BARCO : Looking back on the first half of 2015: taking digital cinema where it has never gone before

Worldwide conversion to digital cinema reaches the 100% mark but there is no reason why Barco's innovation would saturate. On the contrary! So far, 2015 has been the year where we took more and bigger steps than ever before. And what makes it even more exciting is that our industry partners are taking these steps together with us. Taking digital cinema where it has never gone before, let's have a look at where we are today.

As tradition wants we kicked off the year with a party. Reason for the party? We were lauded with a Technology & Engineering Emmy® Award for our in-house developed JPEG2000 technology. This technology component might not be very visible or well-known in the market but it's actually one of the key enablers that make the cinema image quality the best experience out there. It's not only used in the Barco digital cinema projectors, but it's also licensed out for use in various other markets worldwide.

During the first half of 2015 our laser projection technology ramped up fastly. Recent additions to Barco's installed base are: Nordisk Film Biografer (Scandinavia), Nordic Cinema Group (Baltic States) and CinemaCity (Middle East). The growing installed base of flagship DP4K-L projectors confirms that they're by far the industry's preferred choice. The complete portfolio was launched at CinemaCon 2015: the four flagship models (from the 'small' DP4K-22L up to the 56,000-lumen DP4K-60L) were the center of attention during the biggest industry show. Next to this, we also gave a sneak preview of our laser retrofit solution for the mid-end market. At CineEurope the demos of our flagship DP4K-60L wowed attendees. Our full laser portfolio includes a perfect match for every cinema screen. Laser is here and the cinema world is clearly ready for it… and vice versa. Leading up to CinemaCon, a more hands-on demonstration of Barco's laser projection was done at the NAB show. During the Technology Summit on Cinema audiences were amazed by next-generation content, projected by our flagship DP4K-60L.

We saw the same boost for our immersive cinema experience: Barco Escape. Jerry Bruckheimer, NASCAR racing and 20th Century Fox plan to create content for Barco Escape. These are the latest additions to a wide range of content, mastered for the ultimate immersive cinema experience. The popularity of the demos at CinemaCon and CineEurope confirms that everyone in the industry is keen on fostering cinema as the best way to experience movies.

We also saw continued market growth of our Series 3 integrated cinema media processor (ICMP), used in the Barco Alchemy projectors. With no less than four software releases in the first six months of 2015, on-board functionality is continually growing. The only media server in the market capable of doing 4K 3D and 4K HFR, we stay committed to our customers and integrate the features they find most important.

Anticipating the adoption of a standardized format for immersive sound, Barco publicly premiered AuroMax® : a system that incorporates support for the placement of "objects" in any immersive mix and the most revolutionary rendering technology available from Iosono. The arrival of these standards allows content creators to focus on one workflow rather than making sacrifices to create multiple versions of one mix. AuroMax® offers the most natural representation of standardized immersive sound at up to half the cost of a typical object-based sound system.

The Auro 11.1 format is currently installed or committed at over 600 screens worldwide with more than 120 secured movie titles, including summer blockbusters Pixels, Minions, American Ultra, Sicario, Everest and more. With AuroMax® becoming available by the end of the year, 2015 is a great year for immersive sound at Barco!

Last but not least we introduced the smallest member of the Barco digital cinema projector portfolio, the DP2K-6E. The newest projector brings the acclaimed Barco image quality to the smallest theaters in the industry. We now offer the most complete range of DCI-compliant digital cinema projectors available, providing our customers with a perfect match for every cinema screen.

As you can see, it's been quite a ride so far. And we have no intention to slow down in the second half of the year, so please join us on the rest of this exciting journey!

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