Barco's sequel to achieving the Guinness World Record for brightest projector, among a long list of “industry firsts,” entails a significant expansion into theater management solutions featuring the latest technologies in content creation and management, digital signage, and enhanced training and customer services. These will be unveiled at CinemaCon, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), March 28-31, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Digital cinema pioneer Barco, well-known among the industry as having the brightest projector on the planet, will showcase its DCI-compliant DP4K-32B at CinemaCon 2011 – the same projector that was the first to project 4K onto an 80-ft screen, the first to surpass the image quality of 15/70mm film presentation in a side-by-side comparison, and the first to present numerous 3D technologies in a single venue.
Leveraging its technology leadership to move beyond the projector system, Barco is also presenting its latest solutions for optimizing theater enterprise management, encompassing a wide array of products and support services designed to enhance cinema operations and customers' movie-going experience:
One-Stop Digital Signage
With the acquisition of dZine last summer, Barco offers customers the benefits of a “one stop” solution for their entire digital signage needs. This new venture brings Barco's exceptional theatre know-how and dZine's extensive content creation and management software expertise together under one roof to create high-impact visualization solutions tailored for the cinema market for both indoor and outdoor applications.
Expanded DC Certified Training Opportunities
Barco has added two new classes, “Projector Operations and Basic Troubleshooting” and “Theater Systems Integration” to augment its existing curriculum of installation, operations and service training programs. The first is an introduction for individuals new to digital cinema, explaining the technology behind 2D and 3D digital cinema and basic operations. The new “Theater Systems Integration” class is a Barco-exclusive, providing in-depth instruction encompassing the entire digital cinema workflow, with a focus on “hands-on” participation and the importance of computer networking in the digital cinema domain. Previews of these classes, as well as an overview on maximizing digital cinema ROI, will be offered at the show.
Proactive Customer Service
Barco is continuing to boost its customer service and NOC (Network Operations Center) services to maximize projector system uptime, ensure enhanced image quality and brightness, and promote ease-of-use for its customers. Customers that select Barco's customer service plans receive 24/7 call center support; dedicated phone support from certified Barco Service Engineers; and installation, service and maintenance support from the most highly trained teams in the industry. NOC subscribers also enjoy proactive, perpetual monitoring and servicing of their entire digital cinema network, including remote network analysis, 24/7 site schedule with content verification, and enhanced real-time network snapshots.
“Barco's 4K projectors are the latest innovation in projector technology, and represent the evolution of an exciting path in digital cinema. However, our DCI-compliant 2K projectors continue to remain the workhorse models for the majority of exhibitors and are readily available,” commented Todd Hoddick, VP Entertainment for Barco North America.
“We are very proud of Barco's outstanding reputation for industry-leading digital cinema projectors, especially in light of our recent Guinness World Record for brightness. We are eager to address the full realm of exhibitors' needs, taking our digital cinema expertise to the next level as we provide content-rich digital signage solutions, and additional training and technical support to optimize our customer's bottom line,” concluded Hoddick.
