't designed as a movie-house, where booths don't already exist, this could be an attractive proposition. Landmark just opened up a new theater in midtown NYC with very small auditoriums - I think the largest auditorium holds less than 100 people, and the smallest holds only about 20. They're showing exclusively art-house fare in an environment that is prioritizing high end amenities over presentation bells and whistles, and have an almost exclusively older audience that's less likely to create problems in a shared space. I can see screens like this being of value to theaters like that. (But on the other hand, those theaters show the kind of titles that are almost always on VOD day-and-date with theatrical releases, so, the question again becomes, if you can watch this on your TV at home at the same date, would you want to pay their current $18.50 ticket price to watch it on a TV in someone else's room?)

 

[DaveF]

Kinda related:

“My past life as a projectionist: How robots took my job - CNET”
https://www.cnet.com/news/my-past-life-as-a-projectionist-how-robots-took-my-job/

 

[DaveF]

All it takes is a couple kids running around the auditorium unsupervised before the latest Disney movie and body slamming into it, or throwing a gallon of Coke on it, to break it. If they do that to a projection screen, it might tear and need to be replaced, but that's far cheaper than something like this.

Maybe NYC is different. But out in the burbs, screens are set back and up off the floor. Rampant rug-rats can’t just randomly run into screens. And I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anyone throw a cup of coke at a screen, in my own viewing experience.

As for durability: presumably direct display devices will be made for industrial use. Gorilla glass, impact resistant faces, and waterproofed exteriors. They might be more durable than screens.

The risk I think is the electronics itself. We’ve got a plaza with big-screen displays made of superbright LEDs. They’re always losing pixels, or rows/columns, or a primary color goes out in a sub-panel.

 

[DaveF]

I'm in for any technology that gets me to 120" at under, say, $4k. I'll keep my PJ in the meantime but i could definitely go bigger in my living room with ease.

I think we'll see the shoebox cineplexes adopt screens faster than the big formats, despite any burn in concerns. We will see!

This.

But these displays have to be segmented so they can be broken down to navigate doors and corners and stairs into the full diversity of real peoples homes and apartments.