Kuurne, Belgium—Jun 22, 2009
Barco to further strengthen technology leadership in digital cinema
Barco is pleased to announce a new range of DLP Cinema® based digital cinema projectors. From next year onwards the company will market a full range of 2K and 4K-ready projectors, meeting the needs of small and large screen theater owners at the lowest cost of ownership. Last week Cinemark Holdings, Inc. and Barco already announced an exclusive partnership, closing the first deal ever for enhanced DLP Cinema® 4K digital projectors, reconfirming Barco's pioneering position in the digital cinema market.
Barco introduced its first DLP Cinema® projector more than 10 years ago and has been the industry's technology pioneer since then. “Product leadership and customer value are the cornerstones of our digital cinema track record,” says Wim Buyens, VP business development Digital Cinema. “Customers appreciate our lowest cost of ownership, ease of use and superb reliability and recent successes in Asia, Europe and the Americas confirm that Barco is today the industry's first choice for future-proof projection.”
A long-time Texas Instruments partner, Barco has been working with the DLP Cinema® technology since the nineties. “We strongly believe in DLP Cinema®,” says Raf Rentmeesters, Product Manager Digital Cinema at Barco. “DLP is the only truly digital technology available on the market today, it has proven its unique image quality in many reference installations and in addition the technology is fully future-proof.”
From next year onwards, Barco's family of digital projectors will be complemented with 4K-ready projection. Barco will continue to invest in 2K projection and will at the same time also develop 4K solutions. Based upon the DLP® technology, these 2K and 4K projectors will feature typical Barco differentiators like modular design for ease of maintenance, high brightness for perfect 3D image quality and the lowest total cost of ownership.
Wim Buyens explains: “This projector family will bundle the best of two worlds. 2K projection will offer customers the best value for money whereas 4K will be targeted at premium, large screen venues. To underline our leading market position, we will make sure that we are the first to deliver 4K projectors to the market.”
Alan Stock, CEO of Cinemark Holdings, Inc., also stressed Barco's technology leadership as a key influencer when signing the companies' exclusive partnership for the delivery of more than 3000 digital projectors: “We strongly support the DLP technology brought by our partners Barco and Texas Instruments as we believe it delivers a superior picture on the screen, in particular in 3D. This technology enables us to provide our customers with the best viewing experience available.”
